A Piece of Gâteau!

My French exam was a piece of gâteau! Pourquoi? Because I am la blonde parisienne who is totally fluent in French!

Okay, and it was also quite easy! But I was soo proud of myself for being able to completely understand the oral and reading comprehension!

My french class went out for some vin chaud afterwards, and reminisced about how wonderful the semester is and how we love Paris. I showed my French teacher my Paris journal/scrapbook and she was loovvving it! It really is my favorite souvenir. I can't wait to read it cover to cover and cry on the plane ride home. And then one day show it to my children. And then grandchildren. Who will most likely say, "oh my, Grandmother you were an alcoholic." And I will say, "Non, mon cheri - I was French!"

I asked Madame for a good cheese recommendation, and she told me about a wonderful type of chevre, and even went with me to the fromagerie to help me find it!It was so sweet of her, I have LOVED Madame! Going into a fromagerie is sooo wonderful. That is definitely something I am going to miss so much. It's just the most adorable thing. Stacks and stacks of every sort of cheese, the wonderfully stinkiness, the cute old french men who work there that have devoted their life to fromage. It's just charming. I bought some wonderful chevre that I can't remember the name of. Not like I could find it in the States anyways.(sadness)

After my cheesy purchase, I met my friend Lauren at Bar Au Central, this adorable place on Saint Dominque that I have been wanting to go to for the past month. We had wine and amazing french onion soup. I love 2 hour meals. I love when the waitor tries to explain something in english and cannot find the word he wants. I love the fresh, crusty baguettes they bring to the table. I love un carafe d'eau. I love when the waitor does not bring you the bill until you say "l'addition, si vous plait!" I love bistros..... I love Paris!

I walked past Invalide, Pont AlexandreIII, and looked back towards the tour just as it started to sparkle. Despite the FREEZING weather, I stood there for 5 minutes. Shivering, yet completely warm inside at the same time from the sight of la tour. So incroyable!

Now I'm sitting in my almost empty chambre. I've just spent the last 2 hours packing all my things I won't need for the next 2 days into the 4 suitcases I brought along. They may burst on the way home, I'm just saying....

I cannot believe I'm packing. I cannot believe I'm leaving in 2 days. I cannot believe that this time next week, I will already be in Texas - teaching my new neice French. 4 months just flew by. The best four months of my life (yet).

As we were eating fondue with Caroline's adorable Aunt and Uncle last night in their gorgeous apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower, I said to myself, "I am going to live here again." I don't know when. I don't know for how long. But I do know that it is going to happen.

People move to Paris - and they don't leave. My speech teacher, my french teacher, Caroline's aunt and uncle....wonder why? I don't! I know why. It's that "je ne sais quoi" that Paris has and nowhere else does. My speech teacher said to me, "I always thought if I could figure out what it was that I loved about it here, I would put it in my suitcase and take it with me." But obviously, he never did. You can't. There is something here that no where else has.

My conclusion is just that Paris is simply magical. That's all there is to it.