'Ello England 3.5.12

All said and almost done, the end came much too quickly. At this point I have tons to look forward to for when I come back, but I will miss the lake, downtown Metz, my position in society as an adult (aka having a glass of wine with a nice dinner), certainly some great people I have gotten to know: Tony, Caroline & Pooja, as well as the other graduates of whom I'm sure I'll get to see in a few semesters. I'll miss getting to go to the pick up games of soccer, and basketball, and having an overall great time with my roommate, Brenna. I'm going to miss going to French parties and socializing over dinners as best I could, and even just saying bonjour on the street. And undoubtedly I'll miss the opportunities to travel so frequently with so little hassle! But alas, I'm definitely ready to start saving up again for my next adventure. So France, adieu.

Trip homeward.
I had plenty of luggage but I did meet several of people who were remarkably helpful! The first was a man I sat next to on the train. I ended up giving him extra metro tickets that I had, since I would not be back to Paris anytime too soon. He in return left his luggage with his wife and helped me carry mine up a set of stairs and point me to a short cut to my connection station. It certainly was going to be a long day for traveling... but personally time has become a rather meaningless thing. I'm glad I did not wait too long before I went to find my train, because Eurostar required me to go through French and British customs. I ran all my bags through the medal detector, and of course there was a Roman knife in the one. They had me take it out- and for a moment I was very afraid they would not allow me to take it! They consulted with each other and a young girl working on duty tested the sharpness of the blade on her arm, then folded into an assassin's position with the knife. She caused the mood to lighten so the manager allowed me to take it through. I was so grateful!

And I must say... what a wonder! I felt like Bruce Almighty when he starts hearing all these prayers- when everyone on the train is speaking English for once, I couldn't help but to hear every word of any conversation within ear shot! Getting from St. Pancreas to Paddington station in London was a breeze to be honest. And even making my connection from Newton Abbot to my final destination of Paignton at 6:30 was quite easy. I have been loving the British accents and the properly dressed English people. It's quite charming!