I think I might have said it all....

It's taken me a long while to come back here and do my final wrap up, but I did spend an entire year in France and it deserved timed to be aired out and age like a fine wine so I could truly understand what I learned from my trip. (I went to France-of course I must include similes involving wine)

When I got home I thought I might never again love Paris the way I did before I went. It was idealized, it was the city of light, the city of love, etc. How could I love it the same way after seeing it's imperfections and smelling it's *delightful smells? But I now months later I have the same longing for Paris as I did for home while I was in Paris. I feel like I'm a fish out of water in both places- but at least here I can fully communicate with most anyone. It happened slowly...

Somewhere between my walk back from my french class to my apartment I realized that I couldn't take a detour down the champs-elysee. On friday night I couldn't pop over to the Louvre for student night. There was no lili's just around the corner to grab hot chocolate and a muffin at and there definitely was not a bakery full of amazing baguettes right next to my apartment nor a metro to take me anywhere I wanted to go.

Once I got home things went back to their normal rhythm and it felt like nothing happened. That pause button that I felt was pressed all last year really did work for the most part- save for the random questions about me and Paris.

In July I thought I'd wouldn't want to go back to Paris for a VERY long time, essentially I was all Parisianed out. However, when I first arrived at my welcome home party 20 minutes early and I realized it was because I automatically add twenty to thirty minutes onto any travel time to account for metro madness. A fact that became dreadfully apparent when I showed up to my first class 30 minutes early. (In Paris it would take anywhere from 20 minutes to 40 minutes to get to class depending on time of day and who was driving the metro.)

The second time I realized times had changed was the fact that I show up to class looking respectable. I wore my silver shoes and a nice top with jeans- while the person sitting next to me was decked out in gym shorts and the shirt they slept in. I transfered to flip flops pretty quickly but that still felt strange. I was pretty much overdressed anywhere I went. One day I woke up late and I was just going to wear a t-shirt. I made it all the way to the door before running back into my room and putting on a different shirt. It took a weekend of FREEZING cold weather and me having no other choice for me to wear my hoodie to a football game AND TENNIS SHOES GASP!! (Now I wear it out a little more frequently.)

When I saw my full size fridge I did a dance! Now I wouldn't HAVE to go to the grocery store EVERYDAY. However, I miss the fresh ingredients the ability to just run around the corner to grab anything that I need. Now I have to jump in my car (if it's even in the parking lot- usually not) and run and get the thing I need. I have to plan menus out in advance which doesn't sit well after a year of playing it off the cuff.

Studying abroad provides the amazing opportunity to meet a bunch of different people from all around the world. I met some of the most amazing and interesting people while in Paris. They challenged me to see the world in a different way and introduced me to new foods, new music, and just a new outlook on life. But spontaneity was always there- did you want to go on a trip this weekend? do you want to go grab a coffee after class? wanna go have lunch next to the eiffel tower? People are so set in their regular routines at home that it can be hard to just go and live life. I mean in college people are a lot more flexible than in the "real world" but even still we have so many obligations and participate in so many different activities we have stopped being able to enjoy we are doing and just be spontaneous. Being able to break out of that routine is something I need to do more often now.

I am now able to easily-ish polish off a 15 minute presentation no sweat... well except for the fact that for the rest of my life I will be haunted by Ambassador Bolewski about my presentation style; however, that's why I didn't choose to go to school in Germany and he needs to pick up on that. That man is never happy and 8 am doesn't make it better.

I will always crave the 2x2x2 at BIA and nothing I can find here really compares to it. MMMmmm Raspberry Dark chocolate chunk pancakes and skillet potatoes! Pretty much worth a flight to Paris in order to get Breakfast in America haha. I'm "only" six away from a free meal!

I learned that nothing can be quite as dehumanizing as the medical test for your titre de séjour in Paris. Nor can anything be quite as surprising as the little gift they give you for showing up. It can also be said that nothing is as arduous as waiting for that blasted titre de séjour!

(Sidenote: I have framed my x-ray and it is hanging on my wall for everyone I told I would. My carte de séjour is with it proudly. It reminds me that I can make it through most anything- or any wait.) I've decided that the french medical people are run by the secretary at the BNP- the one who refused to give me my bank card. I had nightmares about her. I even brought in Anne-Laure to translate just incase there was something I was missing- there wasn't. Me not receiving my card for several months is just how things worked out for me.

New Joke: How many people does it take to change a lightbulb in my old apartment? It could take a million and those ridiculous things would still never work! It was pretty much a death sentence when a light went out- which usually involved at least one electrocution and 4 months of no light in the bathroom/living in a dark cavernous room.)

The whole depression in winter thing- completely TRUE. When the sun comes up at 9:30 and goes back down at 16:00 sadness ensues. Conversely, when the sun comes up at 4:30 and goes down at 23:00 happiness abounds.

