Brief Return

I think that the oddest day I ever spent in Paris took place a few weeks after the program ended. My friend Kelsey and I had traveled through Ghent, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin and we headed back to Paris for her return flight to Chicago and so that I could meet up with my parents, who were staying in Paris for a couple days until we would leave together the following morning to go to Portugal. 

Kelsey and I arrived at the airport, dragged our suitcases on to rerB and waited. After hearing so much Dutch and German the past week I felt relieved and in control again. I knew where I was going, I could eavesdrop on the conversations around me. 

We returned to my host mother's apartment, where I had packed up my fifty pound suitcase and left it in the closet of my old room. Walking down the street felt wonderful. I passed by Le Petit Balard, where Gilles was standing outside. 

Seeing my host mom was great. She could not have been any more kind during my stay. Her apartment looked the same. The kitchen table where I would eat everyday looked the same. My room looked completely bare. The jewelry and make up which had remained on the dresser during my stay was already in a suitcase. 

I grabbed my things and said good bye to her. She said to come back any time. 

We met my parents where we would all be staying that night, a little apartment in Montmartre. Kelsey and I spent the rest of the day exploring, and getting incredibly drunk on the steps of Sacre Coeur. Getting lost and finding our way again. It's kind of funny, that I never spent as much time in Montmartre during the entire program as I did that night. 

I had a red eye flight to Lisbon that morning with my parents. We left the apartment at four in the morning. I was still drunk when we arrived at the airport and remained inebriated and disgruntled until our flight took off.