This is my last day in Paris. So far, I’ve done a pretty decent job at trying to see what I have neglected during my past visits to Paris : Versailles, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée Pompidou, fondue in Montmatre, bar in Belleville, drinking in front of the Sacre Coeur, and hours and hours of walking. Tonight, I’m getting soufflés and drinking on the Seine before coming back to my cousin’s apartment to pack and organize the four bags I have to get to the airport tomorrow morning. I’ve already said goodbye to my cousin. This is real.

I’ve had to resist falling too deeply into the sentimental attitude of doing everything in France because I won’t have it tomorrow. I’ve walked past patisseries and wine shops. Decided to take some breaks to read and grab a café. Didn’t even buy a poster of a Matisse today because I remembered how much stuff I have already. In truth, my discipline is probably due to Chicago having a pretty solid food scene, and that most of what I can find in Paris, I can find in NYC (even if it is much more expensive).

I also know this will not be the last time I’m here. I can still apply for jobs in Paris, visit my cousin or just visit. Why not? My biggest concern is actually preparing myself for reverse culture shock. Don’t worry, I’ll give some updates on how that is going.

Au revoir, la France! Tu me manqueras beaucoup!

“Well now, just a minute boy. How else would you get all this stuff into one suitcase, I’d like to know.”

Yeah, me too.

My friend left on the night train to Paris last night. We’ll meet up again on Saturday—assuming that I’ve packed, closed accounts and make it on the train safely on the train with all my baggage Friday night. Right now, this seems like it will be tight, but it’s probably doable. I only have to do a last load of laundry, write thank you notes, return keys to each school, cancel my internet/electricity/bank account, send boxes through the post, and the general cleaning that moving entails. Woof. But let’s talk about something else…

I’ve had an adventurous week.

Friday : I arrived in Toulouse to meet up with my friend from UChicago. We ate at a great vegetarian restaurant, went out and the following day, we wandered around until we grabbed a train to Rodez.

Saturday night : We went over to the “Goodbye Liz” apèro at my friend’s apartment and then out to a Surf Rock concert.

Sunday : We hung around Rodez and had a normal relaxing day of making soup and grabbing some coffee.

Monday : We took a train to Albi and were impressed by its beautiful cathedral and Toulous-Lautrec museum. Fortunately, our sprint allowed us to be 10 minutes early for our train back to Rodez. If we had missed it, we would have also missed our wine-tasting and meeting Jean-Luc.

Tuesday : This was labor day, so we went to Rodez’s manifestation, which involved representing your union and (for this year’s election) your political ties—vote Hollande over Sarkozy! We then wandered Rodez to the bottom of its hill and back again before heading off to the Roquefort caves. After filling ourselves with cheese, we stopped in Millau for a beverage or two and then back to Rodez.

Wednesday : We visited the last market I’ll be able to attend in Rodez (so so sad), found a new running path and enjoyed a traditional dinner at La Taverne.

So maybe it wasn’t technically a full week…but we sure managed to do enough.

I’ve been riding the roller coaster for a little while, steadily realizing how excited I am to be back in the USA, but then hitting a curve and falling into shock over how soon I am actually going to leave Rodez. Let me relate to you the real correlation between my life and this roller coaster metaphor. The past week, I’ve been meeting up with friends for meals at restaurants I haven’t visited before. Other than the food being fantastic at each new place, the company has been just as marvelous. Only recently has the stress of cleaning, packing and shipping boxes transferred into a panic of mindless munching and procrastination (WHY did I succumb to Pinterest!?).

I’m going to let myself blame the rain, wind and cold weather on some of my unproductive week. I can’t take a cardboard box of my belongings out in a storm!!! That would be crazy. Taking laundry out would just be undoing what I’m paying up to 10 Euros a visit to achieve! And both of those undone chores are just taking up far too much of my living space to sweep or really clean… This coaster is spiraling out of control. I just feel like I’m running out of time, even though I’m really doing nothing with the time I do have. On top of that, my friend from university is coming to visit from Friday until we both leave for Paris a week after then. So really, this is about it for my alone time with my European hometown of seven months.

I’m really excited for my friend to get here and take him on my last adventures around Aveyron. I just hope the weather clears up! I’d still really like to go to Albi, see the Roquefort caves, maybe go to Millau and definitely find my way to a winery in Marcillac. PLUS, visit more restaurants Rodez has to offer. Even if I don’t get to everything I’d like to do, as long as I DO pack, clean and do laundry, it can just serve as an excuse to come back and visit. I mean, I still haven’t been to Nice or Bordeaux. What kind of American living in France am I?

Well, it’s about 15h30. Time to go out and do my laundry and de-stress.

