Un autre au revoir

3 down, 1 to go.
Yet I'm the one left behind.




As I fell asleep on Jessie's bed Monday night, trying, (clearly failing) to keep her company on her last night in the United States, I dreamt of traveling thoughts and traveling eyes and traveling words and suddenly I longed to be where she was too--anxious & thrilled for that final destination. She was so cute with her overstuffed suitcases and exponential frantic state as the hours grew later.

Her floor was in disarray, an accurate representation of her state of mind--riddled with photos and fragments of a scrapbook she had started to give to her friend-who-is-a-boy-but-then-again-is-more-than-a-friend-because-well-they've-beengoing-out-for-more than-a-year-but-in-light-of-the-trip-they-decided---well, anyway, it's complicated. I listened to her late night musings of how strange life was and how she was going to piss her host family off, and I left content, knowing that she was going to have the time of her life, praying on the car ride home, for her reassurance.

And now, for mine.

I think I vacillate between utter excitement and utter fear of leaving in 24 days. In light of Megan's year-long excursion across the Atlantic, 3 months seems dwarfed in comparison. This is what I try to tell myself each time I have a minor meltdown. In other news, I found out where I am to be housed come September. It's at a region not exactly in Paris, but on its outskirts called Issy-les-Moulineaux. I've never heard anything about it and truth be told, I am a bit nervous because the suburbs of Paris aren't like the suburbs here, but they tend to be a little less safe. I'm not saying that I'll be witnessing burning cars and French gangsters shooting at each other on a daily basis, but, I've read a few things. Ah, c'est la vie. Housing in Paris is ridiculously expensive, especially for such an extended period of time, so it's understandable that I couldn't get a place. However, I'll be staying in an apartment called Porte de Versailles, about 25 minutes from the Catho via metro. Here is a shoddy map of the general area:

As you can see, Disneyland Paris is completely the other direction. Thank you, Google Images. But anyway, I'm to have 2 roommates, both of which I hope & cross my fingers to be clean and considerate. (ha.) Oh yeah, and, not crazy. But if they ever stumble upon this page in a vain Facebook or Google search of me, please know that I thought highly of you from the start.



I baked Jessie a strawberry tart as a going-away-present. I think she'll appreciate it once she's sick of eating sausages and drinking beer for 4 months. But then again, she always was an enthusiastic carnivore & a horrible drunk. :)