Don't get me wrong... on a beautiful 73 degree day in December I am quite happy to be in Atlanta. At the same time, I find myself walking along and reminiscing about that one time where I was in a french zombie mob, or getting fighting off pickpockets in Portugal, eating the best gelato ever in Venice, canyoning in switzerland, tasting chocolate in Turin, driking wine out of a baby bottle in Paris, and I smile to myself and sigh. C'est drôle la vie. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Would I do it again knowing everything I now know- In a heartbeat. I also recommend anyone and everyone to study abroad or just push the horizons of their world beyond their comfort zone and discover a new perhaps better way of life- or maybe just a new appreciation of your own.

my three suitcases which held my life.
The room Samantha and I shared in the Cité U.
Working on our very first Exposé in the welcome program.
The Cité U on a gorgeous fall day.
Diner de Conference with some of my new classmates (Ayu and Yichen)
Celebrating the move to our new apartment with Emily and Ashley (Samantha took the photo) Salmon in beurre rouge mmm.. and garlic mashed potatoes
Marianna's birthday I highly recommend portuguese food!

Dad and Mom came to visit and we explored the quaint town of Chartres and it's huge cathedral
Samantha's awesome panoramic function and a palacio in Turin with Ashley and Joanna

Thanksgiving in Paris! It was delicious!
Kareoke night a lot of fun!
Georgia Tech vs. Georgia
Trip to Eurodisney
Katherine arrives! Eating churros or chichis in Lyon
First sunny day of spring picnicking with amelia and friends in Fontainebleau
The legendary trip to Dijon (don't visit it on a sunday in the wintertime) with Katherine, Clare, Katie and Briony.
Lauren visited during her spring break and we met up with ansley to tour Versailles
Eiffle tower at night
Miranda visited too! The view from la tour montparnasse! (It's "the best view of paris" because you can't see the tower itself which the parisians call an eyesore)

Beautiful stained glass window in Le Mont Saint Michel depicting St. Michael defeating the dragon.

France vs. Lithuania for qualification to the world cup! My first soccer/football match
"Shopping" at the Galleries Lafayette with Amelia for a hideous 1000 euro dress...
The magic fountain in Barcelona during spring break
park guel
the not san francisco bridge in Lisbon Portugal along with Whitwickey
crazy castle in Sintra Portugal
The other side of the atlantic in Porto Portugal
Celebrating May Day with an afternoon picnic
The beach in Nice!
A view of the yachts in Monaco
On the red carpet in Cannes
the clay courts of the French Open with Katie
Watching Carina Pack-- very slowly
enjoying straussberg
first can of Dr. Pepper in months- they sell it in Luxembourg and not in france.
Canyoning in Switzerland! So much fun!
On a hike in Switzerland- our best idea ever. In the background is the tallest peak in Europe. Where the grass ends there is a giant cliff.
The gondolas of Venice
My last weekend in France enjoying la fete de la musique!
On est obligé à présent de regarderl'imposant spectacle de l'évolution de la viecomme un ensemble d'événements extraordinairement improbables, impossibles à prédire et tout à fait non reproductibles. ~Stephen Jay Gould

So I went to Switzerland

two weeks ago- time has escaped me... In between my two final classes Emily, her friend Nicole, and I decided to head over to Switzerland to see the beautiful Alps and more importantly go Canyoning. It was a lot of fun and crazy beautiful if you haven't seen them around already head over to picasa to see the pictures from Interlaken. I especially liked it because one of my favorite movies/books growing up was Heidi and I always wanted to go to where she lived and now I have!

I don't know why but my photos aren't being uploaded again today!

This week Katherine and I headed off on our final adventure to Venice, Italy. Another place that I have always wanted to go to ever since learning that instead of streets they have canals and boats! I found Venice as enchanting as all the tourist books, movies, and tv shows about it claim it to be! I even looked past all the crazy tourists running around St. Mark's Square. I absolutely adore the city and had a lot of fun while I was there! The weather was really beautiful the whole time too which was nice. Although I considered it a little hot- 85 degs. Apparently I better shape up and accept it because it is going to be 99 degs this week in Powder Springs! AH! I am going to melt!

Anyways I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog! I'll probably update it a couple times after I get home and make a summary or some wrap up of my time here and (hopefully) finally get the pictures to load- but I am leaving france and ending my short time of being a parisian once and for all on this Tuesday! 

In the mean time pray that my mom can make it on a flight this afternoon to meet me and help me get all my stuff home- and that she doesn't go jetlag crazy for only spending 24 hours in france while she is still on Alaska time!  Then pray that we can get on our flight on Tuesday morning- apparently it is looking tight- well at least to Dad.

Luxembourg, Germany, France-Oh My!

