4 Days

It ended up raining, so the hot air balloon Monday night was rescheduled for Thursday night. Hopefully it's decent weather :)! Yesterday, I spent all day getting ready for my going away party, and then it started at 7 and went til around midnight. People got up and talked about me and I started crying. Then I had to get up in front of everyone and say a couple things, and I was somewhat prepared for this, so I had a little speech planned out, but when I got up there, all I got out was the beginning before I started crying again. Then I got a couple more things out and that was it. I took a few other people down with me, though. After that, people gave me tons of gifts, including lots of jewelry (since it's small and packs easily). Simon made me this awesome I <3 Roclincourt tee shirt with pictures on the back, which was great. Then we had picture time and talk/hangout & eat time. It was really nice to see everyone and talk one last time. I got people to sign my book and had my school pictures and some pins sitting out for people to take.

Today I got up kind of late, and then started packing. Today is really the only day I have time to do that. Tomorrow I'm going to Lille to meet up with my penpal, Manon, and then tomorrow night is the hot air balloon ride. Friday Annick and Eileen are coming over, Luc might be coming into town, Fanny is coming up from Perpignan, and I'm going out with Simon, Pierre-Antoine, Antoine, Elise, and possibly a couple other people one last time. Then at 8:35AM Saturday morning, I say goodbye to my host family and Roclincourt/Arras and take the train to Paris, where I have a little meeting with all the AFS exchange kids who are in France. Saturday morning, the US kids all get on the plane together and fly to NYC. Everyone except me has planes home the same day, but since there was no afternoon flight to Fargo, I'm spending the night in New York and flying home the next day. As you can see, I'm gonna be pretty busy up until I get home, so if I don't get on again til I get home, you now know a little overview of my schedule. I'll write a little reflection or something when I get home, too, to close this blog. I hope you've all had a good time reading it from time to time (or daily) and I will see you soon!

<33333333Miranda

Word of the Day: un château d'eau = a water tower