I know it’s already been three days that I’ve been home, completely weirded out both by the fact that everything is so familiar but so foreign and that I feel like a slightly different person trying to fit back into the same environment.
The last nine months have felt like a dream that I’ve just woken up from. I cannot believe that I can arrive back into such normalcy after I have done so much these past 280 days. I keep going back through this blog (which thank goodness I have) and try to convince myself that I did not create the last 9 months.
Two hundred and eighty days. Nine new countries. Thirty-five new cities. Hundreds of new acquaintances and friends. Thousands of incredible memories. One unforgettable school year.
Thank you to everyone and everything I came in contact with, touched, or ate. You truly made my experience more than anything I could have hoped for or imagined. Thank you Wellesely-in-Aix, Columbia-Penn in Paris, Sugarplum Cake Shop, Aix-en-Provence, and Paris for everything.
And thank you for reading this, because honestly it was not an obligation. This blog started as a way for me to not forget what I had done over these nine months but has kind of morphed into this other thing where I wrote not only for myself but for others as well. It’s kind of bizarre to look at what my blog was like at the beginning (boring, really) to what it has become now. Unfortunately, since I am no longer living in France, I will not be keeping up this blog (the title no longer applies).
However, there is good news! I have a couple new blogs that I’m planning on keeping up if you wanted to shift your focus there!
One blog is for reviews of all of the best places to eat in Paris, Aix, and elsewhere in the world, called Les Meilleurs du Monde (The Best in the World). I’m planning on expanding it to encompass all the places I go back in the US as well!
The other is going to be my journal-type blog, called Instead I Made Chocolate Cake. This will be about food I make, places I visit, and probably anything I do that does not have to do with working. I’m thinking it will end up being similar to this one but focused on Boston and Cambridge and I think eventually on Waterville, ME once I go back to school.
Again, I can’t stress how amazing this year has been and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it. Please continue to follow me as I process how these nine months have affected me and as I continue my exploration of all things food.
Tu me manques déjà, Paris. A très bientôt, j’espère !