Thursday Katherine and I had a picnic on the Champs deMars (the park infront of the Eiffle Tower) in order to work on our secret project mwahaha!

These are our lovely hosts and our Hillarious (At least he thought he was) french waiter who I decided looks like the chicken guy from toy story 2.

Katherine's first few seconds in Germany! First trip to Germany evah!!!! SO happy!

Katherine's first seconds in Luxembourg- for some reason so much more happier. Perhaps it was from the use of the word duchy or dukey.

my first seconds in luxembourg- I'd already been to Germany so my first new country of our trip.

Sucking it in to stand next to the skinny building.

the best part about luxembourg is that they have (belgian) Dr. PEPPER! I was going to cope for 17 more days-or so but then we found it at the gas station! HORAY!!! What a wonderful trip! And I'm actually drinking it as I write this. Happy... Happy... ha ha ha ha... (zoolander)

This weekend I'm visiting Metz where GT sends some engineers to Lorraine/Metz France to study for the summer and a few of my friends happen to be here this summer so Katherine and I mozied over for a weekend and are staying with some family friends. They decided that heading over to Germany for breakfast would be the best breakfast idea ever so of course just a little trip to another country no problem- just 45 minutes by car kinda the equivalent of driving to Alabama. Then we commandeered a german shopping cart and were running over innocent and not so innocent bystanders (grocery stores on saturdays are intense in europe and this one was especially crazy!) Then we went to another cute city called (at least phonetically-forgive my german) Burn Castle koose which is a picturesque little town in the German wine district around the meusell river. Then we headed up to Luxembourg because I said that luxembourg was better than germany. Only I've discovered that luxembourg is full of well... Eurotrash. Not so lovely looking people there (no offense any luxembourgers that I might have unknowingly insulted) Then we headed back to france. It was a grand adventure and it was nice to have a car- especially since it insisted on raining all day. woh owh woh.

So I think I have a new roommate

I opened the door to find Samantha perched on the couch in fear... holding an umbrella and a bowl. Apparently we have a new roommate, but of the rodent variety.

 Good news: he's small- not the metro rat variety.

 Bad news- he's here. 

New photos

Hey! I've figured out how to cut out the middle man (aka my computer) when uploading photos to the internet so I have posted the last of spring break, some of the May Day picnic, and some from Rolland Garros (french open).

http://picasaweb.google.com/slindsey711/PortoAndOtherPlaces#

la Côte d'Azur!

Katherine and I spent a long weekend in the Cote d'Azur- and it is very beautiful and worthy of it's rep. We stayed in a Hotel in Vence which is about 30 minutes away from Nice and is nestled in les Alpes-Maritimes very pretty little town and is located right next to Saint- Paul sur Vence which is the most visited Village in France (according to Katherine) The coolest thing about these towns is that you can see the Mediterranean sea and the Alps at the SAME TIME! Nice is in the running for becoming the host of the 2018 winter games. If they win I'm pretty sure it will be the first winter games complete with beach resorts! Thursday we toured Nice which is pretty, nothing terribly exciting except for beautiful blue water and a pretty flower market. Friday we caught a bus to Cannes where the Film Festival was happening and we had hopes to see some great stars. (unfortunately we were a day late for Brad Pitt). Then on Saturday we caught a train in the opposite direction to Monaco and tried to figure out why europeans were wearing NASCAR- like hats and took part in the hubbub surrounding the qualifying race for today's Grand Prix Formula 1. Formula 1 race cars zooming around the port of Monte Carlo (those are the smaller yachts...) It kinda sounded like an air raid siren was going off- and/or that aliens were attacking and systematically sucking out our brains... someday when I have space on my computer I'll post the video with the sounds in the background.

Katherine and I on the red carpet in Cannes for the 62 Film Festival- yep we're that special.
Some french movie stars walking the afternoon red carpet at the festival. We waited around until 7:30 in the peasant area because we heard a rumor that Johnny Depp himself would be arriving to promote his movie that night- unfortunately he never showed up... But some of the other stars from the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus did show up... just not the super famous ones. Verne Troyer Andrew Garfield and Lily Cole 

Someone should've told Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Ferrel to jump on the band wagon and go back in time so that we could get there pictures- but oh well... and while they're at it tell Heath Ledger to not take those pills so he could've been there too! But it was an exciting atmosphere at least.
This is a picture of Sain Paul. It is very pretty- Very picturesque. You might subconciously recognize it because it was the local for very many impressionist painters back in the day. The town in now filled with various art galleries.

Anyways I decided that I have to become rich so that I can return to these places with the right credentials to be on the other side of the fence instead of with the peasants.

Hopefully I can clear up some space on my computer in the coming weeks so that I can show you the rest of the photos and a couple of the videos that I took this weekend.