Well, I made it back home.  Let me just tell you, though, I still have no idea where all of this stuff came home and how all of it made it back with me. 

Thanks to my friends who helped me with my bags (from the dorms to the train station and even from Limoges to Paris), I managed to get my big suitcase (weighing about 90 pounds), my big camping-style backpack (between 40 and 50 pounds) and two smaller bags to London where I met my parents.  The day after carrying my big backpack around, both my dad and I woke up with back pains and random sore muscles.  He also told me he felt a good two inches shorter.  I think, had it not been for my parents and my friends, I would have collapsed from exhaustion before even leaving Limoges.

And now I am home.  I just got back from my first trip to Wal-Mart and second drive behind the wheel of my car since last September (look out, Lubbock drivers).  It's good to be home.  I'm not having as many problems adjusting as I thought I would, but I think those might appear in August when school starts again.  For now, I'm just experiencing differences.  I can't find the foods I'm used to eating at the grocery store, I keep trying to talk to my parents in French, and I can't figure out how to type on an American keyboard. 

I miss my friends from France.  A couple of them sent me emails during the week that I was in London and, already, I find it slightly more challenging to write in French.  I guess that's because I'm not surrounded by the language anymore.

Hooray for having a refrigerator, though!  Yesterday, my dad and I went grocery shopping and I automatically grabbed things that could sit out (like individual applesauce cups instead of a big jar).  He had to keep reminding me that I can buy things and put them in the refrigerator and they will last for DAYS.  How fabulous is that. 

Well, I think that's all.  It makes me a bit sad to think that the year is over.  I remember when I tried to convince my parents how much better it would be to spend a year in France instead of just a semester.  I'm so glad I went for a year.  Otherwise, I would have started adjusting and fitting into life about the time I was supposed to come home.  And it's funny, everytime I thought I was accustomed to the way things worked in France, something would happen to throw me off.  However, in spite of the not-so-fun times and the not-so-easy times, my year in France was a good one.  Good?  I'm not quite sure that word expresses what I mean, but I can't seem to find a word that adequately describes this past year.  Maybe it's impossible to sum up a year of one's life in a single word.  At any rate, I'm glad I did it.

Goodbye, everyone.  After this summer, it's back to OU in the fall.  And, after that...we'll see.  Que Dieu vous benisse!

"You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore."     --Psalm 16:11

C'est finit.