Commencement

The Jackson International Airport is a non-threatening beginning. Security is relatively simple, the people are nice in the way that Jackson folk are nice, it's small, so there's it's not really much trouble to get where you're trying to go.

This morning was hectic, as all mornings before leaving are. That said, I really finished packing yesterday afternoon, so it could've been much, much worse. There was only one thing that I realized last-minute I was missing, and mom had one of her own, so I've "borrowed" it. Now I can charge my little camera. Good.

I was glad to see everyone in my family for lunch yesterday. It's always nice to get together, especially as I won't be seeing them in real life for a while. My mom's parents came to see me this morning as I was getting ready to go, and I was really glad that they came by.

I'll hop on this plane to Atlanta in about an hour and then the "hurry up and wait" process will begin in full. It's really insane the way we travel these days: rush to the next gate to wait for the plane to arrive and wait for boarding to begin and wait to taxi off and wait to reach cruising altitude and wait for complimentary food and wait to land. Rinse. Repeat.

I should land in Marseille around 11:30 tomorrow morning, which on CST will be around 4:30 a.m. I hope that I'll be awake enough to "parle en français" enough to get where I'm going when I land.