These last few days have been very calm. It's been pretty rainy, so there's not much to do. The girls and I went to the mall two days ago. The stores were pretty similar to what we have in America. Of course there was H & M and Nike. We walked around for a while and I tried to help Élé find something new and fun to wear. But later on, her friend arrived at the mall so I followed them around while they talked and shopped. At one point we went into a store with a bunch of random and cheap knick knacks. They even had American candy and Dr. Pepper (which is literally nowhere to be found here). I ended up buying an iced tea. But it's really embarrassing because when I was handing her a single Euro, I wasn't paying attention, and accidentally grabbed a quarter to hand to the lady. That was humiliating because it basically screamed “I'm an American!” Anyways, we got over it eventually and the rest of the day at the mall was fun.
That night, we were lazy and got McDonalds for dinner. Normally, I hate McDonalds burgers, but for some reason it was so so good! Of course their fries are always superior, but even the burger surprised me. I was happy that evening.
The next day I went to what is I'm pretty sure, my millionth museum of the trip. We went to this art display place that also has a giant pool down the middle of it. It was interesting, reading all the history, but even more, I was obsessed with the colorful rainbow/sunset glass display on the tops of the walls above the pool. It lets all this light in but also makes everything look so majestic. On the way home, my host mom and I played Taylor Swift and she talked to me about France’s political state. We compared it to the U.S.’s and it was honestly so relaxing driving around so much.
Yesterday morning she and I walked to the open street market down the street from the house. It was cool how there were all these food trucks specializing in different categories of food, such as fruit, veggies, meat, and cheese. I also got to taste some really delicious snacks along the way. On the way back we stopped at the bakery to get some treats for my parents who arrived today.
I've missed my family so much these past two weeks, I feel like a little kid who finally sees their dad after a long day of work. Tomorrow we're going to leave France, part with my dear friends, and travel around Europe for a week. It will be a short trip, but I'm excited to see what we can pack in. I can't wait for the long car rides when I can plug in and look at the scenery. It should be a really fun time.
I'm seriously going to miss Éléonore and her family so much. It's unbelievable how close I feel to her and them considering how hard it can be to communicate at times. I'm so excited to see how we'll stay connected and where the friendship takes us. I'm going to force myself to keep it together, especially with my family around, but I know I'll soon be desperate to see them again. This has been such a special trip and I'm eternally grateful that I've had this opportunity :)