Tears On My Keyboard, and Global Citizenship

Today was my last day at Rollins for a very long time. But let's talk about last night first.

I spent my last night in Florida with some of the greatest people I know, at one of my favorite places--Tolla's restaurant in Winter Park. I feel so lucky to have had 20 of some of the greatest friends to have joined me last night. I think it makes it even that much harder for me to leave for such a long time. There is nowhere else on this planet that I could have done that and had so much fun, than in Winter Park, Florida.

Afterwards, I spent the night with Aspen, Brittany, Jackie, Zach, and Scott. We had a great time. We celebrated Aspen's birthday with a cookie cake, and stayed up until past 2am, just hanging out and having a good time. The others stayed up later than me, because I wanted to go to bed so I could wake up and watch the sunrise over lake Virginia.

And that's what I did: Woke up at 6am, and made my way over to Dinky Dock. The sunrise was absolutely magnificent--just breathtaking. The whole plave looked like a poem--all the yellows and oranges and purples and blues swirled in the water, while dragonflies skimmed across the surface. The moss in the trees swayed in the breeze like a metronome, and I was at that moment perfectly content. It was the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen on the lake.

Now comes the (not-so) fun part. Of course, I waited until the very last minute to pack and clean and move out, so when I got back from the sunrise I did laundry. I cleaned my room and packed. Packing was very difficult--I did not realize how much clothes I had with me. I barely fit everything in my bags. In fact, I gave three pairs of shorts to Dustin, who thankfully accepted them!

I then went to Starbucks. Of course, I had to go to Starbucks one last time. It was a little sad to say goodbye there actually. It is slightly embarassing how much time I spent there this past summer...A little while later, Aspen, Brittany, and Jackie woke up (finally), and we went to the farmer's market. Oh, how I will miss the Winter Park farmer's market. We had a great time.

Got back to Rollins, and I finished packing and cleaning. Then Courtney Howell came over and she helped me move my stuff to my cousin Ann Marie's house, and we went to lunch at Panera. I am so thankful to her for helping me! After lunch I began saying goodbyes. I am not going to dwell on goodbyes very much because many of them were difficult. Very difficult, so that's all I am going to say about that. Courtney came back at about 4:30, and we left for the airport.

And noe, I am sitting here in front of Gate 126 in the Orlando Airport waiting for departure, and there are tears on my keyboard. As I said above, leaving Rollins for such a long time is very difficult for me. The life I have in Winter Park is amazing. I love all of the people, and the town, and the atmosphere. Someone asked me today what I was going to miss the most, and my only answer is being there. I can not say enough how much I love Rollins and Winter Park. I already miss it, and I already can't wait to get back.

But now I am off, to pursue the world, and to become the best global citizen I could be--after all, isn't this what Rollins wants me to be? I can't wait to bring this back and share it with everyone I love.

I Have an Address

This past Tuesday, I was sent my home stay information, which is what I have been waiting for all summer, because I think it is the information that makes this whole thing so real. Now that I know where I am living, I think I am ten times more excited about going to Paris.

I am so excited about the family I’ve been assigned to. I didn’t receive that much information about them, but what little information I know is very exciting. They live in the 14^thParis (picture below). arrondissement, which is the very south of the city of The specific area in which they live (according to my research) is fairly quiet and not very touristy (which I am very happy about!). Although it is not the most exciting area, it is very well situated because it is very near a lot of cool places. I am only a four minute ride on the metro to my school. There is also a little park about 5 minutes away, and a nice street with shops and cafes (from what I can see on google maps).

Madame is a lawyer, and the bottom floor of their home is used as her law office. Monsieur is a physician. They have four children, but only their 13 year old son lives at home. They have a 17 year old daughter who visits home often, so I assume she is at boarding school or college fairly nearby. They also have a small dog (not very exciting to me, but I suppose I’ll have to get used to it). That’s pretty much all the information I have about them so far. I haven’t received any real contact information yet, or even their first names, so I hope that comes fairly soon. My friend Jose lived with them last semester apparently, and he loved them, and said that I would as well. I really can’t wait to meet them.

Well it is just past midnight on Friday, which means I’m officially leaving Rollins tomorrow night. I’m planning on writing another post while I wait in the airport, so expect that soon.

Above is an image of where I'm living, stolen from google maps! Not the best quality photo because I had to save the screenshot image in Paint...

July 6, 1909

Today, I was working in the Olin Library, and was very distracted from my work. So, I decided to look through the novels in the the French section of the library. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, and nothing was really striking me as interesting. All of a sudden, I noticed a small, old, army-green colored book. It was so old, that the title had rubbed off of the spine and cover, so that you could not read it. I opened the book, and there, written on the first page was a signature (the name is slightly illegible, and the date, "7/6/09." I could not believe my eyes--this was exactly 100 years earlier! It seemed too much like fate, and I had to take the book out.

The book is called L'Abbé Daniel, written by Andre Theuriet; I had never heard of neither the book nor the author. After some research, I found that Monsieur Theuriet had been a lawyer in the late 1800s, who also write novels and poetry, and even won a few awards. This particular book was first published in France in 1893. The copy I found was printed in New York in 1906, as a sort of text book for beginning French students. It inclides an introduction and notes by Robert L. Taylor, PhD., a former French professor at Dartmouth College. The back of the book includes a whole vocabulary section of words in the novel for students to use. I was unable to find any plot synopses of the book, so I have no idea what it is about, but I am very excited to see what is inside this book. I would imagine, just from the title, that it is about a priest named Daniel. I will keep you updated.

This is, quite possibly, the coolest coincidence I have ever experienced.


The front cover of the book--Notice the wear and tear.


The date and the signature on the inside cover.

The title page of the book.



Update, 24 July 2009: The book put me to sleep within the first 3 pages. I hate to say it, but in this case, I had to give up on fate, and return the book without having read it. Oops.