Home sweet home. I felt like I never left, everything is the
exact same, except everything feels so much…bigger, and there’s so much food in
the kitchen! I feel a strong urge to kiss the washing machine and the drier (okay,
who am I kidding, I did kiss them
both), the coffee machine, and various other appliances I've had to live
without for nearly half a year.
As nice as it is to finally be in my own bed, I miss France and the friends I made there.
When I was on the plane, about a half hour away from Seattle, I started to feel
nervous, just as nervous as I felt on my way to Europe. And I was sad, very
sad. I didn't realize how accustomed I had grown to France, and that’s when it
really hit me: this is over, this experience has ended, this semester abroad, a
complete shift in my way of life, was temporary.
Do I have any regrets? Surprisingly, not many. I made an
effort to say yes to things and to miss out on as little as possible. I’m disappointed
I didn't get to see some places while I was there: Nice, Grenoble, the Pyrenees
and/or the Alps, I really wish I could have gone to Greece and Austria. The
list goes on. Alas, one only has so much time and money. I do regret not making
more of an effort to make French friends; that was really difficult for me.
I've been hesitant to do the stereotypical thing and say
that this was the best semester of my life. It’s not that every day was
absolutely fantastic. Somewhere in the middle I actually felt depressed for a
few weeks, the dorms were gross, and there were days that were very stressful.
But being back and looking at it as a whole, I can admit:
yes, this really was the best 5 months of my life. It had its ups and downs but
never once did I regret coming. I had some of the best experiences of my life and met some
of the best people there. Montpellier, you will always have a place in my heart.
I feel like the experience would have been a waste if I didn't learn something or grow as a person somehow. I read another girl’s blog and she
had a list of random things she learned over the last five months and I liked
the idea. So, in no particular order, here are seven random things learned over
the last semester:
1. You WILL get fat if you start to eat three baguettes a
day and cheese and crepes and Nutella etc. and stop exercising completely (Seattle friends you have been warned)
2. There is no better way of getting to know people and
befriending them than by traveling with them
3. I learned how to travel cheaply
4. First impressions are a horrible thing to judge a person
by, it takes a long time to really get to know a person, and if you make an
effort you will rarely meet someone that you genuinely don’t like
5. For the love of God PLEASE keep track of your important
documents while traveling (still bitter)
6. French (not fluent
by any means, but better)
7. You can be having a stressful/bad day amidst the best
time in your life. I learned to separate the two and tell myself “today is bad,
but I am happy with this time in my life.”
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