After a long flight from DC, I am in France. My computer thinks it's 7:50 in the morning, but it's really not. We are waiting for our flight to Dakar, where we will stay overnight before catching a hop to Banjul.

Planes are so strange. I get into a box with wings, sit down, eat bad food, try to sleep upright, and get out fo the box somewhere completely different! Sleeping upright was not a huge success, but I didn't expect it to be. I'll be nice and tired once we get to Dakar, which will help with adjusting to the time difference.

I have borrowed my father's tiny laptop for this trip. It doesn't have iTunes, but I wanted some of my music to keep me company for the next couple months. I found a program to get songs off my iPod and went through my library trying to take only the essentials. Unfortunately, I only had time to get through the N's. This means that I have artists like Alela Diane, Beirut, Devon Sproule, Feist, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mirah, and Norah Jones, but not artists like Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, and TV on the Radio. I suppose I will have to make do.

This is the first time I have ever been in France. I don't think I can really say I've been here, though. Sitting in an airport for five hours doesn't exactly give one a fair sample of a place. However, it does make for a good photo opportunity. Check out the silly college students passed out on the floor. The business people walking by loved it.