Saying Goodbye

Friday night, we had a big party to say goodbye and invited couchsurfers as well. There were a lot of new faces – assistants, couchsurfers, study abroaders, teachers and even some of our students. We were hosting 4 couchsurfers at the time (Lisa- UK, Victoria – Spain, Vincent – Germany and Julia – Brazil – all studying abroad in Paris) as well as a few others who lived far away. Marco and I, with the help of our couchsurfers, were up cleaning until 8:00am before we finally decided to call it quits and go to sleep. Was it the best party the Temple Protestant has ever seen? I think so.

Sunday morning, I woke up to a French breakfast prepared by Antoine. It was nice to have on my last day in Nantes. We ate together and I said my goodbyes to Marco and Jackeline. I had to get to Paris but am running dangerously low on money so, at the last minute, I decided to hitchhike my way with antoine’s encouragement. As I quickly stuffed my possessions into a backpack, Antoine and Susana started making a sign for me on the back of a piece of cardboard that they’d used to get to Rennes. “I hope it brings you good luck,” he said before dropping me off at a rond point. We said goodbye and it wasn’t easy. I’ll really miss that guy.

Within 20 minutes, I was sitting in the passenger’s seat next to a Romanian guy who spoke neither English nor French. He was heading to Germany and could take me all the way to Paris, listening to glorious Romanian music all the way. We amused ourselves trying to communicate, but mostly listened to his mixed tapes. Unfortunately, he got pulled over for speeding about 25km outside of Le mans (a long way from Paris). He went into the police station while I waited in the car for an hour or two. Finally he emerged and said, “finished.”
“Finally,” I thought.
“Sorry,” he said. “Baggage?”
Oh. I gathered that he’d have to stay in the police station while waiting for a friend to drive there and pay his fine.

I was on my own again, but this time on the side of a highway where cars zoomed by and hitchhiking is illegal. Oh well. I tried getting a ride for a while but knew it was nearly impossible. Finally, I decided to walk 4-5 hours to Le Mans and sleep there to take a train in the morning. I walked along the highway with the sign held up behind me, just in case. To my surprise, a young attractive girl pulled over 15 minutes into the walk and offered to drive me to Le Mans. Gooz yeah. Jessica was friendly and a little naive, one might say. She picked me up because I looked friendly from the back and because I was walking, which showed an effort. If I were a young pretty girl, I wouldn’t pick up men walking along the highway. But thanks! She drove me to a Rond point right in front of a peage to Paris, which was perfect. I said goodbye and it wasn’t 10 minutes later before I was picked up again. This time it was a young, clean-cut, well-dressed handsome guy about my age. He was driving to Paris from his girlfriend’s house and was heading to Belgiun the next morning, where he works and spends his weeks. He had a nice car and seemed very well to do. He was also really friendly and taught me a bunch of French expressions like “Ça tisse des liens.” I was left at an RER station just a 3 euro ride to the center and, thanks to Laura, didn’t have to buy a metro ticket.

After 8 hours and 3 euros, I finally arrived in St. Denis, known as Paris’ most dangerous neighborhood, at 10:30. I waited in the metro station for Lisa, the girl who I’d just hosted and was returning the favor. To my surprise, the whole crew of 4 welcomed me. They introduced me to some other international students who were equally awesome and fed me spaghetti and wine. They were good hosts. They did learn from the best, afterall. Lisa gave up her bed for me and let me store my heavy nonessentials in her room. She woke up next morning to drive me to the beauvais airport, a ride that would cost 15 euros otherwise.

In this trip, I met a bunch of interesting people and might have made some friends along the way. I also paid a total of 10 euros for a trip that could have cost 150 otherwise. It’s not a bad way to travel. Thank you to the hosts and kind people who picked me up along the way, If you happen to stumble upon this.

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1. Tangier Bound
2. Baebae Reykjavik, Bonjour Nantes!
3. M’a salama, Morocco