All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Hello all,

I write this with the heaviest heart I have experienced in the longest time! Today is the day where I have to leave France, and as I sit waiting 8 hours for my flight to Norway, it is hard for me to hold back the tears! My experience in this country has been nothing short of outstanding. I would not take back a single second. On the way to the airport this morning, I even requested my teacher to change his mind and extend the trip to a year. Yeah, let's just say that didn't go over too well hahaha. With all of the amazing sites, great experiences, new friends, stronger relationships, inside jokes, crazy encounters, late nights, sleep deprivation, class time, ping pong games, music, incredible culture, and many other things, I can't think of a better way to spend a summer. So, just to keep you all updated, this is what the past couple of days have entailed:

Ping-pong breaks during school.

Thursday, July 25th was my last full day in La Rochelle. After a fun morning of class and beating Austwelve and Adame in pingpong, we went out for our last lunch in Vieux Port. I also got to spend dinner with my host mom and her boyfriend, and after that we walked around La Rochelle at night for the last time. On Friday morning, we all parted ways from our host families and climbed on the bus. This was so horribly sad for me, because I grew very close to my host mom during the four weeks that I lived with her. She did 6 bisous with me (the french cheek kiss for saying hello and goodbye, but the normal number is 2) and made me promise that I would Skype her often. Getting on that bus and driving away from La Rochelle and all of my memories there was a very disheartening experience.

Last day in La Rochelle!

But, while I was sad to leave La Rochelle, I am so amazingly happy that I got to spend time with the people I grew so close to all while traversing one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Every minute of every day, I was surrounded by great people from all around the world (even Germany!), which made the France experience even better. Thank you all for being awesome! (For those who requested to be in the blog: here you go David, Simon, Austin, and Cec, now you are officially in the blog! Sorry I didn't make a homage to me and Austwelve's friendship, like you all wanted! haha). I also made friends with a few locals of La Rochelle, which made it even harder to leave. I credit all of them and my host mom for helping me excel in my French speaking skills. I couldn't have gotten better without their patience and help!

At the top of the Eiffel Tour with Piero, Ceciley, and Liz.

Friday afternoon we arrived in Paris and said our goodbyes to the other schools that were traveling with us. I don't like so many goodbyes! After that, we arrived back at our hotel and basically had free time until Monday in Paris. We chose to spend as much time as possible with our friends that we met in Paris previous to going to La Rochelle. We attended an apartment warming party, had dinners together, and even climbed to the very top of the Eiffel Tower on our last night. Paris is so ridiculously gorgeous, especially in the dark with all of the amazing lights. We even got to see the Tower shimmer, which happens every so often. As we discovered the tower, I was able to talk with my good Parisian friend Piero. It was really awesome to be able to speak with him for the whole night, because I realized how much I love the french language. He had been helping me with my speaking ever since I met him, which has been about 5 weeks now. I cannot even begin to describe how much he has helped me improve! And I have been teaching him english at the same time! Also, it was really humorous for me because at one point, I was speaking with him in french and then turned to talk to my other friends in english, when two girls approached me and asked me a question in english. I had to ask Piero the question for them in french, and as I turned back to the girls to respond to them, I accidentally responded in french. My mind has become wired to think in the beautiful french language, and I can't get enough of it. Overall, I cannot put into words how magical my last weekend in Paris was. It was the perfect ending to my France trip.

Gorgeous last night in Paris.

So, as I sit here in the airport waiting for my flight, I have mixed emotions. I am ridiculously sad to leave France and all of the people I met behind, but I cannot contain my excitement to go to Norway and meet up with my amazing college friend Marin. Our travels around Europe are just about to start, and its unbelievable to me that it came so fast. This is the summer of a life time, and I constantly stop and wonder how I became so blessed. About 20 times in the past 3 days, I have stopped my friends and just said "Can we just stop and look at our lives right now." God is good. Let the excitement and blessings continue!

Next stop, Norway!

Bisous, tout le monde :)