Home Sweet Home

I'm home. Finally. A little early, and not feeling so hot, but soon to be fixed. Tomorrow I go in to see a surgeon that will hopefully fix my tummy next week. I left France so suddenly that it's a little strange to suddenly be here, and not there and figuring out how to finish my finals from this side of the Atlantic. But so worth it, I can't describe how fabulous it is to be home: sleeping in a soft bed, a whole enormous kitchen to play in (thanks mom!), Oregon homeyness, familiar faces, my own culture. Not that I won't miss France, I will, I'll miss it a lot, but it'll never be home. Still it's hard to believe that I was gone for 10 months, that I did and saw so much and that's already over, or really, that I'm now graduating from college. I know it's impossible for such an experience to not change you, and I know it has. Still it's hard to put a finger on exactly which ways it influenced me, other than the obvious; such as I speak French pretty well now. But France has definitely made me:

— a drinker of coffee
— habitually late
— an appreciative owner of an American passport
— a wine snob
— bilingual
— a connoisseur of cheese
— a penny pincher (I'm so excited to not multiple prices by 1.5 anymore)
— seriously infected with the travel bug

And it's strange to come back and watch people eat burritos big enough to feed a small family, not worry about the bank closing at noon for several hours, my mascara costing $2 not €8=$12 (dear god), and remembering to say 'excuse me' and 'hello' in English. It will also be nice to not wake up at 6 in the morning and feel like I've overslept.





← Intestinal Obstruction.
← Why I'm home early.
← Really painful.
← Apparently caused by abnormal adhesions in my guts, which are putting kinks in my plumbing.
← Fixable!!!