In a way, it is a little bit of a bittersweet moment. We have been here five months and we have passed the halfway point. I know I am not the only one who wishes I could slow everything down. I cannot imagine that in four months I am going to have to leave the life I created here and the amazing friends I have made. But, while I am still here, I am going to take advantage of it. I am enjoying being able to go and sit in a café with the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted, (Haricots Rouge, for future SYA students) and talk with my friends about school and everything we are doing and how pretty the twenty flakes of snow were that we got the other day. I can almost recite the recording announcing the stops on the bus and feel like a local. It's wonderful. One of my favorite things is coming home at the end of the day and being able to talk with my host mother. We are very close and I know I am lucky to have that bond.
With all that in mind, and a suitcase that does not want to close no matter how much sit on it, I am off to Paris tomorrow. I promise lots of pictures and another post in two weeks.