For my last trick I'm going to present the classic blog fallback (gotta save time for packing!): top 5 lists.
My Top 5 Things I will miss about Toulouse/France in general (a prediction):
1. Easily accessible and cheap public transportation
2. The constant challenge of learning a second language
3. Delicious pastries beautifully presented on every street corner
4. Their attitude regarding vacation (out of my seven month contract I got eight weeks of it)
5. The ATMs, which distribute a variety of bills and sometimes ask you which combination of ten-, twenty-, and fifty-euro bills you would like
6. Meeting new people from all over the world on a regular basis
7. The four public parks with flowerbeds and fountains and statues I walk through to get to work
8. Cheese, Gromit!
9. People who understand the French words I no longer remember how to say in English
My Top 5 Things I WILL NOT miss about Toulouse/France (also a prediction):
1. People don't talk to you unless they have a reason to know you
2. Five signed and dated documents with photocopies of your passport, work contract, and birth certificate are required to do anything as much as pick your nose
3. Stores are closed frequently and at unpredictable hours
4. Reliable wifi is hard to come by
5. The << crotte de chien >> that pollutes the sidewalks
6. The fifteen-minute walk to the nearest Laundromat, and the seven euros it costs to do one load
7. My freezing cold apartment
My Top 5 Things I can't wait to return to in the US! (an actuality)
1. My People!
2. My Family
3. My Friends
4. Other people I kind of know through said friends and family
5. Speaking my native language without being self-conscious about it
6. Root beer
7. People I've known for longer than six months
8. The beautiful San Francisco Bay
9. The similarly beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains
10. Cheddar cheese, bagels, milkshakes, cinnamon rolls, smoothies, brown sugar, and Adam's peanut butter
11. Reliable Internet
12. A familiar house
13. Real showers (the kind that have fixed heads and are fully enclosed)
France, adieu! Hello, California.
