Whoops

Okay.... so I may have lied when I told you that I would update more often. Life has been so busy in the past three months and time has flown by! I only have 10 more days in France until I head back home and I have some mixed feelings. On the one hand, I'm so excited to get back home to see my family and friends and to get caught up with everyone but on the other hand I'm sad to be leaving some awesome people behind.

Since my last post I've been to: Dublin, Ireland, Galway, Ireland, Killarney, Ireland, Rome, Italy, Venice, Italy, Paris, France, Rome, Italy (again!), Brussels, Belgium, Assisi, Italy, Caen(Normandy beaches), France, and finally, Stockholm, Sweden. When I look at that list it amazes me. I can't believe I have been so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to have seen all of these beautiful places. I have made some great memories with all of my traveling companions and I will not forget them soon.

As my last week in Fourmies, France begins it feels like I've just started this assistantship. I have learned so many things and I have really grown during my time here. I learned that I do not want to pursue French in any capacity when I get back (haha) but I know I will look back on this time with a smile on my face. This is the place where I really 'grew up'. It helped me step out of my comfort zone and to meet new people. All of the people I have had the pleasure of knowing during these 7 months have touched my heart and I will not forget them. That sounds sappy, but hey it's the truth :).

It's difficult to recap all of my adventures in just writing alone, so I'm leaving my stories for when I get back home. Like some assistants who are leaving in 10 like me, we're all very excited to get back to an intellectually stimulating life (as one assistant put it). I couldn't agree more - I think I've killed some of my brain cells because of all the movies I've been watching.

I am looking forward to going back home and to start on yet another exciting chapter of my life!

Thank you France for the memories but it's time for me to go back to where I belong...... :)

Update

I apologize for my lack of updating all of you who are following this blog! It's been over two months and wow this time has flown. Since my last blog I've been back home to Minnesota where I enjoyed Christmas with my family, London where I literally saw everything with my good friend Laura from college and lastly Paris with Laura too where we had more adventures.

Choosing to go home was one of the best decisions I could have made - it revived me to be honest. It was so great to be home for Christmas with my family.

London was great but busy. Laura and I spent a total of 5 days trekking around London and I think my favorite place (if I have to pick one..) was Abbey Road. It was great!

In Paris we had a few unfortunate events. One, when we visited Sacre Coeur we got swinddled out of €10 because these guys made us these bracelets....strike one against Paris. Second, for dinner we got served frozen pasta meals that we paid €10 for. And you might be asking yourself, how do you know that it was frozen? Well, mine was still cold/frozen in the middle and secondly, Laura's bowl still had plastic on it. So Paris was not so swell.

Two weekends ago I traveled down to Toulouse (southern France) with two other assistants. We spent a record number of hours on the train that weekend: 22 to be exact. On that Saturday, Krista (another English assistant here in Fourmies) and I went to Lourdes. It was a gorgeous day and we ended up eating cheese and baguette in the midst of the pyrenee mountains!! It was beautiful. Toulouse in general was okay mainly because it was good for a change of scenery and to have nice, warm weather.

The next adventure begins this weekend on Saturday when I'll be flying to Dublin to meet my grandparents to travel around Ireland, Rome, Venice and Paris for the next two weeks. I am so excited - I can't stand it!

I will post more updates soon. :)