Despite his fashion-forwardness however, Kurt was very aware that he wasn't particularly well versed in the ways of the world, which was actually one of the reasons why, when his high school proposed a semester overseas for some of the graduating students who wanted to learn English, Kurt jumped at the chance. He craved adventure and travel like starving men craved ambrosia, and he was damned if he was going to let this chance slip him by.

He had begged and pleaded with his father for days until finally Burt agreed to it; mostly because (and Kurt felt slightly guilty about this) Kurt had pulled the "I'm being bullied horribly at school and I need to get away from it all" card. It wasn't a lie, not by any means, but after his father's heart attack Kurt hated putting any stress on his father's shoulders that went beyond "I've got the sniffles" or "I cut myself peeling the potatoes".

So no stress at all, really.

Once Burt gave in however, Kurt's guilt over his Machiavellian methods were replaced with an overwhelming sense of excitement and, yes, anxiety.

Because Kurt really didn't know what to expect from his semester abroad in America.

He knew that for some inexplicable reason, he was among only six other people in his school to go on the trip to Washington; he figured that some of the neanderthals that roamed the halls thought they were too cool for foreign cultures, some of them were too much of country bumpkins to want to leave France and the rest of the applicants most not have had the high grade-point average necessary to qualify for the trip. As a matter of fact, Kurt was surprised his step-brother Finn had managed to scrape the necessary grades to go on the trip, although he suspected that Burt might have threatened him into doing nothing but studying since the trip was announced, just so that his baby boy wouldn't be "alone" on the trip.

It was really kind of frustrating how close Finn and his father had gotten since they officially became the Hummel-Hudson family. Kurt sometimes felt that he hadn't so much as gained a brother as a young father, who was just as protective as his real one. He would never admit that he didn't mind all that much, especially given their former difficult past, but every time that Kurt thought about the way that Finn had grown up, and grown to accept him and love him for who he is, he couldn't help but smile.

The other people who had joined them on the semester abroad were Quinn, Finn's current girlfriend, Rachel, Finn's former girlfriend who Kurt was pretty sure signed up out of spite and worry that a semester abroad with Quinn would solidify their relationship to the point where Rachel would never gain stand a chance with him, Mercedes his best friend, Santana- the school slut and bitch cheerleader who for some reason Kurt loved anyway, and Sam, an actual American transfer who jumped at the opportunity to head back to his beloved country for a semester. Kurt was frankly over the moon that the people going on the trip were not only not his tormentors but his friends.

Which is why, when the school mentioned that the group was too small and would have to merge with an Italian study-abroad program, Kurt was kind of pissed.

"Je parie qu'on va se ramasser avec une bande d'italiens homophobes qui savent pas comment parler sans crier ou gesticuler comme des malades mentaux. Ou comment manger autre chose que les p�tes de maman." I bet you we're going to end up with a bunch of homophobic italians who don't know how to speak without screaming or without flailing their arms all about. Or how to eat anything other than mommy's pasta.

"Oh arr�te de te plaindre Kurt, qui sait, peut-�tre qu'on va se retrouver avec des italiens aussi beaux que Fabio." Oh stop complaining Kurt, who knows, maybe we'll find ourselves with italians as hot as Fabio.

Kurt shot Mercedes a look that clearly said "Bitch, as if" in right about any language.

They were waiting testily in the small airport in Normandy for the rest of the group to get there; only Rachel and Sam were still missing. By the time they finally got there Burt and his new wife Carole were suffocating their children in bone-crushing hugs and the same advice they had heard over and over again for weeks now.

Kurt make sure Finn eats right.

Finn make sure nobody messes with your brother.

Kurt make sure my idiot son doesn't kill himself in Washington.

Finn make sure Kurt doesn't max out his credit card in the first mall he sees.

After a few more minutes and rather teary goodbyes on everybody's part, it was finally time to board the plane that would take Kurt on a journey he could never have anticipated.