The Last Week

This is it. When I wake up tomorrow, I will have five days left here in France. I cannot even begin to describe the way that makes me feel. I cried tonight at dinner (those of you how know me well are saying "duh") because my host mother was talking about the students she has kept in touch with, and wanting to go visit them within the next couple of years, and how she wants me to be one of those students. She and her family have been so wonderful to me this semester, I will never forget their kindness. I really hope that we are able to stay in touch for a very long time.

Tuesday is the start of three days of fairly hardcore finals. Tuesday is both Atlantic World, which will be my hardest final, and Palestine, which will be one of my easier ones though I still need to study dates. Tuesday night my host mother is throwing me a birthday dinner with Ben, Alison, Derek and Aurelien, the French student who lives with us. I'm pretty excited for it. Then Wednesday I have my European Union final, that's another I'm not TOO worried about, I just need to remember the dates of everything and the names of all the treaties. I've also got Phonetics, which is going to be difficult. Derek and I are hopefully going to study for that some Tuesday night after dinner. Thursday's finals won't be bad at all, its a repeat of phonetics (though practical instead of theory) so hopefully I'll already know it all and can spend Wednesday saying goodbye. I'm not ready for that yet. And, haha, now I'm going to sit here and cry again. I have met the most amazing people this semester, and I can't even begin to imagine going back to things without them. The two I'm closest to by far are Derek and Alison, and I know we'll try to stay in touch but...they both live a LONG way away. LONG. There is so much more I want to put in right here, so much more I want to say, but I can't because if I do I'm going to start crying even more and that's not good. So. Moving on.

This weekend was....CRAZY. We celebrated Alison's 20th birthday, and I won't go into too much detail but Friday night...well Saturday morning it was 4:30 before I was getting into bed. Derek, Alison, Caitlin, Christine and I went out for crepes and gallettes and that was AMAZING. I think Caitlin's dessert was the best, caramel made with salted butter is a specialty here and it is fantastique. I had a few firsts, smelled like a disgusting bar, and had an amazing time. I can't get over this. I was so excited to go home, and two weeks ago that all changed and now...well its not that I don't want to go home, its more that I wish I could just take people with me...that or rearrange the map of the United States. I just realized that I use the .... rather excessively, don't I? Not really proper English. But again, I digress.

Yesterday I spent the morning shopping with Alison, I bought a very pretty green sweater because Derek had invited me to go to church with him and I had NOTHING to wear (if you speak Girl, you know that NOTHING is, of course, relative). So I bought a pretty green cardigan that has since then received (i before e except after c....can't spell in English anymore) compliments so I think it was a good choice. So we went shopping, then I was heading back and was going to take a nap as I had barely slept, when Derek called so I headed over to hang out with him for a bit. Went home, packed my bag up, then went to the bus stop to go to Alison's. The bus which........neeeever came. Ben showed up, and we eventually (after about 35 minutes) decided to walk the two blocks to the 21-23 line. As we were getting close, we saw a bus drive by. Ben took off running, me following semi-close behind (its hard in a backpack and slightly too large shoes!!) and he caught the bus...which then was WAY off of its normal route because of the Christmas parade downtown.

It all worked out, and though I walked a bit I was only about 45-50 minutes late for Alison's birthday dinner. It was her host parents and the two of us, and we had lobster. Yes, lobster. It was amazing. Then for dessert her mom brought out a tarte tatin, which is kind of an upside down apple tart, with 20 candles in it. Supposedly in France the number of candles left is the number of years you will get married in. We'll see how mine turns out on Tuesday. After dinner we hung out, talked about boys, piddled around the internet, and ended up crashing at around 11.

This morning I woke up at 9, showered, impressed Alison with my 2 minute hair drying skills (due more to my lack of hair than any sort of actual skill), put on my pretty new cardigan, fought with the left front part of my hair which did NOT want to curl properly, and generally got ready to meet the day. We went downstairs for a quick breakfast, came back up, and Derek called. I met him outside of Alison's apartment and we walked through the FREEEEEEEEEEzing cold to the reformed temple. It was absolutely amazing. They had their little pre-Christmas children's program, so the whole chapel was filled with tiny adorable French speaking persons who sang and gave little skits. They were SOOO cute. There were also several songs that we all sang, three that were recognizable, sung at home melodies with crazy French words. French church service is definitely a gymnastic exercise for your mind. And, as we're in France, we had wine and cookies instead of coffee and donuts at the end of the service. Afterwards Derek and I went to his home, where his host mother had made us what was pretty much Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and Derek's real mom's stuffing recipe (gah can't spell that one either!) which has mushrooms in it...a first for me, but quite good. It was all amazing. Then for dessert she brought out a bouche de noel, which is a traditional French Christmastime dessert. They all told me happy birthday, which was sweet. Oh, and by they I mean Francoise, Derek's host mom, plus Fie (sorry on the spelling!) the Chinese student who lived with them this semester, and the new student who will be there next term. After dinner Derek and I went and hung out in his room for awhile, then I came home and had dinner with my host mom, which I discussed at the beginning of all of this. So, I've come round circle, and have enjoyed not studying. It is SO hard for me to concentrate today, though I know exactly why. See you all in a few days!!