Leaving Paris

I’m sitting in my room, surrounded by my packed suitcases. It’s a strange feeling. I vividly remember how I felt the first day I arrived at rue Davioud; how empty the room felt and how I wondered if it would ever feel like home. I remember how throughout the quarter, the spaces on the shelves were filled little by little, and by the time I had to pack it all up today, it had really become my room.

And now I’m leaving. Everyone says every quarter goes by so fast and this one has been no exception. Today in class when everyone was presenting their last Practicum projects, several were quite sentimental. I thought I was going to cry when Jen and JW showed their intentionally cheesy video, shot in black and white and set to Wonderwall. Melodrama aside, I have had the experience of my life. The thing I know for sure at this point is that I am coming back to Paris the first chance I get.

I love it here. I love how I feel when I walk on the streets. I love speaking French. I love it and I it feels like home. I can’t believe I have to leave this incredible city; I could live here for the rest of my life and never get enough.

This week hasn’t been particularly exciting; lots of work mostly, tying up loose ends. For the Survey symposium on Wednesday, my Powerpoint didn’t work and I had to do without it. It didn’t go very well. Blast technology. For Thursday’s Practicum presentation, I performed an interpretative dance in the pavilion at the Jardin de Luxembourg. Due to more technical difficulties, I couldn’t get the music to play aloud. Consequently I performed my dance while listening to the music on my iPod; a silent spectacle for the rest. I think it went well regardless of the lack of music and it felt glorious to dance, making a fool of myself, in the fresh air. Last night was the Bing goodbye diner at the Palais de Tokyo. It’s the restaurant attached to the museum (modern art), and was accordingly funky. I liked it. The food was very good and refreshingly not French, although I still adore French food and always will. After dinner I met up (finally!) my friend from high school who has been in Paris this quarter with another program. It was great to see her and I’m sad we didn’t get our acts together to meet up more.

Today was the last Practicum presentation. I presented my Montmartre portrait adventure. I was glad to share it with the class; they appreciated the story. The other projects were impressive, as usual. Farah took some awesome pictures and did cool stuff with them on Photoshop; Natalia and Scott did a duo-dance/drama scene; Tammy did an historical/modern photograph juxtaposition; Andrew explored the power of an image; Jen and JW did the movie previously mentioned. After class I finished my paper for Estelle’s class, slid it under her door, and then I was done. Done! Done. Academic quarter came to a close, just like that.

Farah, David, Mark and I went to get lunch at Pub St. Germain, which was one of my fave cafes in Paris until the service was deplorable today. Oh well, can’t leave Paris without being reminded of the bad service. My smoked salmon salad was still pretty good. I spent the rest of the afternoon packing and running errands, like buying a box to ship my winter coats and boots home, getting stationery to write thanks-yous, and getting a gift for my host family (a polished wood picture frame).

I just finished the last supper with my host family. It feels surreal. They also kindly gave me a gift—a big Paris tote bag! It’s a good useful size. I might repack my things into it for spring break since I awkwardly have the extra roll-y suitcase that I bought… we’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.