Automatic escaladers

19 November 2006

I’m not ready to leave. I want to stay. I wasn’t ready to leave Barcelona, nor am I ready to leave France. It’s funny, I often like being ‘foreign.’ Of course if you catch me on the wrong day I’d tell you differently, but if I could have some good friends here and my family I don’t know if I’d ever leave. I love learning another language. I love meeting new people. But what’s more, things just FEEL different…and I love it. I don’t know exactly how to describe it though, because I haven’t made any close French friends, so I feel as if I’m lacking in understanding deeper cultural values, but things are definitely different. So here is a list of some things that I know I’m going to miss about this place:

the glorious patisseries
light switches/escaladers/etc. that function automatically
big lunches, lunches with my family on the weekend
les marchés
buying my fresh fruit at marché du carmes
eating slowly
the language
having an excuse to have random conversations with people
having an excuse to say stupid things
fantastic, cheap, wine
not being carded and being considered mature enough to handle ordering a drink
all the old buildings and beautiful architecture
a place so rich in history
and so many other things I can’t think of right now