Je suis arrivée!

Well everyone, I am here in Aix! After anticipating it for so long, it`s hard to believe. Just for the record, I am typing on a French keyboard which is a little different, so I may keep this short for the sake of time. When I got to the airport there was a little fiasco because IAU was not there to meet me; apparently there was some miscommunication, and they were looking at my old Itinerary, or something; I`m not really sure what happened, but at least there was another student in the same boat to take the bus with from the airport in Marseille to Aix. My host parents, Abdul and Palmyre, are so sweet, and I`m really glad to have a fellow study abroad student, Emily, in the same house. Today Palmyre showed us around town some; it is so charming, quaint and beautiful. Then an open house with large numbers of new people met, and an overwhelming sense of freshman year revisited . . . not sure how to feel about that, but I`ll get settled in. What a long day, with more to come tomorrow with orientation! Iam having mixed feelings of smallness, joy, fear, anxiety, joy, excitement . . . a little strange, and a lot exhausting, hence I think I will head towards bed. And process a little in my journal. As if this isn`t a form of processing. Consider yourselves my pre-thinking. Thank you for your prayers, friendship and support! Hopefully I can get access to some internet on my own computer and show you some pictures of this beautiful area soon.