Today is my last day in the Paris office. Overall, my time in Paris has been amazing. Some days I was frustrated, and I’ve been sleep deprived the entire month, but it was all worth it.

My experience really makes me want to experience life in a foreign country. I do know that, although I lived in a Paris apartment and worked while I was here, this wouldn’t be what my life is like if I lived here. In real life, you don’t have your family and best friends visiting all the time. My view of Paris is a bit romanticized right now; I’m guessing that when I get home I will have a great appreciation for my car, air conditioning, a clothes dryer…and people who speak English.

I will definitely miss working in the same office as Hans and Manoela. Manoela was out of the office today and yesterday, so on Wednesday they gave me a wonderful farewell present—a beautiful book of aerial photographs of Paris by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. They said that they’d like me to stay, but I don’t think that would fly with the Chicago office or Brian.

While I’m really sad about leaving Paris, I am looking forward to the rest of my time in Europe. Brian gets here tomorrow and my actual vacation begins. We are staying in Paris until Monday. That gives me a couple more days to do the things on my list that I haven’t gotten to yet, and I’m really looking forward to showing Brian my favorite finds here. On Monday we are headed to Amsterdam, where we’ll stay until Wednesday evening when we fly to Milan. Bright and early Friday morning we’re catching a train to Cinque Terre (on the Italian Riviera). From there, it’s back on a train to Milan Sunday morning, then a plane to Paris, one more night in Paris, and back to the States Monday.

Le sigh.