La Dernier Blog dans Paris

Salut everyone. It is Tuesday, May 6th at 9:18 a.m. This will be my last blog writing as a resident in Bougival, France!

I just woke up and the sun is shining, blue clouds and warm outside. I am upstairs in Ashley's house and Beatrice is on the phone next to me, and I get to hear a nice French conversation :) It is a really strange feeling knowing this is my last day here, and that tomorrow I am going to be flying home to the States. I'm not sure how to feel at the moment. I'm just going to go on with my day and not "think" too much about it. My plan is to get ready and go to the Bougival Boulangerie and Tabac one last time to order a pastry and cafe creme, and then say goodbye to the nice people that work there. They've known who I am all year so I want to tell them I'm leaving and goodbye. Then I will be getting on the train to Paris for a last time where I will go to Willi's Wine Bar one last time. There is a small gift I need to pick up, and I'd like to take a photo of the outside as a souvenir. Then I will probably get directly back to St. Lazare for the my last train ride back into Bougival. I'm then going to ride with Ashley to St. Germain and go to the Vatin's new house to meet Jessica, the new au pair. I will go with her to pick up the kids from school and then spend the rest of the afternoon and evening playing with them and having dinner with the family. I think it will be really nice and we'll do a small gift exchange. I will do my best to keep my cool and not cry too much! I am going to try to just let it all hit me tomorrow morning on the way to the airport or something. Virginie and the kids will take me to the airport to see me off, where I know I will probably break down...BUT thats just how I am...I always cry at goodbyes.

Paris has been the greatest experience of my life so far. When the idea came up to find a job to move here, I never expected that it would all fall into place like it did and that I'd actually find a great family right outside Paris and spend 10 amazing months here. It's been a rollercoaster ride of emotions and lessons learned and excitement and adventure and loneliness and growing and culture shock and new stories to tell....

I am going to miss the Eiffel tower the most. I am going to miss the sounds of the train and the woman's automated voice announcements: " ce train est a destination de St. Nom la Breteche" and "prochaine arrette: Bougival"...haha. I'm going to miss the cafes and St. Michel. I will miss walking along the Seine and taking photos, and going to the Louvre. I will REALLY MISS the beautiful architecture all around me, not just in Paris but everywhere I've been so far in Europe. I will miss my few good friends I've made here, especially Ashley and Ashleigh, my au pair friends. Most of all I will miss the children, Ines, Tiphaine and Matthieu. I will miss the sounds of their voices and their smiles when they get excited. "Regarde, Laura, gaarrrdeee...." (I will give everyone back home an audio example of Matt's cute little voice)

Thank you to everyone for supporting me during my time in Paris. Thanks for all the cards and letters and gifts and care packages and phone calls and emails and messages online. I will never forget all the great details of my life I had here in Paris. Paris will forever be a part of me until the day I die. I will think of it every day. I'm sure it may be hard for me for the first couple months to get used to the idea that I can't just go into the city to play. But I have every intention on returning to France every few years, or 5 years, whatever it will be. My French language skills have improved immensely, even though I cant say I'm 100 percent fluent, thats alright. I will find ways to use my French in the States. Each time I return to Paris I will feel like its a home away from home and I won't forget much at all about the city.

Well, this is it. So long from Paris. Wish me a safe flight home. I will see all of you very very soon.

A bientot. A la prochaine fois. Gros Bisous.

~ Laura