This year, I have been blessed with two Easters. The first one was last week in Berlin. The best time for me to visit my college dorm roommate was during Easter weekend—she had an extra day off from school for the holiday and I was on vacation. She has been in Berlin for about a month studying German and finding a bunch of other things to do in that brilliantly artsy city. Fortunately, I had extensively toured the city last year, so we were free to walk around and explore coffee shops, Turkish markets and an abandoned ice factory…what?

My second Easter is this weekend. I am currently in Athens, visiting a former volleyball teammate who is studying abroad here with the University of Chicago. Last night, as we were walking to get some Greek food (YUM), we stumbled upon an Easter procession. Tomorrow, I’m actually going to an Orthodox service. Not bad for the first time I’ll be in a church in a good few years. Go Orthodox or go home? Can we make that a thing? Maybe not. I am seeing the Acropolis today, and I am so totally stoked. I cannot believe I am in Athens right now.

As my contract slowly comes to an end, I become less and less able to believe what I have done this year. This week alone I have been to three different countries, and three fantastic European cities. What is my life? I am at the point where I am just in disbelief about everything I have been fortunate enough to have experienced. Even more to the point, it is shocking that in three weeks I’ll be back in the States. The adventures won’t end, but they will be in my country of origin.

Between my two Easter weekends, I made a short stop in Paris to begin visiting the museums and sites that I probably should have already seen based on the frequency in which I visit the city of lights. The night before I had to leave for the airport to Greece, my cousin asked me when the next time I’ll be back. I said not until just before I leave Europe, on May 8th. He turned and just said, “Ok cool. So I’ll see you in a few weeks. Not even a month.” Ok. So this is real then, eh? But at least I have friends and family to return to, AND a program to look forward to. Oh, did I fail to mention? On the train from Rodez that began this traveling adventure, I found out I have been accepted into Columbia’s summer publishing program! NYC, here I come!

The past week has been delightful. My birthday was spent with friends, champagne and regional cakes. My weekend had a lot of one-on-one time with my Californian friend, Cristella. In fact, over the weekend, we drank wine, watched Elf, went to a punk concert followed by a private sing-a-long at her apartment, and finally a nice three-hour long café frappe chat session sitting outside in front of the cathedral. All of this was successfully organized without my phone—it turns out that I left my charger in Toulouse without means of getting it back. Whoops.

Because I was without a working phone, I actually made a greater effort to find something to do with my time and connecting with people. It also made me realize how time is running out to spend with people I have met in Rodez; however, socializing will have to wait 10 more days. This upcoming weekend is another vacation (I know, right?). I’m heading to Berlin on Saturday to visit a beloved college roommate. Then, I’m spending a few days in Paris before visiting my “life little” in Athens, where she is currently studying. This will actually be my last international trip out of France before returning back to the States, leaving only a few weeks to squeeze the last out of my experience in France.

I have definitely been lucky with all of the international travel I’ve been able to do the past year. Last year’s trip aside, I have been able to visit Sweden, Italy, (and soon to be) Germany and Greece, not to mention all of the cities in France I would never have visited had I not been living in the South. The traveling won’t even calm down then. A friend from the States will be around during all of my goodbye parties and last minute Averyon travel before we both travel to Paris and fly back. It’s funny that teaching is definitely secondary to the travel at this end of my stay : of the last weeks here, only two are work weeks. It’s almost over. I cannot wait to not be the teacher in a classroom anymore.

Overall, my emotions have normalized since my last post—actually, the sleep and running were incredibly effective. I still haven’t heard news from Columbia, but cross your fingers for news by the end of the week!

My life right now feels like a jumble of emotions, events and uncertainties that have become a melange of the weirdest moods I’ve had in a good long time. I have tried to diagnose what I am feeling to no avail. Maybe I should talk about my weekend and what I have been up to.

This weekend I visited Sarah in Toulouse for the last time; although, I will probably return to Toulouse one last time, Sarah left France today. She taught primaire and had a contract that ends at the end of March, but because she decided to look at law schools, she ended early and took a flight back to the States today. For a friendship that started at the beginning of October, I am confident that it’s a lasting one. (Sarah, if you are reading this, I already miss your presence in France). The next time we are going to see each other is when we are both in NYC this summer, which leads me to my next bit of news.

On the train back from Toulouse I had a feeling that I should check my email. So I took out my Kindle and checked my Gmail, which is actually a chore to do because my Kindle is an older version. An email from NYU was waiting for me amid emails from friends and newsletter subscriptions I never actually read. The kicker was that NYU didn’t actually let me know if I was in or out of their publishing program in the email—there was a link with the log-in information instead. Well, there was no way my reading device was going to be able to access that. I should have just waited the hour and a half to check my email to avoid traveling in anxiety the rest of the way to Rodez. Good news though: I’ve been accepted into the program! Now to wait for Columbia’s decision, which would be an excellent birthday present. 

