Home

I made it home safely on May 20th. I've not much to say now, besides that my life is going normally, and that my time in France happened in the span of a blink of an eye. I'm going to be working this Summer. I'm looking for a car (as mine stopped working in the middle of the highway yesterday). I'm enjoying my time with my friends and family. I can tell it's going to be a fun Summer. I'm excited to start school again. I'm considering turning my Linguistics minor into a major (double major!).

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read my posts and experience my time abroad with me through this blog. I'm glad I could share. When I see you in person, ask me anything about France besides "How was France?" How can that be answered? France, quite frankly, was everything I needed it to be. Will I go back? Eventually, but I'm not in a rush. After all, I've a newfound patriotism for America and feel I need to dedicate some years to the Motherland.

(Pour la Fin)

From a letter written to Melissa on 23 January:

Really though, life outside of America is refreshing. However much I felt un-American or unpatriotic before, all this time away has made me realize that as much as I felt like I didn't belong in my home country, it's just that - home. I've never felt more American than now, during my time in France.
   But oh, how happy I am here! France is so, so lovely a place to live. These months have felt like a long vacation: every sight saw, every meal tasted, every café occupied, every French word uttered, every faux pas committed, has been appreciated and forever adopted into my soul. I am enormously grateful to have had this opportunity, and I hope for myself and the people I've met here that this isn't the culmination of our luck and good times, but the cusp of a life of fulfillment. I wish it for all of humanity.