La fin...

We just said "au revoir" to two of the kids in our host family who we will not be able to see tomorrow morning before we leave to catch a train for Lyon. The general sentiment in our group is that we don't want to leave. At testimony meeting yesterday, I bore my testimony and as I looked out into the congregation, my heart was heavy to leave these faces which had become sort of familiar to me.Facebook addresses and embraces were exchanged. I realized that the next time I come to Paris, I will not totally be a visitor because there will be friends to visit there. And as quickly as I came, I have to leave...
This past weekend, 5 other girls and I went to London. Taking the train there is quite short and inexpensive, and our hostel was right near in Piccadilly Circus in the middle of this hip metropolis. We went to a performance of "As You Like It" at Shakespeare's Globe, the recreation of the legendary theater on the Thames. Every performance has a block tickets at 5 quid (pounds) for the standing spaces right in front of the stage. We didn't even know about the show, but we stopped at the Globe on a bus tour and, seeing the poster, we decided to buy tickets for that night. I'm so glad that we did. The actors were top-notch, and the atmosphere was what I think theater was meant to be- casual yet involved. I asked if we could eat in the theater, and the usher told me gently, "Of course, you can eat and drink, as long as you don't throw it at the actors".
Our host-dad, Jaques, drove us to our professors apartment in town this evening to drop off most of our luggage before we take our trip to the south (we will just take small bags to facilitate out travel there). Our prof lives very close to the Eiffel Tower and as the sun was setting, the Tower looked glittering and beautiful. I almost couldn't believe that I was in a car driving down a grand avenue in Paris, looking at that celebrated monument. My heart was filled with an almost painful nostalgia for a place which I hadn't even left yet. But then again, there is nothing so romantic as being melancholy and wistful in Paris.
On the other hand, America is calling, and I've gotta heed her call. Don't worry, I haven't given up my nationality. What I am probably going to do first thing when I come home? Eat a burger with fries and watch Star Wars. But a part of me will always be reserved for pink sunsets across the Seine. So forgive me if I listen to Edith Piaf and make my family eat French food; I wont be not trying to be pretentious or anything, I will be trying to relive happy memories.