final moments in Aix

I've been posting a lot on the blog tonight. I'm trying to get everything together. As I type this, I have all of my stuff surrounding me- clothes hanging above me, drying before they can be packed, open, stuffed suitcases on the ground and empty shelves in front of me. Tonight is my last night in Aix. The past two days have been a rollercoaster. I keep trying to get myself to understand that I'm leaving. But this place has come to feel like home so much that I really can't process the fact that I'm not coming back. Ashely made a good point- we've left Aix so many times on little vacations, that this just feels like one more week long excursion. Yet its not. My semester in Aix is officially over and its nearing the time to go home. I leave tomorrow morning at 10 with Ashley's family for my 2 week tour of France. I can't think about that yet. I'm still trying to get over the fact that I'm leaving this room. That must seem silly, but this truly feels like home. The people sleeping in the other rooms have become a part of my family. I've never been good with saying goodbyes and that holds true now.

This has meant so much to me. It has been the fastest five months of my life and yet I feel like I've been here forever. It's been a growing experience and I wonder how I will have changed when I get back. I can tell that I'm more adventerous now. I was talking to my mom ealier about how I will need to get around in Chicago's O'Hare. I almost laughed- though she's worried about it, I have no fear of navigating that airport- they speak English. I feel like a lot of things will seem a lot simpler now when I go back home, after having had to work for it here.

I have so many good memories I'm taking with me. I just wish I could take the people I've met with me too. I've made so many great friends- people from school, my amazing French family, my language partner Kathia, Sylvie and Eric who own the jewlery store, and of course Ashley. There's a lyric from "Chocolate" by Snow Patrol that keeps running in my head.

"This could be the very minute I'm aware I'm alive. All these places feel like home."

In the end, that is what this experience has been for me. A wake up call of sorts. Certainly an experience that has shown me that home is anywhere you make it. Though its hard to to say goodbye, I'm ultimately glad it is- it means that it meant something. And it did- it meant a lot.