Dear faithful blog followers,
I'm afraid I have to bring this blog to a close. I'm sorry it's taken me so long since my return to write this post (well I guess it hasn't been that long...about a week now). I am slowly readjusting to life in the United States, but France is missing dearly to me. I miss my friends, my host family, and not having to drive anywhere. I also miss galettes. But that goes without saying. Haha. Fortunately while my mom was here, my host mom taught me how to make them. I failed miserably, and all in all it was a pretty hilarious evening. She gave me the little tool thing I need to make them as well as some of the flour I'll need, so now I just have to practice.
I will give you a few highlights of my mom's visit. I met her at the airport in Paris, and thank goodness I did...I'm not sure her jet-lagged non-French-speaking self could have made it past the train station without me. In fact I was the leader and almost always in charge during the trip, which I think is very funny. She was a pretty good sport about it though, most of the time.
We did a lot of lovely things in Paris, including some things that I had intended to do all of the other times I'd been but never got to do, like go to Versailles. It is completely absurd and definitely worth the visit. Also while we were in Paris I took advantage of my E.U. status for the last time and got in free to just about everything. Love that.
The weather was completely perfect during the whole trip, which totally blows my mind because that is so uncharacteristic of France. Well, I'm certainly not complaining.
After a few days in Paris, we headed off on a train to Nice. It was a long train ride, but the train went along the southern coast, which is absurdly beautiful. I hadn't even gotten off the train and I was already scheming about how I could possibly live there someday. Nice was really great...you can definitely tell that it's Italy's next-door neighbor. We ate a lot of great Italian food, including at this restaurant we happened upon on the harbor that turned out to be a vegetarian restaurant (in France!?!??) with a surprise menu. That meal turned out to be 5 courses, each one unbelievably delicious. We just cracked up every time they brought us more food, because we had no idea when it was going to end. Finally, stuffed to the brim, I asked our waiter if we could share the desert, and his response was "no! of course not!"
Then we headed back up to Rennes to meet my host family. I'm not sure how it was for my mom, because I often forgot to translate, but I think she had a good time nonetheless. My host family was very generous and wanted to make sure her experience was a good one. The next day my host mom drove us and Eric to Mont Saint Michel and Saint-Malo. That evening I had my last dinner with them, and the whole family came over. Ahh it was hard to say goodbye. Except they all said "à bientôt" instead of goodbye. Thank goodness for that.
We spend the next day strolling around Rennes. It was very strange without all of my friends there, but we had a nice day. And then we headed back to Paris, where we struggled to get all of our luggage through the metro (horrible idea...never do that). Four different strangers helped us get things up and down stairs and through gates. My impression of Parisians was totally altered at the last minute. Turns out they are pretty nice folk who are willing to lend a hand. Very fashionable, nice folk. Hehe.
Leaving France was awful, but I know I'll be back. Nothing felt permanent as I was leaving...catching a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower for the last time at sunrise the morning I left didn't really feel like a goodbye.
I miss a lot of things about France, but most of all the language. When I landed in the United States, I definitely accidentally spoke French to an airport employee. Oops. I am going to have to search out francophones in Charleston this summer. Either that or my poor brother is going to receive the brunt of my language frustration (of which he will understand about 50%).
Thank you for sticking with me on this journey! I still have lots to say and plenty of stories to tell, so if you are interested, feel free to come find me, give me a phone call, shoot me an email. All I ask is please don't pose the question "How was France?" I will reply with "Do you have 6 hours and a lot of coffee?"
Now I will be like the French and say à bientôt!
<3 becca
