Monday night when we got home, I sat down and wrote out the day's itinerary. I keep staring at it and wondering how these times can possibly be accurate and correct. On the left is Paris time; on the right is Georgia time:
04:00 on August 3 / 22:00 on August 2: Buses roll out from Cité Universitaire after a brisk hour spent collecting room keys, banging on the doors of some really sound sleepers, and in one case seeing a student just returning to his dorm room from the night out, 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave.
06:20 / 00:20: Flight leaves CDG for Frankfurt with all students and faculty on board, even that guy. We enjoy a Nutella-filled croissant and some coffee and try not to think about leaving Paris behind.
10:00 / 04:00: Flight leaves Frankfurt for ATL. Settle in for some sleep, watching lots of movies, or a combination of both. Daniel and I slept through our turn for the lunch service and had to ask for food after we woke up. Props to Lufthansa as always for very efficient and thorough service; God bless the flight attendant who was constantly circulating with cups of water and juice during the second half of the flight.
20:00 / 14:00: Arrive in ATL. Selected for a "random survey" by a customs officer to verify that we were not carrying any agricultural products. Fully a day later I'd realize we brought home 2 pounds of coffee that I forgot to declare on the form or mention to the officer. He did not see them in my suitcase, so I didn't have to be hauled off to immigration jail or anything.
We got to our house around 6 p.m. (midnight Paris time, but by then, who's counting?) and I managed to stay up till 8:30 and sleep till about 6 the next morning. My sleep cycle is not too messed up (I've been treating it with large quantities of espresso) but I can tell I'm jet-lagged because the mornings seem dark and the days seem long. That will pass and at least I don't feel as tired and foggy as I sometimes have after an overseas trip.
But I do miss Paris an awful lot.
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