HAPPY 5-MONTH FRANCEVERSARY!

I made it! It's amazing to me that my Bordeaux experience was shorter than this has been....and that this time I get 5 more months after this to enjoy life in France!

Coming back here felt like the biggest decision ever, and I seriously feel like my going away party was yesterday. I think it's safe to say that this period of time since arriving has been the fastest of my whole life. But it's been a good type of fast, because I'm very proactive about seeing everything, and I've never felt like I've been wasting my time here (case in point: today Mariene and Sarah and I started our morning with a trek under Paris in the catacombs! Pictures soon).

Also, something else really amazing to me is my friend Rachael...I don't think either of us thought that when we met each other on our flight from Chicago to Paris exactly 5 months ago today that we would still be texting each other 5 months later about Harry Potter and our frustrations with the French postal system. She's one of my best friends here, and it was fate that a girl from LA and a girl from Nashville who might otherwise have never met (and who might otherwise have never introduced all of their friends to each other, creating an extensive web of friendships!) ended up being assigned seats next to each other on that flight!

These are my big goals for my last 5 months:

1. Finish visiting the Musee Carnavelet...I've been three times and I never get to see everything! I finally made it upstairs the other day and had to leave soon after. I am definitely going back.

2. Eat more tartelettes aux frambroises (raspberry tarts): they are my #1 favorite French pastry, and I simply don't eat enough of them.

3. Go back to the Louvre: I definitely take it for granted. Gotta go and see more!

4. Drink more: It's important to take advantage of the fact that one lives in a city with such great public transportation!

5. Sewer Tour: Enough said.

6. Chartes: My friends and I keep making plans to go and we never follow through. It's happening for sure though soon.

7. Visit more of France: I decided that even if I save up, I can't really afford to travel internationally, so I WILL at least see more of France, especially since I have an SNCF discount card. Rouen/Normandie/Strasbourg, anyone?

:)