Once in America, it was a whirlwind of trying to see everyone and trying to eat every food item we've missed. And clothes shopping, lots of clothes shopping. We apologize if we didn't get to see you! Jeremy got to see most of his friends because they're all friends as well. Since they're all hanging out with one another to begin with, it was easy to get everyone to get together for a night. Since my friends aren't friends of one another, it meant I had to make individual trips to see everyone. I got to see a few friends, but there were a handful more I was really disappointed that I didn't get to see!
It didn't help that we were always so tired! France is 6 hours ahead of east coast America, so 6 pm in America is midnight in France. I was in bed by 9 pm almost every night, I just couldn't help it! And yet I woke up at 7 am feeling like it was already the afternoon and yet no one else was awake and no stores were open yet! Jeremy seemed to do much better adapting to the time difference than I did.
We had Thai, Chinese, my favorite pizza, and Mexican (twice!) but didn't get to have sushi, my favorite pie (Penza Pies in Hammonton), or a Pop Shop breakfast. It's okay though, we were kind of being overwhelmed by reintroducing our taste-buds to American food. For example, I had a normal soft-pretzel and it was sweet! Like cake! I've always heard that Europeans think American bread is too sweet but I always dismissed it until now. I had a chocolate chip cookie from Wawa and after the fourth bite it was too much; it was so sweet it burned. Lipton tea was too sweet and soda was unbearable. In fact, by the fourth day I had a throat infection I assume due to too much sugar. After that, I gargled salt water and toned my eating and drinking habits down.
I had wrongly assumed I could go right back to eating and drinking how I used to when I lived in America. It was a little depressing that I couldn't enjoy the things I once used to, but at the same time I know it's better for me. If coming back to America taught me anything, it's how unhealthy our prepared food is. Eating homemade food was fine, but anything store bought sent my stomach ablaze. My ulcerative colitis was flaring up big time. Within days I had to start taking my special intestinal pain killers, by the second week I was taking them every day and the last two days I was practically immobilized by nausea, dizziness, intestinal cramping, and fatigue.
Despite that, we had fun. We saw Jurassic World and Inside Out, went to the Hammonton carnival, got to catch up with friends, went to the Philadelphia Zoo, but mostly just spent time with our families. We brought home with us proper fitting clothes (we both have found out we each went down about 3 sizes), black beans, pinto beans, brown sugar, and Fireball whiskey. Our friends love the whiskey, they don't have anything cinnamon flavored here not even gum, and the 1 liter we are legally allowed to bring back is almost gone just from all our friends trying it. Next time we'll have to each bring back a liter!
The plane ride home was uneventful. I slept most of the time. This time our train left from gare de Lyon, not right from the airport, but luckily a bus brings you there for pretty cheap. However, whoever designed this bus must have used 5 foot models because the leg space is non-existent. I am 5'9" and Jeremy is 5'11" and we had to sit almost sideways because our legs couldn't fit. If you're coming to visit, just remember it will be uncomfortable for anyone around this height. I don't think my 6'4" dad would be able to fit at all. It's cheap at 16€ per person but if you're very tall or heavy set, you might want to cough up the 50€ for a taxi or just make sure you get the train leaving from the airport instead of gare de Lyon.
We left America at 9:30 pm on Sunday and thanks to time differences and the gap between plane landing and train departure, got home at 5:30 pm Monday. We greeted our animals, got some fast food, and slept.
It didn't help that we were always so tired! France is 6 hours ahead of east coast America, so 6 pm in America is midnight in France. I was in bed by 9 pm almost every night, I just couldn't help it! And yet I woke up at 7 am feeling like it was already the afternoon and yet no one else was awake and no stores were open yet! Jeremy seemed to do much better adapting to the time difference than I did.
We had Thai, Chinese, my favorite pizza, and Mexican (twice!) but didn't get to have sushi, my favorite pie (Penza Pies in Hammonton), or a Pop Shop breakfast. It's okay though, we were kind of being overwhelmed by reintroducing our taste-buds to American food. For example, I had a normal soft-pretzel and it was sweet! Like cake! I've always heard that Europeans think American bread is too sweet but I always dismissed it until now. I had a chocolate chip cookie from Wawa and after the fourth bite it was too much; it was so sweet it burned. Lipton tea was too sweet and soda was unbearable. In fact, by the fourth day I had a throat infection I assume due to too much sugar. After that, I gargled salt water and toned my eating and drinking habits down.
I had wrongly assumed I could go right back to eating and drinking how I used to when I lived in America. It was a little depressing that I couldn't enjoy the things I once used to, but at the same time I know it's better for me. If coming back to America taught me anything, it's how unhealthy our prepared food is. Eating homemade food was fine, but anything store bought sent my stomach ablaze. My ulcerative colitis was flaring up big time. Within days I had to start taking my special intestinal pain killers, by the second week I was taking them every day and the last two days I was practically immobilized by nausea, dizziness, intestinal cramping, and fatigue.
Despite that, we had fun. We saw Jurassic World and Inside Out, went to the Hammonton carnival, got to catch up with friends, went to the Philadelphia Zoo, but mostly just spent time with our families. We brought home with us proper fitting clothes (we both have found out we each went down about 3 sizes), black beans, pinto beans, brown sugar, and Fireball whiskey. Our friends love the whiskey, they don't have anything cinnamon flavored here not even gum, and the 1 liter we are legally allowed to bring back is almost gone just from all our friends trying it. Next time we'll have to each bring back a liter!
The plane ride home was uneventful. I slept most of the time. This time our train left from gare de Lyon, not right from the airport, but luckily a bus brings you there for pretty cheap. However, whoever designed this bus must have used 5 foot models because the leg space is non-existent. I am 5'9" and Jeremy is 5'11" and we had to sit almost sideways because our legs couldn't fit. If you're coming to visit, just remember it will be uncomfortable for anyone around this height. I don't think my 6'4" dad would be able to fit at all. It's cheap at 16€ per person but if you're very tall or heavy set, you might want to cough up the 50€ for a taxi or just make sure you get the train leaving from the airport instead of gare de Lyon.
We left America at 9:30 pm on Sunday and thanks to time differences and the gap between plane landing and train departure, got home at 5:30 pm Monday. We greeted our animals, got some fast food, and slept.