Sky Tracks

Lately, I've really liked watching plane tracks in the sky above Angers. There seem to be so many of them! Instead of making me sad about leaving France, they make me feel good that so many people are zipping around the world, exploring and moving (and that none of them have dropped out of the air above me yet).

I spent today poolside with Liana and Amy, and took a very long walk home, strolling down the impossibly long, tree-lined Avenue Jean d'Arc that I had somehow missed until today. Maybe it was all the time I was by myself, or maybe it was because I had too much sun, but I got the idea into my head that I might as well go ahead and quit Angers.

The fact is, I'm done with classes, so each day passes super slowly. I've been all over town, multiple times, and the temptation to shop is much too strong considering my current budget, which I've demoted from "intrepid, economical world traveler" to "hopeful vagabond." The idea of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and part of Monday stretching out before me with absolutely nothing to do while my buddies start leaving was abysmal. So I went home, packed up, made a spontaneous hostel reservation, and now I'm in Paris.

Not. I wish. I still have one grammar exam to take, tomorrow at 10:15. But the idea is so nice..... And despite myself, Angers has somehow, sneakily, made itself feel like home. (Well, maybe not home, because I won't be unhappy to go, but made itself "normal life." When I get back, I'll have to re-normalize America). I think it started when I got back from Paris in March, and Angers felt so familiar after the hustle-bustle of the world's most glittering city. I don't know how it happened, though. It's certainly not like I have family here, or that my house has been especially pleasant or comfortable, and it's not like I know that many Angevins. Really, Claire is the only person I'll be leaving behind in Angers, as my other friends are all heading back to America (or China, Sweden, and Nova Scotia).

I won't be sad to say goodbye to Angers, necessarily, but I will be sad to say goodbye to living in France. I think I'll miss the familiarity of the streets and my habits, the easiness of finding a friend to have a picnic with, and the fact that there's an immense castle 20 minutes walking from my house. I won't post a sad, goodbye-Angers post on here, but I probably will do a Fraco-American pros and cons chart before I leave.


Thanks for sticking with me this far, family and friends! Monday I leave for the "land o' the Highland devil, land o' the shining river," and internet may or may not be available to me while I'm there. I'm finally getting excited to go; I hope my Carmichael cousins are nice. I'll recognize them by their big foreheads.