Final Post: Thoughts about My Trip

First, I just have to share this. This is how I was welcomed home around 1am on Thursday, July 15 by my awesome coworkers Kacie, Brett, & Logan:

Kacie made me a sign on her iPad!

Kacie about to hug-tackle me as I exited the terminal. (Pic from Logan's phone.)

Ok. Actual blog now:
I've been back in the United States for about two weeks now, and I've been able to process a few things from my trip.

The most surprising thing to everyone I've spoken with is that, though I didn't mention too much about it in this blog, I no longer want to live in France (or at least not in Paris) because of my experiences there. The general consensus of all the people I've talked to that have been to Paris is "love Paris, hate Parisians". I had the same experience. I'm not counting it out completely yet, but lets just say that my idea of moving to Paris the day after I graduate in May is no longer at the forefront of my mind.
Maybe somewhere in Belgium is the answer.
Or Haiti.
Or some other French-speaking country.
I guess I'll have to go check those out soon. :)

Overall, despite snotty Parisians, I LOVED my experience this summer. I loved meeting people in the Ubaye Valley and becoming close to them. I miss them a ton - especially the people from the equestrian center: Marine, Flo, & François.

I learned a lot about myself during the trip too (especially the later part of the trip) - how I travel and how I learn mostly. I loved having a few things planned out for each day but then just wandering for the rest of the day and going wherever looked interesting. The best place for this was London because it was so easy to get around. I bought an Oyster card for about 3 days of unlimited travel around London and was able to just jump on and off the Tube at will. It was awesome - total freedom! I learned the most (other than when I was learning tons of vocabulary everyday in Barcelonnette) by doing that sort of wandering too. Luckily, a lot of places label historical sites with informational plaques, so there is a lot to be learned by just walking around and reading signs. I also took a self-guided walking tour that included a lot of Harry Potter sites and other historical sites along the way as well. I really got to know a lot of the areas right off the Thames.

Dublin was a good experience, but I don't think I'll spend more than two days there if I go again. It's a fun place to be, but I heard nothing about how amazing Cork is (among several other places) while I was there. I want to check them out if I can go to Ireland again.
(Although, I must say, there's nothing quite like getting toasted first thing in the morning in Dublin because of a tour through Jameson distillery followed by a tour of the Guinness Storehouse then wandering aimlessly for a few hours. Very amusing!)

I think next time I go to France, I will definitely spend more time on the French Riviera. Menton was definitely one of my favorite places from the entire trip, but I think I'll include some time in Villefranche-sur-Mer too. It was probably the most gorgeous place I've ever seen.

A lot of my family has asked me about life in France - given the fact that the US is supposed to be a "free country" and France supposedly is not. I remember making the same observation when my father asked me about my thoughts as we visited France & Belgium when I was 11 - there's no difference in day-to-day life that I experienced or observed. People are people who live their lives according to their culture. The governmental differences don't seem to make life and more or less difficult as compared to the US.

I guess the most important thing that I learned is that despite language issues (in Italy especially) or other setbacks, I can do pretty much anything on my own. This includes navigating both the Metro and the Tube with only one minor slip up (on the Tube), talking my way onto trains when a delay caused me to miss mine, making all my flights on time, arranging all my own transportation and lodging, keeping a budget, not losing my money or passport once during the entire trip, and lugging my giant suitcase (next time I will bring a much smaller one!) up and down about a million flights of stairs.

This trip really was the experience of a lifetime. It's certainly something I'll never forget and something about which I will be telling stories for the rest of my life.

Now...I just have to figure out when I can go back!!!


[PS
To all my readers:
Thanks for reading & for all your comments!!!]