In JFK

I'm sitting in JFK International Airport right now, and will try to hammer something out before my commuter flight leaves for the Syracuse airport (and will probably finish the next day).  I've had a safe, ordinary journey, which ended my fairly boring last week in Tours.  Only 3 things happened the whole time, and two of them were Skype conversations (one of which was cut short), which is why I've been so silent about the end of my trip. On the flight from Paris to New York, I sat with a very young couple (as in, 25 or so).  It's weird to think that I'll be that age in just a few years.
But, let me review, first, my summer thus far (I'm quite sleep-deprived, and my eyes are crossing, so don't hold me accountable if I make a few typos).  It began with my brother Sam and some other significant people in my life graduating from Cornell, and me eating their cake (definitely the best part there).  Then, I flew off almost immediately with Rabbi Eli, Adam, Ben, and Alex to Tzfat.  I studied in the Yeshiva there with Rabbi Eli, Rav Asi, and their colleagues, and met some new friends, like Yossi, Dovid, Aron, and Jake.  I also read a lot on my own.  On the weekends, I visited biblical archaeological sites, such as Beit-El, Shiloh, and Gilgal.  I even made it to Jerusalem, and got to see Peninah there.
I flew to France, and spent my first four weeks or so in Tours, where I dove into the departmental archives on France in the time of World War II, looking in particular at the life and treatment of the Jews of Indre-et-Loire.  I visited a few castles; Sam visited me; I made crepes, and flipped them in the air; I helped make a minyan at a Sephardi synagogue.  I spent a single full day in Paris, where I cross-referenced names I had found in Tours in the Shoah Memorial.  I also stopped by Angers for a few days, to check up on a letter that I found in the Tours archives, and learned a little bit there about what happened in World War II in Loire-et-Cher.  I visited another castle, and then decided to leave for Italy.
I climbed a lot of stairs in Florence, looked at some famous doors and paintings, and visited the cathedral.  I remembered what it was like to be in a country with mosquitoes, of which France is free.  I had an aliyah in the most beautiful synagogue I've ever visited, and spent a day in Rome, where I was very hot, and visited some Roman ruins (also, sometime during the day, I crossed the border into Vatican city).  I made a stop in Milano, where I visited the Cathedral and the Sforzas.  Then, I was back in Paris, being inefficient, and worrying about my belongings being stolen, until I relocated to the hostel in Tours, where I've been since then, being magnificently incapable of getting my work done.
OK, flight boarding now!
~JD