We'll always have Aix...

So here I am sitting on the train to Paris realizing how surreal this whole thing is. Study abroad is OVER. DONE. FINI. I never knew time could fly by so fast, yet here I am, completely moved out of my apartment, everything packed in two huge, overweight suitcases. How did this happen so quickly? I don’t get it. It seems like just yesterday I was writing to all of you about how I was going on this very journey on the train from Paris to Aix, bawling like a baby, scared shitless, and not knowing what to expect.

            So what did I expect? I’m not too sure exactly but I know that I have never cried, gotten angry, sad, hurt, laughed so hard, and been so happy in my entire life. This has been a trip of a lifetime. I’ve met some amazing people and had some amazing (and not-so-amazing) experiences with all of them. One thing I sure did learn was how strong I am. Above all else, I came here for myself, chasing a life dream which I have now fulfilled.

I cried so hard these last few days. It honestly didn’t hit me that I was leaving until this weekend when other people started to head out one-by-one. Friday night was our study abroad programme’s end-of-year dinner. Besides the delicious food, the most enjoyable part of the night was when we watched a slideshow of photos that everyone had submitted and then shared stories about our experiences in France and Europe. I actually managed to share two stories that stuck with me throughout the year. The first one being one of my first experiences with my 85 year-old roommate/landlady. One day she was awaiting a friend to arrive at the apartment for lunch, and though they were supposed to call first, they didn’t, so she decided to head to the bathroom and take a shower before her guest arrived. It must have been fate that lead me to go finish my studying in my room because not too minutes later, the phone rings and I hear my frantic 85 year old landlady fly out of the bathroom yelling “JE SUIS NUE!! AU SECOURS!! JE SUIS NUE!!” (“IM NAKED, WATCH OUT, IM NAKED!!”). And that was one of my first experiences with my landlady.

My second story was about one of my experiences at the grocery store (of which I have many). My friend Emma C suggested that I write a book of all of my grocery store stories and call it the “Monoprix Monologues” (Monoprix being the name of the grocery store that we frequented). Anywho, those stories are numerous  and some day I hope to share them with you when I write my book (don’t worry Emma, there will be a dedication in your name for giving me the idea and the wonderful title!).  Regardless, everyone (including myself) enjoyed a good laugh over other people’s misfortunes and mishaps in French language and culture even though at the time they seemed so serious.

On Saturday I had the chance to meet up with Ashley and her mom Marie, who just arrived in France to start a six week trip with her daughter. We showed her around Aix a bit and I shared with them two of my favorite places in the city. We then enjoyed a delicious dinner at our favorite restaurant that Ashley, Emma V, & I discovered at the beginning of the year, Les Agapes. I had such a good time with good friends but it wasn’t until this moment when I realized that Ashley, Emma, and I, the three original friends, the French house dorks who decided to all study together in Aix this year, would no longer from this day forward be together all at once. My chère Emma boo is officially done with her undergrad and will be back in France in the fall to teach English. Ashley has received an amazing opportunity with Madison’s prestigious semester internship in Washington DC program for international relations and political science majors. After dinner we dropped Ashley’s mom off at her hotel and then had one last walk down the Cours Mirabeau before we all went our separate ways. These two girls will always have a special place in my heart and even though we may be physically far away from each other, I know I can always count on them to be there for me. These two have helped me through so much in my life and I will never, EVER, forget it! I am so excited to see where they end up because I know they will be great!

After dealing with some of the hardest goodbyes on Saturday, today, Sunday, was definitely harder than I thought it would be. First of all, it was just a weird day. I woke up, dropped off some more clothes at the Red Cross, and then headed back home to finish some packing stuff before I met my friends for lunch. It had recently crossed my mind within the last couple of days how we hadn’t heard or been threatened by our crazy neighbor in the apartment below ours. For those of you who don’t know, this neighbor has threatened us constantly this entire year with police threats, and just plain old “you better watch yourself because I can make your life miserable” type threats. So I enter into my apartment building and I see our neighbor waiting for one of the two elevators. I didn’t recognize him at first but as French custom, I said my standard “bonjour” to him as I came and waited the elevator with him. We both got on and it wasn’t until he pushed the 10/11 floor button when I realized who he was. I politely managed to ignore him by reading through my mail and then we both got off on 10/11. I had my headphones in but as soon as I shut the door to my apartment I hear pounding on the door and frantic door buzzer going off. I expected that madame was having company over so I went into the kitchen and told her someone was at the door. It then occurred to me, that a-hole followed me right upstairs.

From my room I suddenly hear this man yelling at my landlady, catching the words “high heels” and “6am” and “constant noises coming from our apartment in the middle of the night”. I don’t know if I have explained the previous situations to this story, but alas, this man is ACTUALLY crazy and quite scary (also apparently an alcoholic). One year, one of madame’s foreign students came home around 11pm and when the sound of her coming out of the elevator was apparently too loud because he came out of his apartment screaming at her and then punched her. The police got involved and apparently it was a big deal.

So anyways, back to my story… So he is standing in the doorway yelling and threatening my landlady so I come out there to her defense. I am standing there, shaking, and trying to think of everything I wanted to say in French but I was so mad, it didn’t matter cause somehow it all magically came out. I yelled right back and told him he had absolutely NO RIGHT to come here and speak to my landlady nor I that way, and then I told him how tired I was of him treating me like an idiot just because I am a foreign student. He didn’t like that so he threw back some more insults (keep in mind, this is a grown adult of probably 50 or 60 some years) and then brought up how my roommate and I apparently “had parties” while she wasn’t there (these parties consisted of having two people over for dinner one night during the beginning of the year when my landlady was gone and that was the first time we encountered him when he came upstairs and threatened us. My landlady, of course, didn’t believe it and defended us all the way, even defending the time I was playing my clarinet at 7pm (which he tried to say I was playing my guitar at 11pm) and madame cutely rushed to my defense by saying that first of all, it’s not the guitar, it’s a TRUMPET, no, SAXOPHONE, and that I played it damn well! So then during his constant ranting I had finally had enough, this was my last day in Aix, dammit, and I’ve had it! So I shouted at him in English to “FUCK OFF YOU PIECE OF SHIT, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!?” To which he gave me a very angry face, I’m assuming because FUCK is pretty universal, and then I said “SO FUCK OFF, GOODBYE!” and then made a hand closing gesture when you tell someone to shut up, which I later found out is actually an extremely offensive gesture in France (made me all the more proud of myself!) and then finally we managed to shut the door, but not before he managed to throw one last threat to my landlady. The whole thing was just incredulous and unjustified. I mean, who does this asshole think he is? But whatever, I got in my last word with him, I only hope he leaves my landlady alone. As much as I may have complained about some of the things she did, she was like a grandmother to me and I will miss her terribly!

So anyways, that ended my last day in Aix. My friends came over and helped me take my stuff to the bus station and they saw me off. I cried a bit on the bus, but then I realized how excited I am to see Selby tomorrow and continue this last leg of my European adventure! Soon enough (in a month and a half-ish) I will be home in Racine and wanting to be back here, but I am also excited to get back to my “normal” life back in the States. It’s been a great year. Like my friend said the other day, we’ll always have Aix…

Peace,

Doogie <3