Je ne peux pas dire adieu à ma Paris… (I can’t say goodbye to my Paris…)

Today is my last full day in Paris. I’m sitting in my room that is kind of a disaster right now attempting to pack up everything from the semester. Packing has been a lot harder than I thought it would be, not just emotionally, but also because I have a lot of stuff and I’m not the best of packers.

This past week in Paris has been incredible. My final for my Paris Civilization class (the class at ACCENT in English) went really well I think. He is good about letting you know exactly what is on the test before you sit down to take it. The time I didn’t spend studying I spent going to museums and parks that I hadn’t visited yet. The weather got incredibly nice at the end of the week just for us :-) People from my program started leaving on Wednesday… a good number left today. Luckily some of my really good friends are still here until tomorrow or Monday with me. Tonight we are going to eat in a creperie in Montparnasse and drink wine by the Eiffel Tower… a perfect ending.

I can’t really express in words how incredible this experience was for me. I’ve always wanted to study abroad, but I never thought I could feel so at home in a place that is so foreign in so many ways. Living with a host family was definitely a great decision. I made my host parents dinner on Thursday night (Grete’s family’s recipe for macaroni and cheese!) and they were so appreciative. They gave me a book of pictures of Paris as a going away present which was such a thoughtful idea. I’m worried about keeping in touch with them because they don’t use the internet and are spending the summer away from Paris. However, I do plan to write letters a few times a year with my host mom! I have definitely become more independent after this semester. Living away from my friends, walking home alone, speaking a foreign language all forced me to rely heavily on my capabilities and self-esteem. I also learned that confidence means a lot. I am so much more confident now with my French because I just put myself out there and learned not to care if I made a mistake.

I planned the end of my time here really well I think. I leave tomorrow morning for London where I will spend eight days with my roommate Grete (!!!!!). She has been studying there since January so she is really familiar with the city and knows all of the great things to do. I’m also hoping to make a couple day trips to see Stonehenge and maybe the south of England. My goal for the trip is to come back with as much amazing tea as possible ;-) London will be a great bridge between Europe and the U.S… it makes leaving her just a little bit easier.

I’m going to miss Paris more than I ever thought I could. This week has been sort of an emotional rollercoaster with celebrating the end of the semester (and being SENIORS in college…) and saying goodbye to this city. But this is not a real goodbye because I am sure that I am coming back. Possibly after next year, possibly after grad school but I am really excited to apply for this program that is run through the French Embassy where they pay native English speakers to teach English in France. I need more time here… I want to learn the language better and (unlike this semester) I want to meet some more French people. So France… get ready, I’ll be back.

Our last jumping picture of the semester at the Eiffel Tower!

I included this picture because it is a great example of what the end of our semester was... sitting in parks (like the Luxembourg Gardens) and picnicking!

On Wednesday of this week I went to the Musee Rodin. I saved it for the end of the semester because it is known for its gardens and is supposed to be incredible on a nice day. It was definitely one of the best museums I've been to since I've been here. His works were scattered around the gardens as well as in a beautiful mansion that he used to work in. This is the dome of the Invalides (now the Army Museum) from the garden.

I really loved this sculpture of two hands. It's a cool picture too because you can see the gardens in the back and a little bit of what the mansion was like.

I bet you all know this one!

The majority of my program at our Farewell Dinner on Wednesday night. We ate at Le Grand Colbert. You might recognize it from the movie "Something's Gotta Give"?

On Thursday night (the night after our last exam) we stayed out all night to see the sunrise from Montmartre :-)

Friday night, Allison, Jackie and I went to the Opera Garnier to see a ballet! We were suppoesd to go with ACCENT back in March but it was canceled because of a strike. The three of us still really wanted to go so we bought 10 euro tickets and saw an INCREDIBLE performance. The music as well as the dancing were amazing. It was a ballet based off a Proust novel.

The Opera Garnier is what the Phantom of the Opera is based off of (note the awesome chandelier). The ceiling was done by Chagall and is pretty controversial because it covered up another mural that went more with the style of the building.

Jackie made a great point while we were here... it is really awesome that in Paris they make something like an opera or a ballet affordable to everyone. Our seats weren't the best in the world (I definitely had a cramp in my neck by the end) but it was still so good for only 10 euro!

Appropriate last picture... Jackie and I sad as we left ACCENT for the last time.

Harmonieuse!

After talking with my host mom tonight, I believe I have found my one word to describe Paris: elle est toujours harmonieuse (she is always harmonious). Harmonious has a different tone than balanced… it captures the awe one has every time they leave the metro and see a beautiful building that they have seen a thousand times before. It is also a better word to describe the personal feeling I have in Paris. So, this incredible place cannot be summed up in a word, but this one sure comes close.

I can’t remember if I’ve written this before or not but my host mom also described Paris to me as an old dame. “She has large buildings which are very beautiful but she can be a little cruel and VERY expensive.” :-)

I had my big Sorbonne test on Saturday. Taking the test was an experience in itself. The test was held in this large building just a little south of Paris. The Sorbonne uses this building for all of their large exams. There were four wings to the building and five floors on each wing. We were split up by level and then alphabetically. Every room was being used on Saturday! They let us into the room at 2pm where we each had our own numbered desk with only a sheet of green scrap paper sitting on it. We were required to put any bags on the windowsill and only allowed pens and water bottles at our desk. They were very prompt about starting the test at exactly 2:30 (kind of like the SATs…). I had heard that we weren’t allowed to leave the room for any reason, but apparently in the room my friend was taking her test in the proctors let a student leave for a smoke-break! (Only in France…) The test was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be. It’s hard to explain but the exercises were a little bit different than those I had practiced in class. The essay topic was SO easy though: “What aspects of French culture do you love the most (cinema, cuisine, architecture, etc.)?” I could talk about that for days. It wasn’t so difficult that I’m worried about my grade, it’s just kind of scary because the way this program works this test essentially counts for 4.5 credits!

I had the last meal my host mom will ever cook me tonight because tomorrow night is our farewell dinner with the people from ACCENT and Thursday night I am cooking for them! I’m planning to make macaroni and cheese, my amazing salad and possibly lemon poppyseed cake for dessert. There are so many things I wish I could make for them but I just can’t find certain ingredients here.

My host parents are leaving on Sunday as well. They spend the month of June in their home in Spain and the months of July and August in their country home outside of Paris. Tough summer…

Speaking of summer, now that it is summer for a lot of Americans they have INVADED this city. There are American tourists everywhere! I might have mentioned this before but France is the number one tourist destination in the world, meaning Paris is the most visited city. I’m even getting a little bit annoyed with the American tourists, and I’m definitely sick of being mistaken for one!

One more exam, four more days in Paris and three large bags to pack… yikes.