Graduation Goggles

How apt that this week's How I Met Your Mother was about "graduation goggles," describing how we become nostalgic about things when we are about to leave them forever. Now, France has not been a cakewalk for me this year, and I really want to go home, but maybe some of the tough times are already getting blurred by the beginning of final goodbyes... And lately, I have been often surrounded by assistants wanting a few last hurrahs before we all scatter, so the champagne cocktails and snacks and dance music all around us is a nice cushion from the dull realities of these seven months of an assistant's life.

So on Tuesday, Katherine and Caitlin came into Rennes for one last dinner out at Casa Pépé, just the three of us. It was DELICIOUS as usual! We also watched a movie and just chatted, as classic slumber parties require. Then today, Amanda and David came over from Fougères for lunch. Sadly, it was too chilly for picnicking, but we ate yummy burgers at Snack My Dwitch Up and hung out, with a late afternoon stop at Le Haricot Rouge for their spring chocolate flavors menu! Mmm, coconut! Hooray for other humans!

But now, again, my apartment is empty and the sky is grey (as it is 90% of the time here...), and the graduation goggles are thrown aside yet again. *sigh*

Luckily, I have a cocktail party on Saturday and an assistants' dinner next Tuesday. But by next Friday, pretty much everyone will have left. The family then shows up May 4th! Ack!

Long weekend...

So today was far less exciting than planned... The wedding was called off at the last moment, so I stayed in Rennes while PA went to check out the family drama--of which there wasn't any in the end! How dull!

So I texted around and got an invite to the movies with Katherine and Julia. It was the usual French style of slow movie, multiple stories, lots of drama/emotion, lots of smoking and drinking, etc. Oh, the title was Les Petits Mouchoirs or The Little Tissues. It was rather sad at the end, and I definitely don't recommend it.

Afterwards, we had a delicious pizza dinner at La Casa Pepe. Thin crust and way bigger than the plate, it was the best pizza I've had outside of Italy! Whoever visits me here must try it!

There was a brief interlude in my apartment while we waited for some friends to finish their dinner, then we headed to the Cactus bar with Georgia, Seth, Jackie, and her two Guatemalan friends. The music and conversation was good, but they are all traveling to nearby cities for the day tomorrow, so they headed home around midnight.

And here I am... back in my apartment to update y'all and chill. I'm pretty sleepy myself, but that might just be the wine from dinner.

I also learned that I am on the cover of the Furman University Engage magazine with my Africa study abroad buddies! I've made it to print in three continents: Africa, Europe, and North America!