I've written pages upon pages trying to rid you from my bones.

I remember, sentimentally now, the weirdness of first arriving in France. But as much as I settled in and made a life here, some of that awareness of being in a foreign place always stayed. The longer I was here, the more I realized that I was isolated from France by my perception of it. In the same way that the English words "strange" and "stranger" are related at their root, so are their French counterparts "etrange" and "l'etranger"- the latter is the word most often used for "foreigner" in France. Anyway, in English, I always though the words were kind of charmingly chosen, in the style of curious and curiouser, as Lewis Carol played with the same concept of the weirdness of a foreign place in Alice's journey through Wonderland.

And the fact is that for all France was curious to me, I was curiouser by virtue of being an American in a small French city, and for choosing that life. I had a funny accent, funny habits, funny music. I may have looked sideways at France, but it grimaced right back. These past three months, I would say, my eyebrows have raised less and less at the things that were different, and when they did, I would laugh to myself. I will miss this feeling. Not that my own country doesn't make me raise my eyebrows all the time.

Which is why I'll keep this blog up, though it may be updated infrequently. If you want to keep reading you can follow my new quest to settle into Atlanta again, earn a living, and get over whatever culture shock I may experience.

When I got back from Hong Kong, my main shock was the shock of space. There was so much room, so much less of a crowd. But ultimately, my reaction was confidence, because America was so much easier to navigate. It is easier to not be a continual stranger in a place. It is easier to have a sense of it, to understand all the signs, to know instinctively the protocols. In two days, I'll be through with the expatriate life for a while. I would be lying if I said I weren't looking forward to that. And to Mexican food.

When I first started this blog, I listed some challenges I planned to take on in France. Here are my final stats for the season:

1. Train Travel - I loved it, the way you'd expect me to. My last train ride will be tomorrow to Paris.

2. The Jura Mountains (the Alps too) - I got to know the Jura really well, and hiked the Alps a few times.

3. French Language - I improved.

4. 30 or so middle schoolers - It was closer to 100 middle schoolers and high schoolers.

5. Breads and Cheeses - Delicious. I will miss them.

6. Isolation, Irony, and perhaps Fear, definitely Poverty. - There was less fear than I thought. But the rest of it I got in spades. Froverty, Frirony and Frisolation were definitely themes of my time.

7. Fripsters - THEY'RE EVERYWHERE. Hip, pretty, and clad in only black and white every night to go out.

8. The Continent - 6 months, four countries, including France. Not too shabby. I feel like I had a good run.

I just posted my England pictures on flickr, and when I get back to Atlanta, I will put together a general highlights album from my travels within France.

Today is my last real day in Besancon, and for all that it's been strange and hard, I have a knot in my stomach just thinking about how long it will be before I see this place again. I am ready to leave, ready to go home. But I still feel like I am losing something, if that makes any sense at all.

This was England.

One of the more shiny and happy perks of my job here in France was a trip to England with some of my students last week. As you may know, throughout college I frequently declared myself over the industrialized world. But I guess, given the whole French expedition and my travels in Europe, it is clear that I am well, not finished with Western civilization after all. And, if you're not through with the imperialist experiment or done with canonical literature, England is the place to be.

I'm sorry, that may have sounded snide. But let's be clear, I am not over imperialism or good books, so England satisfied me in a way few vacations have. What I mean to say is that England was what I expected it to be, as a tourist, and that I enjoyed it for that. I frolicked the moors, trolled the museums, perused the bookstores, and generally had a delightful week. The best part of this break in England, for me, was just the ease of it. And that really was the result the language thing.

We did a lot, too much to talk about and really more than I could digest. My favorite parts of the trip were the stops in York and Cambridge.

Outside of York proper are the ruins of Fountains Abbey. Once one of the wealthiest abbeys in the country, when Henry the 8th started sacking Catholic holdings in England, he did this one a particularly nasty turn. Following the pillaging, he took the Abbey grounds and created a water garden for his new wife, Anne Boleyn.

I love a good ruin. And Fountains is expansive, with lots of places to run around and more to picnic. It was a great time, even while toting fifty French teenagers.

Cambridge is just too pretty to be believed. You can glide along the river taking it all in on a punt, or you can just walk it, like I did. I spent most of my day in Cambridge just wandering, eating a bun, lazily drinking some coffee. I stopped at a thrift store and bought a couple of used books.

I also saw the Bronte house and got to run around Yorkshire fields with the spring lambs. It was really a wonderful break, and I think I better understand what people see in England. For me, liking a country has a lot to do with personal attraction. I find I often think of countries in high school note terms:

Do you like-like England?
Yes
No
Maybe X

I'll be honest and tell you that England isn't really my type. We aren't going steady. Unless Flumpy moves there, or Nissa stays, in which case I will be all over England. Regardless, I am really glad I got the chance to go. I try not to forget the privilege of living abroad and traveling these places. Especially now that I am less than a week from moving back to America.

Here's to England and to Europe and to these past six months.