Au Revoir

It is January 21st, 2009.
Tomorrow, in the very early morning, I will be leaving this little cabanon with all of my bags to head back to the United States. All of my belongings have been packed into my two suitcases, a duffel, and a backpack, and yet again, I find myself moving.
Last night, I had my British friend Hannah from frisbee over for drinks, dinner, and dessert, and this morning, I got breakfast with my roommate and our two French friends, Nathalie and Simon. So many goodbyes! I knew that I'd have to say goodbye to people at some point, and it all started with Maria back in December, but yet again, I'm surprised by how strange it feels to have to say goodbye to somebody indefinitely. I hope one day that our paths will cross, that I'll run into them at an ultimate tournament, at some international event, in graduate school...who knows. But until then, it's a bittersweet goodbye.
I don't mean to be dramatic, but I just simply cannot believe that my 5 months in France are already over. Humans usually live for decades and decades, but still, 5 months is a very long time! While I ran into frustration and sometimes found myself looking at pictures of loved ones and missing them, I was never counting down the days until I left, and now I'm left feeling that I'm not ready to go and that I didn't have enough time.
The open-air markets, the university, the bakeries, my lovely little home, my favorite eateries, the new friends, the not-so-talented-but-so-nice frisbee team, the incompetence of the fac's administration, the wine, the terrible mattress on my bed, trying to talk to people on skype and having it cut out, having my french corrected, being mistaken for a french person, learning to walk anywhere that's within an hour's walking distance, the art history classes, the daily baguettes, going from cutting my fingers every day in the kitchen to making couscous topped with marinated peppers, onions, and chicken, learning to break free of the schedule, not opening my planner on some days...all of it is valuable and dear to me and I will never forget any of it.

No, I'm not ready to leave. But I am so happy to have learned and experienced everything that I have, and I am so happy to be reluctant to leave rather than biting at the bit to hop onto that plane home.
But I am so excited to see my beloved parents and to see how my little brother and sister have matured and grown (I haven't seen them since they started college!).
And, I miss my dog :)