Leaving Grenoble and Lost in Translation

Date: 28 Decembre 2007

My two overstuffed suitcases were packed and I stared at them hoping that they would magically teleport down the stairs to the accueil (the reception) of my residence hall. Determined and ready to go, I grabbed one and made my way down the hallway. It was morning, so the cleaning ladies were busy at work. My favorite cleaning lady came running to the stairwell when she heard my suitcase being thrown against the wall. She leaned over the rail and asked "Tu as des amies?" ("Do I have some friends") "Non," I replied as I carried on. The words "C'est dommage pour toi" (basically this means:sucks to be me). I did have friends at one point, but they were gone. Miya had offered to help me when I knocked at her door at 9 am to give her the remainder of things that would not fit, but I knew she only offered her service to me to be polite, and I did not want to bother her. Besides, I could handle this on my own. Eventually I made it to the accueil (and she is my favorite cleaning lady because she helped me by watching over my luggage while I went to my room to get the others) and I turned in my keys.
The hardest part was not over yet. I still had to get through a bus and a tram to get to the train station with two large suitcases, a backpack, a purse, and a camera bag. I had plenty of time and I had selected a direct train to Geneva, so I wouldn't have to change and deal with moving my luggage around. When I got to the train station, I was relieved to see an elevator. This made my day...well for about five minutes. When I reached the bottom, I probably looked like a sad puppy when I realized that an elevator did not exist for my platform. The only way to get back up where I needed was to take two flights of stairs. People were rushing past me and I continued to drag my suitcases up the stairs. Finally, a gentleman helped me with one of my suitcases. He was very helpful. When we reached the top, he asked where I was going and he informed me that since I will be going to Geneva I would need to sit in the back part of the train (because the train was going to two different places and would eventually split away). He was also going to Geneva so when the train finally arrived, he helped me carry my suitcases onto the train. I sat near the door in the foyer (I don't know if this word really is used properly, but it is the best I could think of to describe the set up) of the train to ensure that I could exit quickly, in order to avoid upsetting anyone for the length of time it would take me to get off. In the foyer I sat at on a bench that seats about 4 people and it faces another bench. My new friend who was helping me, Dris (pronounced like Greece with a D), sat next to me. At this point I was exhausted, having only about four hours of sleep the night before, so I put my headphones on and drifted away.
I was awoken when I heard the conductor make an announcement and the only words I heard were "personne, accident, arretons (stop)." Someone committed suicide in front of my train! So, they could just clean up the mess and my train could move along right? Things had to get complicated because I am in France so no, this meant that we had to stay on the train for 45 minutes and then wait outside for a bus. During my 45 minute wait, I listened to the girl in front of me tell us in great detail how when she was 17 years old she actually saw someone commit suicide in front of the train. She started to tell us how is head was swollen up like a balloon and it was that moment that I had wished that I could not understand French and I tried to turn my self off but I couldn't stop listening.
When the bus showed up, people fought for places to put their luggage in the lower compartment and I felt like I was on the Titanic how everyone pushed their ways to get on the bus. Not a single place remained for me, so I had to get my suitcases out from the bottom and wait for the next bus. Dris helped me out and sat next to me on the thirty minute bus ride to the next train station in Chambery and I tried to avoid eye contact so I didn't have to have any awkward/forced conversations.
In Chambery, Dris and I had about 3 minutes to run to the catch our train to Geneva. When we got on the train we discovered that the train was practically full, so we decided to treat ourselves to first class.
I was now forced to talk to Dris for about an hour and a half. I found my terrible listening comprehension/attention span getting me into trouble. I had to make up lies to cover up my weakness. Dris asked me if I had ever had to go to the train station in Geneva in order to transfer to Lausanne and I said no (this is a huge lie) for reasons I don't remember-I do know that I misunderstood him. He later offered his service to help me navigate around the train station since it is pretty tricky. When he asked how many times I had been to Lausanne, I lied so make it sound more believable about me never going to through the Geneva train station and said it was my 2nd time and the first time I went through Paris. I couldn't believe how the lies just floated out of my mouth.
About thirty minutes before we arrived to Geneva, Dris offered me his business card with his email address and cell phone number. He wanted to practice his English, so he said he would write to me in French (which he never mentioned that he was learning English nor that he has studied it before) and I could reply in English. Harmless. We passed beautiful scenery and I gazed out the window on the other aisle. I noticed in the reflection that he was watching me. Awkward. Then he excitedly asked me what color my eyes were. I said green, as it was quite obvious and then he commented about how beautiful they were. ok?
Suddenly our train stopped and I probably had stress written all over my face, because this guy was starting to turn creepy and I had had enough of train drama. Dris probably could sense my panic, so he grabbed my hand assuring me that everything was fine and that we were in Switzerland now and nothing bad happens on the trains. eeek. I quickly removed my hand from his and I could feel it burning where his had had once been. About five minutes had passed and we began to move again. thank God! Then Dris grabbed my hand again making me promise that I would go out to dinner with him if I came to Geneva. yea yea sure fine whatever. I wanted off of the train at this point.
We arrived in Geneva, and Dris gave me a tour of the train station and helped me once again load my luggage on the train and then gave me three bisous on my cheeks and said "À bientôt." However I knew that that would be the last time I would ever see him again. Lesson learned: you can't trust everyone even if they seem to have good intentions