8 hours of sleep in the past two days, and I'm writing instead of sleeping...

Well, hello there to you all. I seemingly cannot say 'Bonjour' comfortably in a land where English is now the dominant language. Yes, dear friends, I'm back in Michigan.

The last few days have been rather hectic, trying to say à bientôt (I refused to say au revoir) to everyone, pack, clean, visit museums and tourist sites, etc. There were defs a lot of awkward partings; I'm taking it as a sign that we were never ready to part.

THURSDAY
Thursday was the last day for my internship. I pretty much had nothing to do, as my rapport de stage was finished and all of the files of the documents I had been working on were filed away. Yet, I didn't quite have the go-ahead to leave. I had my last lunch with my colleagues and just as I was about to leave, one of them brings out a cake and some cidre, while another one gives me a toast as well as a bag of gifts. Inside the bag, and among other things, I had been given raclette and a CD containing one of my most disliked songs since being in France. It was a rather nice way to end my internship experience there (and the wonderful weather definitely helped).

I then left early after saying my so long's to everyone in the building and continued to pack and clean back in my room. I then went to BU where we had our end-of-term party. It was rather hot with everyone there, but we eventually went downstairs to gather together for one last time; a few of us sang karaoke and then a group of us headed back to my room. Upon leaving the Métro, we decided to get pizza (great way for an American to end his/her experience, eh?) and then went back to my room to a wicked hot room. It was rather stuffy because of all of the packing but we got through it, and in the end it was all worth it. We followed up our pizza with the last round of 'markanthonyworldfamoussignaturechocolatchaud' + pains aux chocolat. It would soon be that time for us to part again and we went downstairs and split off; Jill and Sam had to catch the RER before it closed. The rest of us (Camille and her brother, Pat, Trevor and myself) walked around Paris and eventually found ourselves somewhere between Trocadéro and the Eiffel Tower. It was a great night and just recounting this day makes me want to go back right now.

FRIDAY
So, I caved in/found some time and finally went to go up the Eiffel Tower. The wait wasn't incredibly terrible; by the time I got up though and find myself not entirely impressed. The views are rather good, but I kinda like seeing the Eiffel Tower in the Parisian skyline. I started to get pseudo-emotional, though, as I walked around and saw many of the places I had visited either by myself or with my friends, recounting different memories. The Eiffel Tower certainly was the best place to do that, as this was one of few touristy experiences that I did on my own. I then quickly rushed off back to Roland Garros and then caught the RER to head back home. There, I met up with Jill, Sam and Trevor and we had a rather filling lunch of potatoes, raclette (the one from my colleagues), and meat. After the fact, I realised that that was the last meal I would ever prepare in that room.

Sam had to leave to meet up with some of her colleagues and Trevor had to run an errand for his internship, so Jill and I headed over to Montmartre, where Trevor joined us after running the errand. We did some final shopping and walked around, chatting and drinking (though in my case, guzzling) the water or juice we bought. Soon, Jill had to leave to meet up with her colleagues and Sam and Gerald, so Trevor and I made our way to the Métro and walked back home for part of the way. I came back to my room and talked to Lauren for a bit then went back to my packing and cleaning.

Before our final host dinner, Trevor and I did I final count of our bottle collection (88) and took numerous photos with the ones that had been stored in my room for the entirety of our semester. We then got to recycling them (and continued doing so after dinner), and then headed back to the apartment. For dinner, we were served coquille Saint Jacques, duck with a mustard-type sauce, potatoes served in a way I've never seen them prepared before, cheese, and a passion fruit cake. Following dinner and the rest of the bottle recycling, I commenced my grand evening of final packing and cleaning. Taking only a 3-hour nap, I eventually got through all of it by the time I had to leave.

SATURDAY
Hyuu, traveling is hectic, eh? I finished my last bit of cleaning a few minutes before I had to bring my bags down. Grâce à ("Thanks to") Trevor, I got through this last stretch on time and said my so long's to Christine and the kids. Antoine and Trevor continued to help me by walking with me to the bus stop with all of my bags; after a bit of confusion, I eventually got on the bus (once again thanks to Antoine and Trevor) and found myself heading away from them and off to the airport.

All of the French people I saw and spoke with en route to the group flight back were incredibly nice, and I got through my baggage check-in, security and customs with very little difficulty. Jill and I ended up sitting next to each other and talked throughout the 8-hour flight until we would either fall asleep (which was rare) or become engrossed in a new movie or tv show. I saw HSM3, an episode of "Desperate Housewives", an episode of "FRIENDS", Milk and the first part of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The flight was also marked by my last bit of French food, as well as French, before arriving on American soil.

Rushing, hot, and rather uncomfortably, we made our way to baggage claim and a few of us then split off to make our connecting flights back home. The ride to Detroit wasn't too bad; I was just really excited to be back home.