What's even harder to comprehend is that I'm going to be leaving Paris after perhaps the most meaningful trip of my life. Never have I experienced such a mix of emotions when returning home. Usually I can't be more excited to be back in the 80-degree standard of Los Angeles, and admittedly, until last night, I thought I was "ready" to go back home.
I am ready. After five months of being in a place where the primary language is not one I'm so familiar with, and after being away from my friends and family in America for so long, I can't wait to be back in the U.S. But at the same time, leaving my friends last night at the Pont des Arts, it hit me that I won't see most of my friends here for a very long time. I created the illusion that we'll all be together at some point in the future, but who knows?
Looking back, it's really difficult for me to say what I've learned and pinpoint my favorite parts of studying abroad, but what I do know is that this trip was one that probably won't be repeated ever again. I went to Ireland, England, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and all over France.
To me though, it wasn't about where I could go and the necessity to travel. My favorite part of studying abroad was becoming a part of Paris. Yeah, my French sucks, but it's good enough for Parisiens to realize I'm not a tourist, and the people at our grocery store and bakery know us. Just as I had hoped.
I began my trip just thinking Paris was cool. Big, beautiful buildings everywhere and incredible food and wine. But since I returned from spring break, I can safely say that I love this city. I will be back here many, many times over the years, and I can't wait for my first trip back.
Unfortunately I got a little caught up in what was going on here and wasn't able to finish up my spring break post about Italy, or my last trips to Versailles and Amsterdam. Needless to say, they were amazing, just like everything else.
If there's one thing I learned while studying abroad, is that if you can do it, you must. My art history course was rather difficult, and my French class was incredibly easy, but I learned so much is both classes. In fact, I would say the art history class was one of the best I've taken in college. As for French, all you have to do is hear me speak to understand just how far I've come along over the past semester.
But despite the "Study" in Study Abroad, studying was the least of my worries during this trip. I found myself personally, discovering more about myself than I could ever imagine. To think it's coming to an end is really hard for me to do, but as the cliché goes, with the end of one thing is the start of another (or something like that). Hopefully what comes along next will be as worthwhile as the past semester has been. Seriously though, this is going to be hard to top.
À Bientot, Paris! I'll see you soon.
P.S.
This will be the end of my study abroad blog. Thank you so much to everyone who followed it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing. It really enhanced my trip, allowing me to share my thoughts and pictures with my friends and family, so really, THANKS! If you're still interested in my life, please follow my other blog, jonahbraun.blogspot.com.
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never read this until now... really great! brings it all back for me :)
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