Mon voyage vers la belle France: Bittersweet Goodbyes

Salut!
   It has been a long time since I last posted, apologies for that but it has been a busy busy time here in France! Once I got home from my big trip it was time to settle down and get some work done. Two papers were due in the first week I got back so I busted out 6 pages on the opposition in parliament in France, England and Germany and 5 pages on state building in Haiti. Both were fairly interesting but tough in French and my bibliographies had to been quite detailed. Monday was my oral exam for European Union Law and I had to speak for 15 minutes on the superiority of European Law over the national laws. Interesting for sure but I think I did okay. No real way to tell in these types of things. Wednesday was Constitutional Law of the 5th republic and I got some of the most ridiculous questions ever, like naming all the presidents and years of parliamentary dissolutions. Yeah I know that off the top of my head...not. But hey as the idiot american I am sure my professor will give me a break (fingers crossed). Then Thursday was the big written exam, all 75 of us international students struggling through an hour and a half of History and Civilization of France. Lets talk about how there were three short answer questions, and then an essay question that I am not kidding was "The strengths and weaknesses of the left party in France 1918-1981". I couldn't have written that entire history in 3 hours! The left in France comprises three major parties and sometimes more. I wrote for the hour and a half and got out of there. So glad that the exam is worth 100% of my grade! (not) But its over so I cannot complain too much. Then there was a bit of break to study for my last two exams, The israeli palestinian conflict and comparative politics. A written and oral exam respectively. The written went really well and then in the middle of studying for my last exam I was struck with a horrible stomach illness and did not get out of bed for the next 5 days except to drag myself in for my 15 min exam. My teacher was not pleased with my inability to function but when I explained I was quite ill and the faster the exam was over the less likely I was to puke in his office he tried to get it over with as quickly as possible. And with that I finished junior year of college! A little anti climatic because I couldn't celebrate or go to the end of the bbq but these things happen.
   Once I was feeling better I made it out to the park and around Rennes some to start saying goodbye to all my favorite places in the city. Other students have been hosting goodbye dinners and parties so there has been no shortage of things to do and people to say goodbye to. Tuesday I did a revisit to Mont St. Michel, and let me say its even more beautiful when the weather is better! We got lucky and had a nice day of sun although it stayed cool with the wind off the ocean. This time I took the french tour of the abbey which had some more architecture information and a few other anecdotes. I spent some time shopping for souvenirs and then had a snack before heading back to Rennes on the bus. Au Revoir Mont St. Michel! It has taken almost as much effort and paperwork to leave this country as it did to enter it. Good thing I had another week after exams because between the bank, the dorm and school I have filled out enough cancelation forms to owe the world a new tree or so. Apparently official transcripts are not necessary for things in France so my school is currently trying to convince me that when I apply to law school I can just make photocopies of the one transcript they will send me and it will be fine. I have half a mind to tell them they can tell law school that, see how it goes. Crazy french bureaucracy. At this point I am going to let UVM handle yelling at the registrar here, they won't listen to some idiot american girl.
   Last night Matt and Cindy organized a dinner out to a restaurant I had not been to yet but they had some really good food! I had a warm brie and pear appetizer with a main course of Duck with potatoes. Yum! Cindy got some nice marinated pork and Tom had Kangaroo. Seriously it looked like beef. Strange. Then drinks and coffee with Karen who left for Ireland this morning. So that brings us to today which was the last big market day while I am here so I headed out to get my last big bag of olives and a chunk of cheese to enjoy in the sun. Honestly the calamata olives may be what I miss most. My friend Matt leaves this evening so we had a lunch out at Coffee Crepes to say goodbye to him with whoever is still roaming around. I got my go to crepe, bacon goat cheese, nuts and honey. Never disappoints! I had earned a free dessert crepe with my loyalty card so I got one with Nutella and a little butter on top. Also lovely. I also spoiled myself with a nice glass of hard cider to round out the meal, its perfect with a crepe and they have some from a place not far from Rennes so hey its local! It was a tough goodbye to Matt but we are hopeful that we will see each other again in the future so crossing my fingers I have money again some day I will have a place to stay in the UK! This evening there is a big soccer match between Manchester United and Barcelona so the group still around will round out the week with a fun night cheering for our chosen side. Its amazing but I will be home in less than a week! Time has flown and I am trying to make my last few days count. Won't be too long now till I am back to the land of bagels and SUVs. Excited about the bagels, could care less about the big cars. Good luck to everyone at Proctor with all your exams, congrats to the UVM Grads who I missed last weekend and hopefully I will be seeing everyone very soon!