Au revoir, Dijon!

Bonjour à tous,

I believe this will actually be my last entry...today is my last day in Dijon! Tonight we are taking a bus to Paris and arriving at the airport in the early morning. Our Colby group is split between 2 flights Thursday morning. The weather in Paris has been okay for the past couple days, but it’s supposed to snow again on Thursday. I really hope the snow can hold off in Paris until we’ve left. It’s such a terrible time to have flight issues, everyone just wants to get home for the holidays!! With Paris and London cancelling so many flights, transportation has been pretty paralyzed. Please cross your fingers for the Colby group – we would all really love to get home. Many students are getting quite anxious here, especially the freshmen. For the past few days, we’ve been hanging out in Dijon – walking around, shopping, eating crepes, watching movies at our director’s house…not too shabby for being “stuck” somewhere. I’m doing just fine, but I am very excited to get home.

In my copious amounts of spare time I’ve compiled lists of what I will miss and what I will not miss about Dijon! Et voilà:

Things I will NOT miss about Dijon:
•Not knowing how to express myself the way I want to, becoming frustrated
•Being judged for being foreign/American
•Navigating through the busy Rue de la Liberté (too many people!)
•Passing by beggars with dogs
•Dog poop in the streets
•Playing “sardines” on the bus ride to school
•Life expenses: meals, cell phone
•Time difference with home
•Awkward meeting people
•Lack of hugs (had to wait for “Free Hug” day in France to get a hug from a French person)
•Lack of large drinks (no mugs, just little tea cups) Also – to go mugs!

Things I will miss about Dijon:
•My host family and their beautiful house
•View of St. Michel from my bedroom window
•Jon’s apartment
•Lack of homework
•My teachers, my director
•Laid-back lifestyle: spending hours in cafés, movies on Wednesday afternoons
•Benefits of living in the city: easy shopping, being around people, accessibility
•The art and architecture, the culture surrounding me
•Owls
•Runs around Lac Kir
•FOOD: mustard sauces/dressing, duck, soufflés, mousse au chocolat, yogurt, pain au chocolat, pain d’epices, brioche, bread, macaroons, cheese, croque monsieur/madame, crepes, cassis, vin chaud
•Bars (no hard alcohol ban, no fuss)
•Christmas market
•Lights up and down the main streets
•Opera or movie tickets for 5.50 euro
•All of the excursions
•Hearing French everywhere, gaining the ability to speak with relative confidence
•Spending time with the Colby in Dijon group – what a wonderful group of people, and how nice it is that we get to see each other back on campus!

Well there you have it! Obviously there is much more that I will miss about Dijon, and I probably won’t even realize how much I’ll miss it until I leave. This has been a truly enriching experience and I will treasure these memories forever! I am so happy to have had the opportunity to study abroad, and I think it’s something that every student should do. I am more than satisfied with the time I have spent here, and although I will miss it, I am ready to return to Colby for the spring semester. I know I’ll be back to visit Dijon one day. Au revoir!

Bisous,
Caroline