Reflections on another experience abroad

I have just read my recent blog posts here, and I must say that I feel a bit ashamed. For crying out loud, I am living in Europe. Have I really become that blah about it? I definitely have been making the most of my time here, but I am glad to be going back to the States in a week.

This year abroad was a lot harder than last time. I didn't ever have any money, and I am not going to miss being nearly poor all the time. Granted, I am going to be in grad school, and I won't be rich, but I will not have to worry about money as much as I do here, because of the funding I am getting. I usually spend the last week before getting my paycheck eating noodles and bread, because they are the cheapest things to buy here, and I will not miss that at all.

Going abroad is about having new experiences and meeting new people, and I certainly had my share of both of these things this year. I have seen so many new places and met some really great people. I was really lucky to have a great support system here. With Claire leaving today, we all begin going our separate ways, and it's a bit sad. I will miss hanging out with the friends I have made here, going to cafés, the market, Carrefour, etc. I'd like to say that we will all meet again, but who knows? I know for sure that I will see Claire and Samantha again, because Claire lives 2 hours from me, and Samantha is hopefully coming to visit Chicago, but I don't know when I am seeing the rest of them. On the other hand, I have gotten to see some friends from Avignon, who live even further away from where I do, so I think anything is possible if you make it happen. Only time will tell.

I am done teaching, and I must say that I am not terribly upset about it. To be honest, these kids are not the most respectful people ever, and I spent many hours mad at their total lack of interest in English and about how horribly behaved they are. In fact, it's really not so much the fact that they despise English - it's their lack of respect. In each class, there's always a handful of kids who want to try and learn English, but the rest of them always ruin it by making a ruckus the whole time. Sort of annoying.

One good thing, however, does come out of that, and that is that I will never be able to teach high school students. They are just so horribly disrespectful and I really cannot tolerate it. I am sure that Uni will be different, though. Nonetheless, I will miss spending time with the teachers, making fun of the students' horrible English, and all of us making fun of each other (we all come from different countries so we always joke around about it).

I will also miss traveling. I probably won't have the money to do it, although I really would like to go see Florence in California. The only places I will be traveling to are Iowa City and Chicago...

I think that after I leave France, I will stop writing this blog. I am not sure if I will get another one, but I feel like my life is not interesting enough to merit writing a blog about in the States. Anyway, we will see.