Au revoir, la France!

Well, folks, my time in France has nearly come to an end. It's hard to believe, but I'm moving out of my apartment tomorrow and will be back home in EIGHT days. Holy crap, where has the time gone? These past 7 months have just flown by. I said my goodbyes at school last week because (surprise surprise) even though my contract doesn't technically end until Monday, we're on vacation again. I won't lie to you though, the school goodbye was a little bit anticlimactic. I didn't even get to say goodbye to a lot of my students due to the fact that my last week was sort of interrupted by Carnaval and exams. I did, however, get to have a goodbye lunch with my boss, my first and only meal with her. Better late than never I guess? Unfortunately, the students were my favorite part of that school so I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to say goodbye to them. I honestly could not have asked for better kids, they were all fantastic! I've spent the past week saying goodbye to friends and packing up the past 7 months of my life, but Adrienne and I did make time for a day trip on Monday to Mont St. Michel, which is an abbey in Normandy that would be pretty ordinary, except for the fact that it's built on top of a rock on a tiny little island in the English Channel two miles from the French coast. It was built nearly 1,000 years ago when the only way to access it was to walk across at low tide. How on earth they managed to do it I literally have no idea, but it was incredible! Definitely one of my favorite places in France. Also, it's the most visited place in all of France!

I'm staying in Tours until Tuesday, then flying to Edinburgh, Scotland to see Lucy! I'll be there for four days and then I'm flying straight home to Atlanta. I'm definitely excited to be going home, but a little bit sad too because I don't know when I'll be back here again. When I did study abroad I was completely overcome with this feeling of "I need to do whatever I can to come back" and now that I've done that I sort of feel like the France chapter of my life (or at least the chapter of living here) might be over, and I'm ok with that. There is a lot I will miss though. In a way I feel like I'm just now graduating since I had this job lined up while I was still in school, so now I definitely understand how everyone was feeling about trying to find a job, deciding whether or not to go to grad school, etc. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty scary, but also quite exciting at the same time. For the first time in my life I don't know exactly where I'll be in 6 months. The possibilities are endless! I cannot wait to see what the future brings, but I am so unbelievably grateful I had this opportunity. I'm quite proud of everything I've survived and accomplished over here. Not only have I improved my French, but I've had my first experience with the real (well, semi-real at least) world. Survived being homeless for 3 weeks. Survived dealing with the CAF, banks, real estate agency, office of immigration, etc. Survived moving to a place where I knew absolutely no one. Learned just how assertive you have to be to actually get things done here. Learned teaching isn't as scary as I thought it was. Learned that while we all know the French openly hate America, they actually secretly LOVE America. I could not go one day without passing someone wearing an American flag on their shirt or at least seeing one in a store window. Thinking the whole anti-American thing is a little bit Bush 2004-era. They love Obama!

Things I will miss include but are not limited to:

• never being more than 5 minutes walking from a bakery, no matter how hard you try
• French fashion
• The coffee!
• The foooood
• Hearing the word bon/bonne every time you leave somewhere. They ALWAYS wish you a bonne journée (have a nice day), bonne après-midi (afternoon), bonne soirée (evening), bon courage (good luck), bon apetit, bon voyage, and now they're wishing me a bon retour (have a nice trip home).
• speaking French on a daily basis
• being a stone's throw away from other European countries
• the markets
• the WINE
• the architecture
• trains!
• being only an hour away from Paris, because really, when is that ever going to happen again in my life?
•  2-hour lunches everyday (while it was an inconvenience in the beginning, you get used to it pretty quickly)
• Moroccan food!
• my 12-hour work week
• and of course, mes amis!

Things I will NOT miss include:

• French bureaucracy (now trying to undo all the paperwork that was really only finished a few weeks ago)
• The astronomical cost of living
• That one waiter from Au Bureau
• People saying to me, "you're not french, are you?"
• having to take the bus 45 minutes to school and back
• The eyesore that is the tramwork all over town (still looks the same as it did in September)
•  going to the laundromat
• waking up at 6 am to get to school at 8:30 to find out the teacher's not coming (happened 4 times)
• moving in & out of my apartment without a car

Things I am excited about coming home to:

• Chick Fil A, cheddar cheese (just found it for the first time fresh from the deli here last week. only took 7 months), peanut butter, mexican food, indian food, cajun food, etc... =basically having more than one type of food to choose from
• My washing machine, dryer, & dishwasher
• my car! (Hope I remember how to drive still!)
• My dogs! Cannot wait to see this face again:

 

• My bed
• The dollar instead of the euro. I'm going to feel like I've won the lottery once I convert all my money!
• East coast time zone
• And of course, my family and friends

All in all, I'm so glad I've had this experience but I just cannot wait to be back home! I've got a bit more packing to do and a few more goodbyes to say and before I know it I'll be back in Atlanta!!