hooboy!

Bags packed. Room cleaned. Breakfast eaten. Goodbyes said. Pictures taken. Email checked. Thoughts evaluated. Journal entries written. Christmas presents bought. Cheese enjoyed.

Yep. I think I'm all set to go. Now I just need to wait patiently for the next 12 hours.

hmm... maybe I'll go take a bike ride and look at the mountains.

The next time I post, I'll be in the States!!!!!

Wrapping it all up...

So... it's approximately 5:00 PM France time on Monday. Last night I began to pack things up, and realized quickly just how much stuff i've accumulated here. In addition to the non-tangible things like "confidence" and "new world views", I'm leaving France with nearly a suitcase full of new stuff... some of it for myself (for instance, being the hat-fanatic that I am I had to buy a couple of authentic berets...)... but most of it for my friends and family. I'm skilled at spending money on other people, I suppose.

At any rate, as I was journaling last night I decided to make a list of things that I would miss about my life here in France, and also a list of things that I'm looking forward to back in the States...

What I'll miss from France:
* morning trips to the boulangerie to buy a fresh baguettes and croissants
* speaking French all the time. it really is an incredibly beautiful language
* being able to be a student and only a student... not worrying about working in addition to studying
* my friends that I've made here
* all of the uniaue new foods I've eaten (such as kangaroo?)
* seeing the sun rise over the Pyrenées Mountains on my way to class in the morning
* the kids in my host family

What I'm most looking forward to in the States:
* being back with my boys (Kyle, PJ, and Jeremy most of all...)
* seeing my family
* MEETING MY NIECE!
* seeing Brittany and Bethany before they go back to South Africa and Texas, respectively
* driving
* having a cell phone again
* Chipotle / Don Pablo's / macaroni and cheese / peanut butter and jelly / Waffle House
* not being exhausted at the end of every day because of the language

All in all, it will be very good to be back. Don't get me wrong, I love it here... I love my life here, I love my studies here, I love my friends here... but it will definitely be good to be back.

If you'll indulge me with just a little more patience, I should have some pictures up by this time next week :)

Oh! Some of you emailed me regarding my actual travel plans, so...

Friday night: overnight train to Paris (arriving 6:00 AM)
Saturday: Flight out of Charles de Gaulle at 12:50, landing in Chicago 3:30 Central Time (yes, that's actually a 9 hour flight that looks like 3 hours on paper!)
Followed by a flight out of Chicago 8:30 PM Central Time, landing in Cleveland 10:50 PM Eastern Time, where my parents and my best friend Kyle will be meeting me to take me home.

I'll probably post at least once more before I head back to the motherland.

All of my love, friends.

Finished!

There but by the grace of very very very strong Italian coffee and my collection of Rush cds, I finished the thesis, got it turned in, and flew through my remaining interviews. Woo! What does this all mean?

It means that I am done with classes (even though I still technically have class for through Wednesday... but i've taken all of my finals already), and can really just relax and enjoy my final week in France.

Plans for the week include:

*end of semester party tonight
*fake-Christmas dinner and xmas light viewing with my host family tomorrow night
*packing
*cleaning
*Christmas party with the other Americans Wednesday night
*taking people to the airport and train station on Thursday and Friday
*leaving Friday night at 11:00

I'll get more introspective on all of the soon, I promise.

getting closer...

4 hour written exam for Business French: FINISHED
Interview #1 for Business French: FINISHED
Interview #2 for Business French: tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM (ew)
8-page thesis for Modern Comparative Lit: not yet started, due tomorrow at midnight

and then... no more classwork... just riding out my last week in France.

9 days till i'm back in English-speaking territory!

another quick update...

Hehehe... we ran out of money in Venice, so I put a beret down on the ground and began to sing Christmas carols... and made 130€.

:)

In Venice...

So I was going to post a bunch of Paris pictures, as well as pictures of the student strikes and manifestations... but unfortunately my computer has broken and won't be able to be fixed until I'm back in the States... so no more pictures until then but believe me I'll have a ton to post as soon as I can!

Currently, I'm in Venice! Incredibly beautiful! Can't wait to share stories and pictures, but that will have to wait another couple of weeks, I guess.

Two weeks from today I fly into Cleveland!

Much love, longer post coming later this week.

-bevan