Parigi!

getting ready to come home!
Its a pretty crazy thought actually. Today I went to the laundry mat for the last time, to make my clothes fluffy and dry, and the machine to get the laundry tokens ate my 5 euro bill! But I figured it was just homage to the Italian dryer Gods, the Roman ones that steal money. I can't tell you how ridiculously excited I get about clean, warm, soft, fresh clothes from the dryer. I will never curse a drier ever again I swear, actually I can't remember ever doing that, but now I really never will. I also met some really cool Greek girls there. I helped them figure out the machines and I told them about Siena. At first I thought they were Spanish, because I didn't recognize the Greek. They were so funny, they were videotaping the laundry mat b/c evidently they don't have those on the Greek Island they're from. Very cool. I will miss making random friends from random places, but I guess who says that needs to end.
It really is strange though thinking about coming home, I actually started organizing my things some in order to size up my packing situation. It may not be pretty, but I think I can do it. I am so excited to come home, but at the same time I'm a little rushed and distracted by all the work I'm supposed to be doing. Its also odd that I won't be returning for a very long time. I guess regrets/final thoughts, I still do have a little over a week, so I might be better with this right when I'm actually leaving. I think as of now, this was a great experience, it was tough at times, but all in all I learned a great deal about myself, people in general, the US and Europe especially. I think I said before, I really didn't feel like I clicked super well with anyone in my program, which can't be helped. Maybe I just didn't work as hard as I could have to cultivate relationships? Who knows, I got along fine with everyone, but it would have been nice to have someone here that I was really close to. Its funny how you just don't always find that, and yet you know what I mean I think. There are some people you just immediately connect with in your life. That doesn't always happen when you want it too but maybe it was more about me figuring myself out and gaining confidence in myself on this trip anyway. I certainly feel like I can handle a lot more now. I am not so afraid of the idea of growing up and living on my own anymore, and I know I can go places and do things on my own.
I kind of wish I had explored Tuscany better, but I really just ended up not having nearly as much time as I thought I would what with school and all. This is silly but the only thing that particularly bothers me is that I never got my house to figure out recycling, they kept doing it wrong, I'd put things aside to be recycled and someone would put it in the trash (Maria Francesca). And I couldn't ever find the right colored bags, it was just ahh! And I feel bad every single time I throw something away that could be recycled. So yah I feel a little guilty about that whole thing, I should have tried harder. I mean other than that, I think I should have maybe kept up better with exercising and things for myself. Everything was just so much harder here. I was always so tired from everyday things. So I think I'll cut myself some slack on that one.

Parigi (Paris in Italian)
Paris was awesome! And I had no idea what to expect. I was kind of like eh, and Leigh and I decided to just go and see it. I thought French people would be really rude too. Nope, they are very cool. I mean with any city, you are going to run into at least a few rude people, but for the most part anyone I asked for help was very nice. Even if they didn't speak English they tried to help anyway. I did feel awkward not knowing French. I would like to learn some and go back. It was just such a beautiful and clean city. There is so much culture and I'd even use the word classy. We went to Museums and ate amazing food and and went to cool coffee houses where people sang. We got crepes and crembule, which I'm not spelling correctly. I would suggest it to anyone, but I would say learn some french- they don't really speak English much, its not like Rome or Venice. They do kind of expect you to learn some of their language if you come to visit. They aren't so concerned with tourists. They are kind of like us actually. The stereotype of them being isolationists and having extreme pride in their culture and language. Hello! Americans! We complain like hell when tourists come here who don't speak English and expect us to figure out what they're saying. So I found being polite and trying got me pretty far. I don't say this much about cities, but on first impression, Leigh and I agreed that if we spoke french we'd consider living in that city. I mean french is kind of fun anyway. You just feel silly moving your mouth into the necessary sounds. I walked around mumbling in french, singing flight of the conchords' foux de fa fa, and trying to pronounce things. I was entertained.
Some Crazy examples of how small the world is-So Leigh and I were at the Eiffel tower taking pictures and walking around. It was so cold but very pretty b/c Christmas lights were all over the city. And a girl our age approached us cautiously and asked us to take her picture. Relieved to find out that we spoke English we started chatting. Turns out she is studying abroad too, in Northern Ireland, and she asks us where we're from, we say Richmond. She has a friend in Ireland from Richmond, our only friend that is there is a girl named Britney Johnston. OMG, turns out her best friend in Ireland is our Britney who we've been friends with since freshmen year. She has lost her friend from home so we take her with us because we are going to the Louvre because its students get in free night. So in the Louvre, we see some girls who are in Leigh's art class in Milan, Leigh says hello. They turn out to be cool, so we all stick together and the 1st girl, Courtney, figures out that she happens to go to school back in the states with one of the girls from Leigh's art class! Then! we were walking around and Leigh and I saw a whole group of people from Richmond that we knew kind of, and by that point we weren't really all that surprised. They were going in the opposite direction, but we said Hi. We find the Ireland girl's friend from home as well in the Louvre. So the now six of us who all know each other in very weird ways end up hanging out the rest of the time in Paris. We went to dinner as a big group both nights. I liked all of them a lot and it was just a great weekend. So weird to make instant friends then maybe never see them again?
On the way home I also met some American students in the airport who are studying in Barcelona and they were great, out gates were next to each other's so we hung out for awhile. We swapped stories and ended up talking about Harry Potter. Its just funny how you meet people and quickly get a long like that. In the end, when you have to part, all you can do is ask for their name to facebook them. Its kind of amazing, my generation is so oddly interconnected through school and studying abroad now. People you met and were friends with sort of stay connected all over the country and even the world. I'd love to study the impact of the study abroad combined with tools like facebook phenomena. What it will mean for the future of the world is yet to be seen. So many people my age are not just traveling, but living in other countries around the world for extended periods of time, when even our parents were never offered such an amazing opportunity. Its crazy.