A World Away (A New Adult Romance Novel) Read Online Free Page A

my own studio, a small place of 39 m². I had no idea how much that was, but the Internet told me it was about 120 square feet, which was pretty small, but I had also heard that all apartments in Europe were a lot smaller than their equivalents over here in America. Besides, it wasn’t like I was going to bring a million things, I was sure the apartment was going to be fine. I planned on spending most of my days discovering Paris, having picnics in the garden, visiting the Louvre and just generally enjoying my time overseas. I had always loved art, especially Greek statues, and knowing how famous France was for its museums, I was really looking forward to it.
    The night before I left Clara, Annie, Pete and a couple other friends and I all went out for dinner to celebrate the fact that I was leaving the next day. We got a big table at a local restaurant all to ourselves, and all through the night I was teased about sexy French men, about whether I was ever going come back, and then generally given good wishes all around. We partied late into the night, and I didn’t care. After all, I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to be able to sleep that night. Besides, the next day I was going to be on an eight hour flight to Amsterdam, then I was going to have to change planes and get on another one hour flight to Paris. I was arriving at noon, and figured that if I didn’t sleep on the plane I would be exhausted. I’d never been on a plane before, but everyone that I knew who had told me that it was incredibly difficult to sleep on them, so I figured the less I slept tonight, the better I’d sleep on the plane tomorrow.
    Early the next morning I had to get up. Clara, Annie and Pete all sent me off, hugging me and giving me final good wishes as I stepped into the cab which would take me to the airport. When we were finally speeding off, I could feel myself getting even more nervous. What was this trip going to be like? I had never been to the airport before, I had never been on a plane before, and I’d never been outside of the country before. What if I hated France? What if everyone hated me? Could I just come home any time? All these thoughts ran through my head as the signs indicating the airport became more and more frequent and I started to panic. What if they didn’t have my ticket on record? What about security? Would I look like an idiot? Would I be the only one there who had never been on a plane? I mean, probably. Most people I knew, even if they hadn’t left the country, had at least flown out of state to visit relatives elsewhere. I don’t think I knew anybody like me, just having turned twenty years old and never having been on a plane before.
    Wh en we arrived at the airport the taxi driver dropped my bag off on the sidewalk next to me, I looked up at the big glass doors, took a deep breath and went in. The airport was a gigantic bustle of people. I didn’t think there’d be that many people around this early in the morning. Giant screens indicated all of the flights, and I saw mine, the flight to Amsterdam leaving at 8:50am. I looked around and found the counter for my airline. I stood in line, then was finally called, and as the lady took my passport for a minute then weighed my bag and gave me my ticket, I actually started to wonder why I had panicked so much. Everything so far was going pretty smoothly.
    I went through security and found a seat near my gate, waiting at my gate for my flight to be called. With every passing second I began to feel more and more excited. I was alone in the world now. Carla, Annie, all of my friends and everyone that I knew were back in the city, whereas I was about to get into a giant metal box that would take me to the other side of the world. I didn’t know anybody in the airport, and for the next six months everyone that I met was going to be new to me. There was something exhilarating about that, it made me feel like I was starting my life again, completely