Saying Goodbye

Top to Bottom: Arc de Triomphe; Heather and I front of the Eiffel Tower when it was sparkling; group at the Eiffel Tower; Me, Rachael and Ali with Gabriel our amazing tour director

Day 21: As I promised, the past couple days have been relatively uneventful except we have all had to say goodbye which I hate doing. Yesterday we visited the Arc de Triomphe and did some shopping on Champs Elysees. Wednesday was the beginning of all the sales in Paris. Literally every store is having huge sales. It is ridiculous. Last night we had our farewell dinner which was kind of weird because we still had a day in Paris but we had to have it early for scheduling conflicts or something. We did have to say goodbye to ISA directors though and that was sad. They did such a good job of planning fun things for us to do, giving us great tour guides and just generally taking care of us. On top of that they are just great people and I will miss them. After the dinner, we went to the Eiffel Tower to see the light show that happens every night. It was really pretty. This morning we had our last class and afterwards went to L'Academie de la Biere (Beer Academy!) to celebrate and eat lunch. The place had over 200 beers. The rest of the day has just been packing and saying goodbye to everyone. It is a weird situation when I think back to three weeks ago when everyone arrived in Paris hardly knowing each other. We have all become so close and they have really been my family while we have been here. It was weird to say goodbye and I will miss everyone. I will probably have some serious withdrawals the next few days.
As fun as Paris as been, I am excited to get away. This week especially it has been very exhausting being in the city. It has been hot and I have noticed a lot more tourists in the past few days. We all had such a great time in Normandy that coming back to Paris was kind of difficult and this was a rough week anyway with finishing up class. Amsterdam will be a good break from all the madness here. I leave tomorrow at 7:30 am (ugh) and I will be in Amsterdam until Monday. I will be travelling with my roommate from freshman at UGA, Helen, and 3 other girls that were in my group here in Paris. Should be exciting! After Amsterdam, Helen and I will come back to Paris until Wednesday when we go home! I still haven't decided if I will bring my laptop to Amsterdam or if I don't there may be internet at the hostel. I guess I will let you be surprised next time I post! Until then, Au Revoir!