Je suis arrivée!

For those of you that don't speak French the title means: I arrived! I have arrived in France and it is just as wonderful as the last time I was here.  I left from Chicago on Tuesday at 4:25pm heading towards Stockholm.  I was super nervous about traveling by myself and just going to France in general. I sat in the center isle of the plane next to a nice older couple, Pam and Larry, from St. Louis.  They were very sweet and this was their first time heading over to Europe.  They also happened to be Christians and it was just a nice way to spend 7 hours on a plane.  Unfortunately I did not sleep at all on that flight.  However, on my flight from Stockholm to Paris I spent quite a bit of time sleeping.  When we were landing in Paris I got to see an aerial view of the city and saw the Eiffel Tower.  It was very cool, to say the least.  Then my relatives Manu and Françoise picked me up at the airport.  It was really great to see some familiar faces.  When we were driving to their house we made a stop at a friends' house for un café.  To say the least, I can very much get used to this life style of sitting around and enjoying the company of others.  My relatives do not speak any English so this whole week that I have before I have to head over to Paris is really forcing me to use my French and really listen it will be all French all the time.  I am amazed at how much I understand when they are talking and I haven't even been here for a whole day.  My Mom called Françoise's cell phone right as we were pulling into my other relative's house, Gilberte.  It was quite nice to hear from my Mom and talk to her briefly before I headed into Gilberte's house.  We then finally made it to Françoise and Manu's house and I got to put my stuff up in a room, the whole second floor of their house is free for me to use this week since both of their sons have grown up and moved out.  The big drama for the week is that le boulangère (the baker) is on vacation which means that there won't be fresh bread and that is just sacrilege in France.  But all will be well.  It sounds as if I will be busy shopping and parties this week but I don't mind one bit.  Also I have made a new friend in France, Calline, Manu et Françoise's dog.  I am remembering how much I like France and I think that this year will be filled with many fun adventures.

Saying Goodbye

My time here in the States is coming to a swift end.  I leave in 11 days.  It is mind boggling that I am going to be living in Paris!  Something that I have dreamt about for so long is finally coming true!  It is exciting but on the flip side of that it is nerve racking!  Summer is coming to an end and people are going back to school which means that it is time for me to start saying goodbye.  It has been such a weird experience saying goodbye to my friends and family because I don't feel as if I won't see them for a year. I haven't really been that sad when saying goodbye.  Yes, I will miss people but I just don't feel sad.  My head understands that I won't see them for a long while but my heart hasn't quite caught on yet (I think it is in denial for the time being.)  I had to say goodbye to my younger sister, Maissie, the other day because I helped her move into college for her freshmen year.  I miss her horribly already but I know that she is just going to love college life and have a wonderful year.  I also had to say goodbye to some of my cousins, we went camping which was a lot of fun but saying goodbye was just strange.  Just like when I said goodbye to my very dear friends Becky and Jacquie.  Thankfully I still have a few more days before I have to say goodbye to my parents which will pry be the hardest because they will be the ones dropping me off at the airport.

I am now at the point where I am ready to go but at the same time I am not ready to go.  I am afraid of all that I will miss back in the States.  It is rather funny, the other day I had a dream that when I came back to Central I was living way out in the goonies and nobody really even noticed that I was there, it was if they didn't care that I was back.  I know that is not true but one always wonders how coming back will be since things will be different.  But for right now I am not going to concern myself with my senior year of college because I have an amazing year in Paris right around the corner!