Semi Trucks

These last few days have been really tough. Everyone's been leaving, so it's been kind of a continual cycle of sleep when you can, run to the train station, cry a lot and then spend all the time you can with who's left. Now it's just me and the kids who are staying for the year. I knew when I got here that I would have to pack up and leave again someday, but I still got attached to people and now I'm having a hard time letting go.

It was around 7 in the morning, really dark, still and quiet after Chris and I took Ines, Siri and Mindy to the train station. We were waiting for a bus to take us home so we could go back to sleep (I was really tired as my sleep schedule has been completely all over the place for the past week.) I decided to take this time for my now ritual visit of the ATM. Everyday over the past few days, I've taken out the entirety of my daily limit of 250 Euro because I still need to pay Madame my rent from October to December. This morning's transaction caught me completely off guard when the machine ATE my card! I apparently entered my pin number incorrectly twice and this in turn raised some sort of flag that suspicious activity was at play. Meanwhile, I just stood there, my jaw on the ground, staring at Chris in total disbelief before nearly starting to cry. I am scheduled to leave the country in two days, the bank is closed on weekends (it's Saturday) and I had no idea what to do. After a complete freak out, mulling over stories I'd heard about organized debit card thefts and having bad credit for life, I realized that the machine had eaten my CREDIT CARD, not my DEBIT CARD. Ah, so THAT'S why it didn't work.
I called 5/3 and had them freeze my account. I don't really need any money at the moment, since I'll just be traveling, so I'll figure out how to solve the problem when I get home--I'l probably just end up cancelling it. I think this is a good example of why sleep is important.

Today, while I was in Centre Ville, I saw this huge thing that wasn't a bus. I pointed it out to Chris and the two of us stared at it for a good 15 seconds before we realized that it was a SEMI TRUCK. Granted, it was a really nice looking one, not like the one's back home, but to be honest, I forgot about those things. I think I'm going to have some serious culture shock all over again upon my arrival to the US.

Tomorrow I pack.