Not gonna lie--2010 was a bit rough... Graduating from Furman was more sad and scary than exciting. Deciding what to do afterwards was hard, and then spending most of the summer on the other side of an ocean from Pierre-Antoine was not pleasant either :/ And, of course, you all know about the trials and tribulations of my time in France so far and about letting go of Copper at the very end of the year...
I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because I'm really not--I was so lucky to be able to finish school with honors, to find a job that let me live near PA, and to move to a foriegn country for a year. I guess I just mean to say that 2010 was an emotional roller coaster of these intense situations one after another: having to say goodbye to college friends and the college lifestyle, living at home again, starting over in a new place with new people in another language! I'm pretty sure these experiences were necessary for me to grow up some more, but I'm glad they're over.
The time between Christmas and New Years was so relaxing--nothing to do but hang out with PA and read and chill. I started to get that feeling of "everything is too perfect, so what's gonna happen now?" right before I got the news about Coppie :( I'm just glad he went peacefully with my parents there to comfort him.
New Year's Eve day was a bit rough after the news, but the party at PA's apartment was pretty fun. I knew a few of the people (we were about fifteen guys and four girls total), so it wasn't too awkward for me. The food included lots of little toasts with pate, cheese, salmon spread, pesto, etc. made by Adrien plus hummus, my artichoke dip, and little pastries from the oven. To drink, we had rum punch, gin bucket, and champagne for midnight. There was drinking, dancing, hookah, laughing--at midnight we had a champagne toast to "La Marseillaise" sung by the guys... and I had to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" all alone! It was fun when people spoke some English with me too. I was up until almost four am, but the party kept on until six or so! It was a good night to take my mind off of things for awhile. Here are a few silly pictures for you:
 |
| Singing "La Marseillaise" at midnight. A toast to France! |
 |
| Don't I look good in this hat? ;) |
 |
| Philouze taking a silly picture--PA is doing "The Crab," a dance they invented at the party, lol! |
So now that it is 2011, I'm resolving to doing a bit of yoga everyday. Other than that (or perhaps linked to that), I just hope this year is more peaceful. Once Chinese New Year swings around, it will be the year of the Rabbit, which is usually a calm and lucky time. If I can just get into grad school with PA, things will be right on track. Fingers crossed!
