Fin

Everything around me is wrapping up, yet it doesn't feel like it at all. I'm down to 11 days left here and to me it feels like I have a month left. It will feel really strange to try and pick up where my real life left off, but after 4 months I am definitely ready for it. Class has dragged on bigtime lately, but the free time has been more fun this last month than really any other point of my trip. I'm certainly not feeling the same as I was when I came here and almost everything has changed for the better. I feel complete and good about it all and plan on taking my enhanced adventurousness with me as long as I can.

I have to wrap up finals and pack up and be back to my good life in the States!

Pictures from Spring Break

Katherine lent me her camera so I can finally put some pictures up from it (remember to copy and paste if it doesn't give the blue hyperlink!)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=37688208&l=f1b0f&id=16804725 *Belgium and Germany*

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236013&l=cd06c&id=16804725 *Strasbourg and Annecy*

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2236012&l=051dc&id=16804725 *Prague*

Dans le sud de france

I remembered why I wanted to be in France in the first place over this weekend. I met Katherine and her parents down in Avignon, close to the Mediterrean and full of vineyards. The area, Provence, has 300 + days of sunshine a year, and the people's attitudes reflect it. We stayed in a B&B with a private terrace overlooking vineyards and a village. The first day I was there everything was closed for some holiday (surprised?!) so we laid out by the pool sampling wines and relaxing. We ate at one of the best restaurants I have ever been to in my life the next night. Katherine and I made our way all the way up north of Paris in about 5 hours on a TGV the next day and we stayed in the Champagne region. We explored the G.H. Mumms Champagne Caves, and today she's on her way back to the US.
In a way, I'm definitely ready to have a home again. The other side of it is that I will always have a home to be in, and this quick 4 months is a great amount of time to take everything in. There is a reason this is the most visited country in the world, everytime I go somewhere new I come back impressed. It's in the final 3 weeks now, and I actually have to quit daydreaming of the south and get through my boatloads of class with finals yet to come.