a little overdue update

Yikes! I haven't written a new post in the past 2 weeks. Well you'll all have to excuse me, because I've been really busy and I've just kept putting it off because the list of things I wanted to blog about just kept getting longer and longer. Now it's pretty long, so I need to sum everything up. Here goes:

Trips: I've gone on a few trips close to Bordeaux. Last weekend I saw the Pyrénées and a medieval city still surrounded by ramparts and a moat (no water though. I guess they don't want tourists to fal in or something). This weekend I went to the Dordogne Valley where I got to visit some prehistoric caves. It was pretty awesome, but we were so tired from walking everywhere for the weekend. At 2 out of the 3 caves, we met a North American couple (one American and one Canadian) who didn't speak French. I got my first taste of what it would feel like to be an interpreter. (Is that in my future? Only God knows!)

School: I finished up my classes last week-- I'm now done my degree! Well, sort of. Now I just need to get back home to transfer all of my credits. So I'm done all the courses I need for my degree. Now I just need to graduate in October! I wrote my last exam on Thursday and I'm just waiting to find out my mark for that class. I did better than I'd hoped in my other two classes, and I'll know my marks for my evening classes by mid-May, even though I won't be here!

Tour de France: My friend Alannah is arriving tomorrow (still can't believe where the time's gone) and after staying in Bordeaux for a couple of nights, we're starting our BIG trip, aka the "Tour de France" on Friday. I'm super-pumped but at the same time I don't really know what to expect. I've never been traveling for more than 10 days at a time. Our itinerary is pretty packed: we're going to be traveling for 21 days straight before we head back to Bordeaux. But even then we're only planning on staying for the night and then it's off to Paris for the weekend so we can both fly home on the 26th. We're sticking to exploring France although right in the middle we're going to London for a few nights.

Life: Just when I think I've gotten the hang of living here, I have to leave. I'm not lying when I say that the months have flown by (although my family and friends I talk to assure me it hasn't for them). I really do like it here; I actually have a life here with friends, a church, school, and a place to live. I do my grocery shopping at Auchan every couple of weeks. I don't even really have to think about which stop to get off at any more when I'm on the tram. I don't need a map of downtown Bordeaux anymore. This has been "a home away from home," and leaving will be bittersweet. Oddly enough I feel almost just like I did before I left Winnipeg: I liked the familiarity of my life there. But now things here are familiar (and random! Last night an old guy told me I look like Hilary Clinton. Huh?). It's not that I'm not looking forward to coming home; not at all. I miss everyone back home. But it's just that coming home means that this little time that I've had abroad is really over and done with. I have to transition back into real life again. Granted I'll have my sister's wedding to preoccupy me for the first couple of weeks, but then it's back to work and back to Winnipeg life for the summer.

I can see that I've grown a lot being here. I can also see that I've learned tons too. I can't really say if I'm a "changed person"-- I'll let you all be the judge of that when I get home. I definitely know I definitely do not regret doing this. This time's had its ups and downs, but the hard times have made me stronger and wiser and the fun times have really made me realize how blessed I am and how much I can appreciate in my life. Thanks to everyone who sent me encouragement through emails and letters while I've been here. It's been so great!

So I don't know how much time I'll have to write on my blog while we're traveling. If possible, I'll write little updates once in awhile, but if not, consider this my last blog. I'll write a big one when I get home about my big trip. It's been fun keeping you all updated. Thanks for reading, and bye for now!