Bon Voyage

And so it begins, a trip that is over six months in the making. Honestly, I am on a plane to Paris right now, wondering what in the world I am doing?! I am about to move in with a family in France I do not know and just pray I can handle these little French kids. (Pause: The airplane dinner just made it’s grand entrance, now I am really wondering what I am doing…sick). However, I couldn’t be more ready to test the waters and see how this all pans out. I am pretty sure I already miss Tony Cachere’s and am lamenting the fact that I won’t make it to a single LSU football game this Fall. “But Kat, you’ll be in Paris and you’re worried about LSU?” My response, “You just don’t even understand and I don’t expect you to.” This will be the first time since I was two that I haven’t made at least one game. Fingers crossed for a New Years Day bowl or, hey, I’d even take a trip up to the Port City if we end up in the Independence Bowl. After all, when we made it to the Indy Bowl when DiNardo was here, that was a HUGE deal.

I digress, but I hope you’ll all keep up with me through this blogging medium. My current delusion (which are more frequent than I like to admit), is that somehow I’ll end up with a blog like Julie Powell of “Julie and Julia” fame. For those of you who don’t know, she wrote a blog about cooking Julia Child’s recipes for one year and it was picked up, made into a book and major motion picture. So hopefully, my always intelligent wit and sarcasm will win producers everywhere over and then when I come back I’ll be offered a multi-million dollar contract for this soon-to-be masterpiece. I wonder if Julie Powell thought she’d be portrayed in a movie by Amy Adams? If I had to choose anyone to play me, I’d probably go Penelope Cruz, but since she looks nothing like me, maybe Natalie Portman, who looks nothing like me either…so ultimately, I’ll probably be stuck with my inadvertent twin Miley Cyrus. Fabulous, maybe Disney will pick up my blog…but I am pretty sure they’ve tackled the au pair scene with cinematic masterpieces like Vin Deisel’s “The Pacifier,” “Mary Poppins” and some other original made-for-cable movie I am not aware of. Also, something not so great is that I started reading “My Life in France” by Julia Child. My aunt Susan Meyers gave it to me to read, so as a quick pick me up after weeks of goodbyes to friends and family, I let Julia tell me a bit about her experience. Now her experiences aren’t sounding so great because I find myself salivating as the millions of savory food adjectives pour onto the page. Alas, my United Airlines “pasta” has arrived, I am sure this is exactly what Julia imagined. However, I have a feeling that a lot of this blog will revolve around food as I expect to experience all France has to offer in the culinary realm (within my measly budget and so long as I don’t gain 700 lbs…must stay away from Nutella and Banana crepes).

I also forget how different Europeans are from Americans, there have already been questionable outfits as well hairstyles. However, if I can make it through living in England and not adapting to their fashion trends, hopefully I’ll be alright in France - though their trends aren‘t so bad. I will do my best to pick up the language, which I recently had a refresher course in while watching “Inglorious Basterds” - my German might have even improved after that movie. If you haven’t seen it, GO! Though, if they mention shaving scalps, turn your head, because they WILL show the shaving of scalps - if my mom is reading this she just cringed. The beverage cart is on the move as well and one of the French passengers just got red wine, I think I am breathing in vinegar and body odor. There have been questionable scents as I made my way to the back of plane to the economy class seat I will endure for the next seven hours. I don’t mean to sound down, in fact I am very excited, but sardonic dialogue is my specialty. As a Meyers, we don’t have much but sarcasm to fall back on…

Bonus, I am sitting next to an older man who is going on vacation and he asked me about my story, why I was going to France and I told him. I am pretty sure the French don’t talk on planes or MAYBE (just, maybe) my voice carries a little bit, but I am sure it’s not the latter. After all I am the daughter of Erin Meyers and she’s as quiet as a church mouse. The lady sitting across and two rows up from me turns around and says, “So you are going to France to be an au pair? Just be careful, I am American and did that over 20 years ago and here I am,” she then points to her 6 red headed French kids and French husband, “and I am heading back home to Paris right now.” NO THANKS, LADY.