La Fin

I've been home in Ithaca exactly one week now. I flew in, was kind of tired for a few days, without being truly jet-lagged, and have begun to ease into my vacation-time rhythm. I've started running again, and my legs are getting slightly sore from my lack of exercise in France.

I've had time to reflect on my past 5 months out of the country, and have come to several conclusions regarding how I spent my time. This blog needs a final chapter, so why not try to draw up a balance sheet (bilan) of what was nearly half a year overseas? The following list is, I think, short enough to hold your attention.

1) I am glad that I spent the semester abroad in France. Although I forewent a semester of excellent classes at Cornell, and the company of some of my favorite fellow Cornellians, I now know a) that I can comfortably live in a culture other than the one I was born into, b) that with immersion, I can learn to get by in a foreign language, and c) that I am capable of living more than 10 miles from home.

2) I am thankful that I spent the one month studying at the Institut de Touraine. Without my time at the Institut, too much of my semester would have been consumed habituating myself to speaking and pronouncing French; likewise, without the semester abroad, what I learned at the Institut would have been quickly forgotten.

3) I can speak French tolerably well, now. I can speak on just about any topic that might come up in conversation, although a noisy background or obstreperous setting might make it difficult for me to understand. Non-French accents, such as those used by Mauritanians or Cubans, also prove a problem. I only have about a 25% chance of understanding a conversation on which I am eavesdropping.

4) Although I am rather disappointed with the academics at Paris IV, I do not wish to overstate my disappointment. My Louis XIV class, taught by Lucien Bely, for instance was better than several history courses I have taken at Cornell. However, I badly missed Discussion periods, and am positive that I was not motivated to work as hard. I learned maybe half as much during a Cornell semester, between my CMs, TDs, and time spent reading out of class.

5) I profited greatly from my time spent visiting chateaux, cathedrals, historic churches, public monuments, and art and history museums. I really have no idea how many museums I visited in Paris, but I visited everything that I really wanted to see. That being said, I left the museums of the marine, man, natural history, modern art (not the Centre Pompidou), romantic life, fashion, african art, sports, and several others entirely unexplored. Paris is just too big, and has too many things to see and do, and not enough time to do them: there's virtually nothing worth doing after 6:00 in the evening, unless the Louvre is open for a nocturne.

6) I made (what I think is) a lasting familial link with the Parisian branch of my family, whom I had never met before. Thank you to all, especially to Bruno and to Chi, for making me feel welcome, and helping me, a confused 20-year-old, get my bearings!

7) Beyond my family members, some non-Cornellian Americans (Tulane crowd and Ade) and a few other foreign students (notably Misaki and Sherif) I doubt that anyone will seriously miss my absence in Paris. Guillaume and Pauline might, but I do not think that more than a few people will miss my presence. That hurts, just a little, to know that I passed virtually unnoticed in France, and this is one reason why I am somewhat relieved that I only signed up for one semester in France, rather than the whole year.

8) I learned the stress of keeping a blog, but benefited by being forced to recall and record my more interesting discoveries. I agree with Nick that a paper journal will be much cooler to read in 20 years, and a paper journal would have allowed me to write nasty, vindictive comments than I cannot safely publish on JDWrit, but the entire point of this blog was that my friends and family could read about my misadventures.

This is the boring part: acknowledgments. I realize that I owe a lot of people a great deal for everything they have done for me since (and even before) I flew out of Ithaca, back in July. Thank you to my wonderful parents, for financially and morally supporting me throughout, and even visiting me; thank you to the Avertin family for being a welcoming host family in Tours, and thank you to Bruno, Chi, Lili-An, Jojo, and Martine for welcoming me in Paris, showing me (and my parents) around, and feeding me. Thank you to the EDUCO team of Giulia, Prof. Longino, Monique, Valerie, Veronique (alphabetical order) for supporting my academic endeavors. Thank you to Misaki, for being sweet and friendly, to Sherif, for helping me learn, to Pauline, for reaching out and working with me, and to Guillaume, for being my friend, just because you enjoyed it. Thank you to all of the TD Prof.s who took the trouble to make accommodations for me. Thank you to the various other EDUCO students, including, but not limited to Ade, Alice (x2), Anne, Brooke, Christine, David, Emily (x2), Hannah, Ilana, Jamie, Joe, Linda, Logan, Meaghan, Nick, Pat, Sarah (x2), and Sharon (if I missed you, or misspelled your name, I'm sorry!). Thank you to my brothers Sam and Andrew for keeping in contact with me throughout my time in France, as well as to everyone else who kept in contact (you know who you are). Finally, thank you to everyone who ever read my blog (even if you've already been thanked), and provided me with honest, or at least encouraging, feedback.

If I haven't seen you yet, I hope to see you soon! This might be the last blog entry ever, or I might end up converting JDWrit into my personal, general-use blog. The decision will be made after I return from Israel.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

~JD

"As it nearly always happens, when we wish to imitate great men, that we copy only their foibles and even their defects, since we are capable of nothing else, so many of these admirers took note of the way in which [Ibarra] tied his cravat, others of the style of his collar, and not a few of the number of buttons on his coat and vest." ~ Jose Rizal, Noli me Tangere