Packing

This morning I went with Sophia to the gare to help her get her suitcases on her train to Paris. It made me worry even more about how I'm going to get my bagages on and off my own train on Sunday. Michel and Elisabeth will be taking me to the gare to catch the train, so I'm not really worried about that part. It's the part when I have to get off the train, up the stairs to the métro, and through the métro to the youth hostel...with two large rolling suitcases, a mini duffel, and whatever purse type bag I have. Oh, and my laptop.

I had left the house before 8 to catch the bus down to the center, and it felt really weird after 9 heading back up to St. Grégoire. I felt like I was walking backwards, since 9 is usually about the time when I'm heading down to classes. When I got back home I made myself some tea and went in my room to begin the project of the day: PACKING.

It took me two hours to pull everything out, go through papers, organise stuff on my bureau...move the stuff to my bed...move the stuff to my desk... and then I looked out the window for a few minutes. My life is so exciting.

I do, however, now have a completely full trashcan. I'm very proud of this fact, mostly because it's full of school papers that I don't think are useful to me anymore. This idea makes me feel smarter, even though I don't feel like I've gotten better...in fact, my French feels worse. More about that later, though, when I have a tad more hindsight.

I ate lunch with mes parents and then set back to work trying to fit a semester's worth of my entire life into my suitcases. The funny part is that I'm planning on buying cidre at the marché tomorrow morning, yet I have no reason whatsoever to believe I will be able to fit it in my suitcases. Oh well, we shall see. I hope that it works, since of course I managed to fit everything but final souvenirs in my three bags. OH the amazingness of me!

The event of the day was the opening of Michel's art atelier expo. Atelier is a fancy word for ... uh... work place thing. Studio? Something like that. What I did figure out is that this atelier is kind of like taking art classes at the city cultural center. Five "classes" of adult artists got together and showcased their work. It was adorable. I really felt like I was judging the middle school art fair at Faith again. Some of the oeuvres were really good (aka Michel's work, and two or three other artists...out of 120). Others were pretty much duplicates of things I created in high school. That was the cute part; especially when I put it in relief with the mass of people participating in the aperitif drinks in the main entry.

One French lady came up with her husband and was talking to us about her life. She was boring but very knowledgeable about the subject. Elisabeth and I made fun of her afterwards. Oh, don't worry, it was in the nicest way possible: Frensh style! I was just glad to be able to remember some of what she said, so that I could repeat it. It helps that she mentioned five times that she was the president of some sculpture association. Fuel for the flames of French satire! Sadly, she is no longer president. It was just so demanding, you know?

After standing around for about an hour and listening to French with my ears and watching Angelika page through a book of modern art done my a guy my age, we headed back to the appartement for dinner. Ratatouille! Yum! Halfway through dinner Elisabeth got a call from her sister (Yes, she answered her phone during dinner. The French apparently don't consider this as rude? Or maybe it's just my family), and while she was talking in the kitchen Michel asked me what I think I'm going to miss the most about France.

The first thing to pop into my head, of course, was him and his philosophical discussions. Then I thought of Elisabeth and decided that I was going to miss her too. For some reason, though, I didn't feel like I could actually say that out loud. I held it back and instead mentioned some other French, like Lucie and Noury and Blanchet. Then he turned the conversation to what things I was going to miss. Fromage blanc and yoghurt.

That's what I'm going to miss. The yoghurt here is...it's a dream in a small glass jar. That's what it is. I actually acquired a spoon so that when I'm in Paris and want cheap lunch/snacks I will have something to eat yoghurt with. It's better than candy or icescream, I promise.

Oh, yeah...I'm going to Paris! Haha... since it suddenly occurs to me to actually announce it, there you are! Tomorrow is my last day in Rennes, and on Sunday morning I leave for Paris. I'm going to be pseudo alone, as a friend of mine from UNC-Greeley is there right now doing a study program. I'll be staying in a youth hostel and seeing all the things I missed when I was in Paris in January with the huge group.

I'm planning on seeing the Louvre, the Musé d'Orsay, and Versailles, along with lots of the Seine and bridges. Be sure to look for me in Colorado on Wednesday night, though! Haha, assuming I don't get stranded! Oh man, that would be so horrible...