Thursday, November 8 – Pont a Mousson the Destination

After a night of near-comatose sleep, I had a slow morning. I ate breakfast in the hotel, which was fine, but then spent a long time showering etc. I went over to the train station nearby to use the internet before walking around Metz for a while. At 12:24, I took the train from Metz to Pont a Mousson where Laura was waiting in the train station. We walked around Pont a Mousson, which is a very cute little town, well steeped in history. I saw the town square (actually a triangle) and the bridge for which the town is named. Both the bridge and the abbey in town were totally destroyed in WWII. Laura and I had some fantastic, though a bit strange and involved, baguette sandwiches for lunch.

Laura took me over to her school where I checked it out from the outside. And as I looked at the dreary buildings with orange roofs, I realized that I had come half way around the world to see them. This entire trip happened because I promised Laura I would come see her this fall, and it all snowballed from there. Of course I really came to see Laura, but the buildings felt like such an embodiment of my true destination for this trip. The school itself is a professional school with students ranging from fourteen to twenty-four.

We walked back to Laura’s apartment, which is above the house of an old couple. The apartment is nice and spacious, though a bit musty while still being clean. We sat and talked and watched crazy French TV while we drank tea and ate croissants. Due to our late afternoon snack, we weren’t too hungry for dinner, so we just ate at a kebab place that was playing Annie Lennox. The kebabs were quite good, though we were initially given one of those nougat-like blocks when I requested baklava. Of course I still ate a good portion of the nougat block and felt sick afterwards.

Laura arranged for us to meet three of the other language assistants in Pont a Mousson at a local bar. The place was dead when we arrived, though the bartender turned on Phil Collins in our honor. Chris, Lindsay, and Katerina were all very nice and very warm. I’m so happy to feel like Laura is very well taken care of here. After drinks, Laura walked me to the train station where I saw posters for a Dreamtheater and Porcupine Tree concert that is coming here (Kate and Anna…are you reading this?). The train back was insanely new and nice.

That’s about it. Tomorrow we’re headed to Nancy and then for Normandy. And so the journey continues towards it eventual end. Love to everyone reading this.