The Home Stretch

Hey all.  So, here we are, the home stretch.  I have really been feeling mixed emotions these past few days concerning going home.  I'm completely stressed with schoolwork, but aside from that, I've realized just how far I've really come here in France.  Granted, I can't speak fluently and don't really feel integrated with the French, I can say that I have done a lot more than I expected.  There is something truly amazing about being out of your comfort zone for the first time in one's life.  I'm not just talking about the first semester away at college, although at the time, it felt like that was as bad as it would ever get.  Boy, was that a walk in the park comparing to this.

I spent this past weekend in Compiègne after a pretty jam packed week of schoolwork.  Friday, Zuzana and I went to Paris to shop.  We both decided that we needed retail therapy and decided to take the day off.  Well, looking at my receipts, I guess I really needed it (haha).  It's nice that Zuzy and I were able to take the day to walk around, shop, get some coffee (STARBUCKS OF COURSE) and talk about how much we've changed since we arrived here.  After that, we met up with Anna and her brother who was visiting from Finland for a late lunch.

The rest of the weekend was spent in Compiègne.  My friend Luca from Italy had a lunch at his apartment to celebrate his birthday. Delicious Italian food, yum.  Gotta love authentic cuisine from every corner of the world.  I am so spoiled.  My Mexican friend is cooking tomorrow night, yes!  Saturday night I fell down the stairs in my apartment and limped out to a party.  Sunday, feeling like a granny, I hung around all day and Hansen came over to work on our dreaded philosophy project.  We've definitely built it up a lot, my poor roommate has heard me complain about it for 3 months, and she keeps asking me if I've had the presentation yet.  That's how you know you've been worrying too much about something!  Well, I'm also blogging about it so I guess it's pretty obvious that we're scared.  It'll all be over on Wednesday by lunchtime (wake up time for you guys), so I'll let you know the outcome.

Last night, during one of my procrastination pauses, I looked through my written journal and found a list of things that I have realized or have paid more attention to since I've been here.  They're pretty interesting and all correspond to different experiences that I've had here, so I figured I'd share:

-French is really hard
-This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing
-Time heals everything
-It's probably better to sleep on it than to act on it
-I'm blessed
-Food shopping is hard
-Love is an amazing thing
-Give the best of yourself, get the best of others (sometimes exhausting, but worth it...so do it!)
-Weather and cleanliness, or lack there of, can really affect my mood
-I'm really proud to be an American
-I made the right choice
-Time goes by fast, even faster when you don't want it to go by
-You can make a home for yourself anywhere.  Whether or not it's better than your real home is debatable
-It's possible to feel distance
-If you let things in, they will come in
-People impact every experience (doesn't matter what you do, it's who you're with)
-You can't judge a book by its over, really
-I miss iced coffee or any coffee that is larger than the size of a shot for that matter

Just some things to think about.  I know when I think about some of these things, it helps me make sense of what's going on!

Miss and love,
Amanda