(Day 131, Lyon)
So this is it. The End. I’m sitting in the Lyon
Saint-Exupery airport (a thousand hours before my flight, better safe than
sorry), and I’m on my way home. I honestly began my trek home at 6:45 this
morning when I left the apartment in Grenoble to take the train here, and it’s
not going to end until 5:30pm Boston time when I arrive. That’s 11:30pm French
time, so I’ll have been traveling for quite some time, but I’m excited. As I
was sitting in the train, I was watching the French countryside (literally)
pass by my window, and it hit me for real that I’m going to miss France and my
life here. I have always known that I would miss all of the food, I’m planning
on cramming as much as my stomach can handle into my mouth before I officially
leave France, but I’m going to miss my friends, the walk to the tram, the
mountains that surround the city, the Bubbles going up to the Bastille, the
crazily well trained dogs, watching movies at the theater with French
subtitles, opening the curtains every morning to the view out my window.
That’s not to say that I there aren’t things I’m looking to
get away from: having a room that looks uninhabited, feeling confined to one
room in the apartment, being completely understood by the people around me, not
wearing the same 5 pieces of clothing.
So I enjoy employing hyperbole in my daily life. Sue me.
There are also things that I wish had been different. I wish I would have been
in classes with French students, or at least native French speakers, I could
have had even more time (and money) to travel to see my friend in Germany or go
to Eastern Europe, I would have gone and seen more movies in French, or I could
have tried foie gras and frog legs. Oh, wait. Not that last one. Quick turned
me off foie gras for the rest of my life.
Eww. But over all, this has been such a wonderful decision, and
not one I would ever take back. I’ve made amazing friends here from all over
the country, I was exposed to the beauty that is kinder chocolate, and I have
had an opportunity that not many people get the opportunity to do and live the
French life. Thank you so much to my family for making this possible, to my
friends for making this amazing, and to France for being so absolutely
fantastic.
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