Driving to the airport in the early morning, I felt excited. Although I was heading abroad for my first time alone, I felt cheerful and enthusiastic. I was spending the summer in Paris. While looking for more interesting things to do besides sleeping and eating, I found programs for learning languages abroad, and jumped at the chance to study French in this city known for its art, fashion, food, and culture. As I arrived at the airport where I would leave my family, I still felt only great happiness. I excitedly made my way through security, leaving my loved ones behind. My connecting flight was in Frankfurt, Germany, 14hours from Denver. Sitting in a crowded plane watching bad movies couldn't dampen my excitement. When the woman next to me asked me where I was going, I happily answered and was pleased to note a tone of jealousy in her response. But when I arrived in Frankfurt, fear and anxiety began to set in. Being in an enormous, busy building in a country where I couldn't speak the language was frightening, but as I found my way, I gained confidence. When I boarded the second plane and discovered that the flight was less than an hour, I was filled with excitement as I thought of how I would manage in a country with a new language. When I stepped on the ground of Pairs for the first time, I was extremely happy and excited. I gathered my bags and joined the crowd of people waiting for friends and family. I quickly had my first experience trying to communicate in a language that I had only practiced in school. As I left the airport, I looked for familiar monuments I had read about, but the landscape looked very ordinary. Then,with one sharp turn, the Eiffel Tower came into view, and I was finally in Pairs. What can we learn from the passage?
The writer was travelling with a woman friend of her parents'. Arriving in Paris, the writer saw some family friends waiting for her. The writer was not along when travelling to the airport in Denver. The writer had great difficulty communicating with people in French.