After a very late night last night, I woke up to the sun shining at 11 am instead of my alarm at 6am which allowed for a very peaceful and restful morning. I stepped out of my room and said good morning to my exchange partner, Lou, her mother, and her sister. Thankfully, the whole house had slept in this morning meaning I didn’t miss breakfast. Around 12, the four of us sat around table and had croissants and pain au chocolat, which were infinitely better the ones I would have had from Starbucks if I was in North Carolina. A French conversation came to life between my exchange family, and I got a headache from serving my head from person to person trying to keep up with the conversation. Do French people not take a second to breathe in conversations?? Anyways, we all dispersed after our quick brunch to different corners of the house. I went to my room to get started on packing. Unfortunately, I got distracted by some chocolate I had sitting on my table so I sat down to start munching on those while watching Gossip Girl. As put into the words of a French person, “It is a crime that I have not watched Gossip Girl as an American,” but is it really my crime if American Netflix was the one who took it down? As of right now, I am 5 episodes in and I only have 116 more to finish in the next three days before I reach American soil and Netflix says, “Show is unavailable. What else would you like to watch?” Before I even put one piece of clothing back into my suitcase, Lou knocks in my door and says in it is time for lunch. I follow her to the kitchen and a strong smell of Vietnamese food hits my nose, thinking I am going crazy I shake my head and sit down at the dining room table. Then, her mother comes around the corner with a plate full of the food I was smelling which I sadly forgot to take a photo of. The food was delicious, and I was able to have great conversations with the family at the table. After lunch, me and Lou sit down in the living room for a rematch of more than a few heated Uno games we had back in the US. I was prepared to make the greatest comeback of my life from a 10- 3 loss. I realized at the halfway through the game that there would be no form of a comeback, especially not a great one, for me as our game started for a 5-0 loss for me. At 11-2, Lou finally called it quits out of pity for me. To comfort me, me and Lou watched a couple of episodes of The Vampire Diaries while eating ice cream and the best chocolate pudding I have ever had. After putting it off all day, I got started on my packing and finished in a few hours just in time for dinner. Lastly, before I stepped into bed, I went out on the balcony to read and watch the sunset. This was the best ending I could have asked for to this amazing exchange trip.
