A La Prochain

"America is my country, but Paris is my hometown." -Gertrude Stein

Dear Reader,

Okay.

My last official Parisian post.

It's been a long few days as I've been getting ready to leave and preparing to say goodbye to my life here. What? Goodbye? It always felt like it was so far away. Hundreds of days away. I remember seeing 200 something on my countdown and feeling like I'd never have to say it. But today I did and my heart broke a bit.

If you've followed me at all, you know how much I utterly adore it here. It's become my home and I've never felt such happiness as I have when strolling the streets of Paris, or savoring a hot baguette, or just hanging out in my little French room. Every moment has been full of such happiness. I knew I'd enjoy it here, but I never thought that I would feel the way I do about it right now.

There is nowhere like Paris and to have lived here has been a fairytale! How lucky am I to have lived out one of my dreams? I am desperately sad to leave, but I am ready for what is next. Plus I know that I'll come back again because Paris will always hold the largest place in my heart. It was the most perfect experience and I truly would not change a thing. The good and the bad have made it what it is and I'm grateful for every moment I've been here.

Oh my heart.

This is a little of what I saw on my last day:

Look at the light reflecting on the Louvre!

This is my favorite café. It's just between the Pantheon and Luxembourg gardens and it's delicious. My mom and I ate there her last day as well, isn't that just fitting?

OH MY GOODNESS. A honey, goat cheese and walnut crêpe. Probably my favorite thing I've eaten in France.

Tarte Tatin aka heaven.

I just love the buildings!

Well. Thanks for following me on my little adventure.

Au revoir, Paris. It's been lovely.

-M

Zip-a-dee-do-dah!

I went to Disneyland today! Isn't that fantastic? It was a magical way to wrap up my French experience. Thank you Jacqueline for the ticket. You're my soul sister!

This is the entrance to the park!

You can't quite see it, but the castle is in the distance. I'M AT DISNEYLAND!

There is a dragon cave underneath the castle!

The Haunted Mansion

I rode Autopia. The French pronounce it "auto-pee-ah." Also, this is my "I'm driving" face. I'm excited to get back to the States and drive my own toy car. I've missed if ever so much.

I rode the carousel...

and this was my horse.

DLand is just a wonderful place, regardless of if you are an adult, alone...with out children. Workers and other visitors were happy to point out how strange they thought it that I was visiting unaccompanied by children. I'm sorry, but it's still magical, no matter how old you are. I just love it!

One more day and then I'll be U.S. bound! See you soon!

-M

Montmarte

Whelp. My time here is almost done. It is so strange to think that I'll be home in such a short amount of time. I'm not freaking out yet, but that is likely to change in the next two days. I have some chocolate on hand so I should be okay when the emotional/mental breakdown occurs.

So the past few days have consisted of shopping, packing, NO SLEEP, crêpe eating and touristing. I'm trying to visit some of my favorite places one more time and today I went to Montmartre. Oh the Sacré Coeur. It never ceases to make my heart happy!

Hey there little man.

Love love love

Have you seen the Sabrina remake? This is the café she sits at as she writes her last letter home and talks about La Vie en Rose. While I was there, someone was playing that beautiful Parisian anthem on their accordion. Magic!

These are the stairs just in front of the café.

I've always wanted to buy one of these and I finally found one! It has little hand painted flowers on it and comes from this utterly fantastic antique perfume store at the base of the Sacré Coeur. Now I just need some eau de toilette to put inside!

-M

Yes.

Guess who I got to see perform again?

He will do great things.

-M

Why I love Paris:

-M

7 DAYS!

Whatever if posting videos about coming home is cheesy. I'M COMING HOME!!!

-M