The Beginning of the End

(St. Victor sur Loire)

School has officially ended, my transcript is about to be printed off and signed, I’ve given away 85% of my dishes and worldly french possessions, and have the laundry n the wash. Yep, I’m just about ready to leave St. Étienne. Forever.  The ending of this exchange year is bitter sweet. I’ve come to France, studied (or at least tried to), met new people, made some great friends, and now feel like I’ve done everything I can here. It will be strange not coming back to 321 Littré, and I will definitely miss the « family » that we’ve made here, but I can’t wait to leave : to go traveling for the summer and also to get back to Canada.

(A traveling recycling band during Music Festival)

The last couple weeks have been so busy that there has barely been time for breathing and the like. I have finished school, finally. The classes were brutal, oral exams impossible and the 8 million essays put callouses on my fingertips from all the typing. Have slept insufficiently.  Gone for BBQs on the almost nearby lake, St. Victor sur Loire, wandered the Streets of St.É during the world reknowned music festival that they have on World Music Day. There were groups of people playing music with their sound systems cranked. It was cool. SOLAR - McMaster University registration program – was a complete pain in the butt. There was nothing to be done, and the international ladies responsible for helping me, simply haven’t, which hasn’t helped the stress levels at al. I have gone shopping and actually purchased three dresses in the last two weeks. I know, I don’t understand how it happened.  Mom, keep breathing. I’ve bought two different pairs of sandals, both of which give me 1 inch diameter blisters on the souls of me feet. I’ve said « goodbye » and « see you soon » to so many people that it’s depressing and re-enforcing the fact that we are indeed leaving.

RuthAnn, pastor’s wife, and her daughter Rebecca, came over for tea on Wednesday afternoon. We sat and talked for over 2 hours. We had packed up a majority of our dishes, pots, pans, cutlery, bed linens, alarm clock, etc. for Brooke, an American girl we met last semester who was here for one semester, but is coming back in the fall to teach English. Having a whole kitchen like that will definitely make her moving across the ocean much easier.

Thursday Melissa, Amanda R., David, Luke and I, went into Lyon for the day. We got in at 10h18 and went in search of the correct tram/metro to get us to the Musée de Beaux Arts. We ended up going in circles, and ended up at La Parc de la Tête d'Or instead. We were planning on going to the Museum and then have a picnic lunch in the park. It worked out better this way. We walked around, saw the animals (there's a mini zoo in the park) and had lunch in the park. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there was a slight breeze. Lately the weather here has been really cold. We had a hot spell of 30+ degrees and then it dropped  19/20. After lunch we walked over to the Museum. The paintings were pretty. There were some from famous artists, ie. Claude Monnet. Afterwards, we split up for a couple hours, us girls needed to go shopping. This is when the dress purchasing happened. We met up again for dinner, at a traditional lyonnais restaurant. It was really good food, with crèpes for dessert. mmmm.....

Melissa and I have also started making more concrete plans for this summer. We bought train tickets up to Brussels for the 10th of July, booked a hostel for our last night in Paris and we’re meeting up with Gil and Siobhan (shevon) to talk about Italy – they just got back from spending 3 weeks there. It’s going to be awesome.

Yesterday, we went to GBSE for the last time. It was on outdoor service in the country side. It was absolutely beautiful. When we finally made it outside of the boundaries of St. Étienne, the area was gorgeous. It made me forget how grey and dull the city was and reminded me just how much I love the country. After the service, we had a BBQ, Raymond, the pastor, grilled sausages on a wood burning grill. There was extensive heat coming from it and some OT jokes being thrown around. It was a great meal. Melissa and I empited our cupboards into a pasta salad. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

For the next couple days we are going to be doing last minute stuff – cleaning out appartments, trying to close our bank accounts, packing up the rest of our stuff – for the summer and the stuff that we’re going to send home with Melissa’s dad and Brother. We are meeting them in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, stay there for a couple days and then head to Normandie. So begins the summer travels.