A more fitting blog title does not exist. One year ago today, I was flying home over the Atlantic leaving some of the best people in my life, the best city in the world and my most enjoyable 3.5 months of my life. And I definitely left my heart in Paris.
One year ago I was so sad that I didn't know what to do exactly. As my plane pulled away from Charles de Gaulle Aéroport I couldn't do anything else except sit there and cry. Depressing, I know, but it's true. My semester abroad was so incredible in every way possible, except for being away from any Stonehill friends not in Paris. I know I've written other posts about going abroad, but this topic has a different feel. I knew that from then on out my life was going to be different. I wasn't going to wake up to fresh croissants and baguettes every morning, I wasn't going to cross the street and have the ability to take the metro to anywhere in the city, let alone out to Versailles or Disneyland Paris for day trips, I wasn't going to be understood when I went out in public and spoke French (believe me... I tried once I got home and got some WEIRD looks), and worst of all, some of the most important people in my life weren't going to be with me every day.
It was really hard coming home. I remember the first day back I just sat on my couch and watched TV all day long for lack of nothing else to do. I didn't have a car at that point and my parents were both at work all day, none of my friends were home yet and I had no work since my semester was over. I just sat, blankly staring at the TV for something like 6 hours straight and hated life. I hated that I couldn't walk to a patisserie or hop on the metro and go hang out at a museum or the Eiffel Tower for a few hours. It took me a long time to get back to normal.
Charles and I were talking today about how we felt so much more like ourselves over there. I just adore the lifestyle and culture of the French. Life there was the best and I miss it every single day. Mostly I just miss speaking French whenever I felt like it and having people understand me :)
Tonight my suitemates and I exchanged our secret santa presents. My secret santa Melanie made me a collage of pictures from my Euro-adventures :) They are framed and now hanging on my wall all lovely :) As much as I love them, they made me miss France, but in a good way. I keep trying to spin my sadness post-France into a good thing and feel lucky that I had such an incredible semester. You know the quote "How lucky I am to know someone who was so hard to say goodbye to"? Well that's how I feel about my time abroad; thankful and glad.
Below is a photographic expression of the things I miss from France... these are all everyday things, not traveling or special once-in-a-while luxuries...
Wednesday Night Family Dinner! Every Wednesday a bunch of us would come to the Cité where most of us lived and cook dinner together, usually some form of pasta sautéed with veggies since that was about all we could make, though one time we did make burgers :) Always accompanied by red wine and baguettes, of course!
Trying to fit into really small elevators :)
Being ridiculously excited to watch Grey's Anatomy on iTunes every Friday afternoon on a laptop, even if the episode did skip every 10 seconds or so...
Spending way too much time here, in my favorite room in the Musée d'Orsay
Lunching daily with Rosaleen in the Jardins de Luxembourg :)
Having picnics at Versailles :)
Watching the French go on strike and protest one thing after another... yes that is a man standing on top of a bus shelter with flares going off in the background...
Eating crepes at any hour of the day... or night :)
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