A bientôt amis de la France

My final class of this year was in short, lovely. It was my quatrième INTER, with one extra who said he was interested in the class. Obviously I let him in, but how much of it he understood I do not know! He looked to be enjoying it anyway, but the film is a very physical film so you could probably get away with not understanding the dialogue! They were as great as ever, and seemed to really enjoy doing the worksheet (crossword this time)...and my struggling student with whom I have the solo lessons said a full sentence to me. Now this might not seem like much, but for her, it really is. Very happy with that.

So after school life started to speed up. Very much so! It didn't feel like I had enough hours in the day to do everything that I wanted to, but somehow I managed it! I went into Caen to get my final Christmas present (as it is food, I wanted to leave it as late as possible) followed by a trip to the supermarket to stock up on the few French goodies you can't buy in England (rillettes, pommeau, saucisson aux noisettes) to bring back with me to English. I then went home, made lunch, made lunch for tomorrow and cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom. I attempted to start packing, but this was soon halted by the having a rendez-vous with Caroline. My thought for today was, if I don't finish packing in the day/evening...there is always the late evening, and I wanted to see everyone that I could rather than worrying about packing. So I ended up round at her house with more than one room (exciting for most people here, as most people live in studio apartments!) and a beautifully decorated tree. Every time I see Caroline I'm always reminded about what a good friend she is, and how we should definitely try and meet up more often...especially when I'm only 16 minutes away by bus! I am so excited for the baby to arrive...I cannot wait to see it, as I guess everyone else is too, but I just can't believe how fast her pregnancy has gone!!

When I got home I alternated between packing and fits of panic. Panic number one was the fact that AirFrance had sent me my boarding card that afternoon. Great, fine, you think...not when you don't have a printer to print it off with and you're not in school to do it! In a fit of desperation I went down to the reception to attempt to beg the receptionist to print the document for me. Now if you've read previous blips you'll know that this receptionist started out as my nemesis...so I wasn't expecting much! How wrong someone can be, as soon as I asked she acquiesced and when I offered money in return for having it printed she refused it. Maybe it's because my French is improving, or she still feels guilty for being horrible to me when I was ill. We'll never know...

After a quick Skype with mum to iron out details for tomorrow I went to see Baptiste. Now usually I would have taken a picture of him, but in my rush to get out the door I forgot my camera. Cue some choice French swear words. Was so lovely to see him before I went home, and we had a chat and a gossip about life over a cervoise and a café...which then turned into a longer chat over un verre de vin and a kir. It's sad that I already know I'm going to miss all my French friends here even more than last time as I know them better...I guess that's the curse of being a language student.

Seems apt that my final meal of this year in France was also the first place I met my friends for the first time. That's right, Becky, Laura and I went to Dolly's...and very lovely it was too. Food and company, I didn't want to leave when the time came! However, life doesn't stop for anyone and I still had the rest of my packing, cleaning, checking and organising to do. After a rather frantic day it's time for bed...not sure I will sleep though, I'm too excited! Tomorrow, I travel...I start at 6am and hopefully home around 10 hours after that...wish me luck!

This photograph might not sum up my day, but it really does sum up my time here...eating, love with packing to go places.