The Girl of The Sun

nineteen

The plane ride is a total 11 hours and 40 minutes. Many people don't like airplane food, but I do. They served crepes on the plane, any kind with chocolate are my favorite. I read my whole magazine along with a few books I took with me in my bag. I fell asleep for a few hours and woke up to the pilot talking over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are 15 minutes away from our destination. Remember to remain seated and to keep your seatbelts on. We hope you had a pleasant flight and enjoy the rest of your trip. Welcome to Paris."

The plane finally lands, I grab my things and head to baggage claim. Both of my suitcases being heavy as if there were only bricks in them. Then I grab my cat in his little carrier and ride down the escalator. As I go down, I see a lady with blonde hair in a dark green suite set with a skirt who has my sign that has my name on it. I go up to her, clearly struggling to carry everything. "Hello, I'm Fabiana." I go in for a handshake, but instead she kisses me on both sides of my face, I forget that they do that here when they greet people, I think it's classy, I like it.

"Bonjour, I'm Amelie Dupont, we've talked on the phone and emailed quite some times, it's nice to see you in person, you are beautiful!" What she says makes me feel so welcomed and warm inside.

"Thank you so much, I'm glad to finally meet you."

"Do you need help? Someone else can carry those for you." Two men in suits come and take my luggage and take it to the limo waiting outside, I hold onto Chai though who is still sleeping, you can hear him snore a little. On the drive to the campus, we pass by the Arc de Triomphe, I'm completely amazed on how beautiful it is. In the distance I can see the Eiffel tower; this feels so unreal, it's almost a dream.

We arrive at the campus and unload all of my
belongings. It's an old cream colored building that stretches for most of the block. It has a lot of windows and one big giant mahogany door. I walk up to the door of my dorm, which is C121. Inside it's like a little pent house, a beautiful living room with a large vase full of flower arrangements is sitting on the marble-like coffee table. A sleek clean kitchen that has white and hints of yellow, I just can't believe something like this is mine. I was informed I had two roommates. One comes out from what seems to be her room, she has dark brown skin and short curly hair, she's so tall, she must be a model.

"Hello there, you must be the famous Fabiana I've heard about. I'm Harper Taylor Mahlangu, nice to finally meet you." She brings it in with a french greeting, she's so friendly and easy to be comfortable with, i know we're gonna be good friends down the road.

"Hi, yes I'm glad to finally be here! Where are you from?"

"I'm from South Africa but I moved to the UK when I was 4. How about you?

"I'm from a town in southern Colorado, in the U.S. My grandparents moved from Guadalajara, Mexico when they were young, and my family has been there ever since."

"Wow, that's pretty neat, do you go back and visit?"

   "Not often, I haven't been there since I was 6, but someday i'd like to."

"I see, that's the same for me too about my home country."

Then another young tall girl walks in the front door, with a ton of groceries in these fancy reusable bags. She has her dark hair in a braid and skin that looks so soft it almost looks silky, both of them have skin like models, I'm jealous.

  "Oh hello, you're our new roommate! I'm Amara Khatri, it's very nice to finally meet you. You're from the U.S right? I'm from New Delhi, India but I've also lived in London for most of my life but I've been to New York quite a few times." Amara goes in for a french greeting too, I'm getting pretty used to it.

"I'm Fabiana, it's nice to meet you too! I just have to say you both are gorgeous, are you guys like models?"

They both turn to each other and giggle.

"Yes we are, but we also study fashion too. But I have to say the same about you, I mean you are so beautiful! I'm surprised an agent hasn't scouted you the minute you walked on campus." Harper says as she pours herself a homemade matcha latte.

That makes me bashfully smile.

"Aw, that's so sweet! Thank you."

"Of course, Amara, how about we give her a tour around the campus and the little shops near by?"

"Okay, let me get the keys to the dorm and we'll head out."

   Harper and Amara show me the different things they have to offer around the institute, they have a few different cafe's to get a quick bite to eat, a gym, gift shops, few galleries of previous work from students and even a shop where you can purchase certified work from students. Then they take me down the street. Instantly, I can smell baking bread and pastries, I knew I was going to really love it here. We head into a bakery called Poilâne, there's a dozen eclairs, breads, croissants filled with chocolate. I pick out a creme puff, which melts in my mouth, the creamy and crunch combination mixes so well, and makes it perfect with the sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. The last stop is a cute little grocery store, I know I'll be there a lot too.

"So the early start program is hosting a welcome dinner for everyone, it's going to be at the grand hall. There's going to be a lot of good food and dessert and where we can meet more of our peers. Shall we dress up and go?" Amala goes on while we walk back into our dorm, our stomachs filled and happy from the bakery we were just in.

"Yes, anything that offers fancy dinners, I'll be there." I joke around and we all laugh with each other.

I wear a short black dress with a built in bustier and a little bow tie in the middle of it. I top it off with my tiny gold hoops and wear my hair in a wavy natural curl. Amala and Harper are dressed in that cute off duty model look, and we walk down to the grand hall that's on campus, which is about a 3 minute walk. The grand hall has a rustic white look to it, with a large crystal chandelier above. The dinner starts, everyone is sitting at their own round table with their roommates. Everyone seems to be around my age, all dressed in their best fancy outfits. I order the mushroom galette and eat french apple cake for dessert. The drinking age is lower than it is in the U.S, so everyone is drinking wine or martinis. A few other girls sit at our table and mingle with us. There was Mae, who was from Hong Kong, Cher from Sweden, and Emily from the Philippines. We all talk about what we're majoring in, for most of us, it's fashion design and fashion styling. Others are taking textile design, merchandising, knitwear design and more of a wide variety of classes this school has to offer. Tomorrow, we tour what they call the city of love, which I don't even know if I'll be looking for that yet, because every once in a while, Rafael crosses my mind, and everything stops, and I don't want it to. I just want to forget everything that happened in that place, I don't think I ever want to go back. This was the kick of start to a great season here in Paris, and I can help but get a feeling, like something life changing is gonna happen.