hindsight

In a vain attempt to hold onto France, I've found myself doing some little silly things:

I keep my cell phone clock in 24 hour mode.
I write my dates like this 29.09.2010 instead of this 09.29.2010.
I stare longingly at macaron recipes such as this one.
In order to be able to make above recipes, I stick a kitchen scale on my wedding registry.
I talk to myself in French sometimes while I drive.

I miss lovely Toulouse.
Sometimes I walk around the streets of the centre ville in my head. Down Jean Jaures, through Place Wilson, straight past Etam to Alsace Lorraine, down Alsace Lorraine to Rue de Metz...ah, so fun.

I've been back for over a month now, and I'm all accustomed to being American again.
And looking back I'd just like to say,
I'm very grateful for this past summer and for the time I spent in Europe. It was so eye-opening and so...stretching? character-wise. Sometimes it was really hard, you know, and not so fun. But when it was fun, man, it was fun. I cried a lot, I laughed a lot, I ate a lot, I learned a lot, I shopped a lot, I grew a lot. And it was probably my last chance to do something like that since I'm getting married this December and moving back east so my future husband can go to med school and I can go to grad school.

So, thanks BYU French department and International Study Program for this opportunity.
What a neat, neat experience.

home, home, home

It's been about a week and a half since I've returned to the US of A.
In that time I've gotten used to rampant air conditioning and customer service. I very much still miss:

little shops, especially papetries. Why don't we have little paper stores here?
saying "Bonjour!" and "Merci, au revoir!" when you enter/exit said little shops
no salespeople ever bugging you
no waiters ever bugging you at restaurants (no one ever, ever comes around to ask how your food is tasting/do you need anything? I need you to stop talking to me. Kthnxbye.)
cafes
crepes with nutella
crepes with bananas and nutella
crepes with bananas, nutella, and ice cream
crepes with ham and cheese and tomatoes
creme brulee ice cream
fruit tarts
macarons
riding the train
taking a long time to eat/making meals a meaningful experience
shopping at Zara
taking the metro
speaking French, speaking French, speaking French
listening to French people speak French
a slower paced life
really delicious ethnic food
cobblestone streets
beautiful architecture
getting into pretty much anything for less than 5 euros
paying with euros
fantasizing in cooking shops about crepes and papillotes
papillotes!
all of the fun French people we met
singing hymns in French

a little piece of paradise

Today, I licked the Mediterranean salt off my lips and was utterly happy.

Welcome to Collioure.

*more substantial post to come later