Yup, my birthday is on Wednesday. Although this is not the first time I’ve been out of the country for my birthday (or out of the range of close friends), it is the first time that I will be celebrating my birthday without my family. Because my birthday falls at the end of March, I was usually the girl who celebrated her birthday during Spring break with little school recognition. For this reason, I’m used to having birthdays sans friends or a big celebration on the day—at the same time, my family has always been there. Even though I have great friends who will celebrate with me in Rodez and I have a skype or two to look forward to, I wish I were home. I’m a little jealous of Sarah who gets to celebrate her birthday next week at home. Pshh.

All of these events, plus the diet books and sad, call to action documentaries in which I’ve immersed myself, have created an unbalanced Liz. But this is nothing that a good night sleep and a cleansing morning run cannot fix.

It’s easy to guess that my weekend was incredible but perhaps in more ways than are obvious at first thought.

First of all, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, where I was able to mingle with Caldecott winners, publishing house executives and my former coworkers from Albert Whitman & Company. Good thing I am living in France this year, otherwise this opportunity would have passed me by. More than one person reminded me that once I enter the industry, it’ll be about ten years until I may be able to attend the fair again. Woah. Being surrounded by children’s books from around the world was magical. My belief that this is what I must do is reinforced and my being is, once again, infused with motivation to achieve this end. Inspiring, isn’t it? But this is an adventure for after France.

This weekend was also St. Patrick’s day weekend. While I did not celebrate in the slightest, it marked a year since I reunited with Erin in Ireland. Ireland was the last stop on my backpacking adventure last year. In fact, I was heading home about this time last year. How quickly a year flies by…even though that trip seemed to last forever. Oddly enough, that seven-week trip ended this time last year, when I now have about seven weeks left in Europe. Hi Universe, are you trying to tell me something?

It’s funny to see how much I’ve changed since that trip. Nowadays, I dread staying at a hostel or traveling alone. I cannot even imagine doing anything like spending seven weeks alone again. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to imagine I’ve already done that. In the past year, I realized how important having close friends and other like-minded people around really is. I have been so fortunate to find great friends in Rodez this year to keep me sane amid the rural countryside. Even so, I still miss my friends and family in the States.

So now I have seven weeks left in France, and some of my friends here are already leaving! In a few days, I am visiting Toulouse (for one last time) to say TTFN to Sarah. She’s flying back to New York on Monday evening, the day after I say goodbye. Crazy. I am actually the first assistant in Rodez to be flying back home. I leave in early May, and the others are staying at least until June. I know once I get back I will be missing Rodez, the fresh markets and the friends I’ve made like mad, but at the same time, I’m ready to start the next adventure—especially after having another taste at the book fair this past weekend.

My return home will happen eventually. There is no point counting down the days or hoping time will pass more quickly. May will get here soon enough…and then there’s June. Before we know it, it will be another year and we’ll be looking back on what is happening now.

Although the travel to and from Bologna was a little hectic, to say the least, it was all worth it. Bologna and the Children’s Book Fair were fantastic. Definitely an experience I will remember for a lifetime. Not only was I immersed in the world of children’s publishing, I was able to meet some fantastic people (Isle Plume, to name one) as well as to see some welcoming, familiar faces I had been missing. I’m putting up some pictures now, but I will definitely go into more depth about the weekend in another post. Thanks again Albert Whitman & Company for this amazing experience to add to the many you’ve already given me!

Also, the last image has a quotation in the background that reads, “close your eyes, see the images, read slowly, savour the wor(l)d, see the images, imagine the future, feel the colours, see the sound, smell the paper, touch the story.”

You all are so excited for this list, I can just tell. Now is the time where I have to begin planning on how to pack away all of the stuff I brought to France, but also all of the things family and friends have sent to me. But before I do that, check out my crazy travel schedule!

March 16-20 Bologna, Italy

March 23-25 Toulouse

March 30-April 1 Nice

April 13-16 Athens, Greece

April 27-29 Berlin, Germany

May 1-8 Wandering around France

May 8 Depart for Chicago, sweet home, Chicago

(But it doesn’t stop there.)

May 18-24 Washington D.C. (with a stop in Philly)

May 25-27 Way up north in Wisconsin

June 10-ish Moving to NYC

(Stops to breathe)

I may also add a trip to Paris before Greece. It depends on how I’m feeling. Phew. I’m just tired from typing out all of those trips. I can’t wait to take them. And see you all so soon!