Thanksgiving with Dad in Paris

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It's hard to believe that I'll be home soon. In just two weeks I'm done with classes, then I have a week of finals and on the 20th I'm on a plane on my way back home. I'm excited to see everyone, but at the same time I've really enjoyed my stay here and it's going to be hard to say goodbye!

It was wonderful having Dad here for the week of Thanksgiving. I picked him up on Monday from there airport following a series of disasters... he'd lost his phone, he emailed me from London. I emailed back- I hope we find eachother!!
Then of course the RER was on strike (no big surprise there, it's kind of a given in Paris that SOMEBODY's got to be on strike for something or other...) and I couldn't take it to the airport. Luckily I was able to hail a cab and arrive in time to meet Dad, but it was definitely exciting.

I spent the week showing him my little home here in-between classes. They didn't give us off for Thanksgiving here; we did get a whole week for fall break, though. We got to go to a few parks, like the Tuleries Gardens in front of the Louvre and also the Luxembourg Gardens. We also had some great food! I took him for falafel in the Marais, the Jewish section of Paris which is famous for some of the best falafel in Europe. One night we went for Fondue in Moufftard, the second highest point in Paris where there are just tons of these fantastic fondue places.

Then on Thursday he cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my host family and me. It was great. He'd brought two suitcases with him, one for his clothes and one for Thanksgiving goodies! My host family loved it, which was great because I was a little worried that because the food is not what they're used to they might not enjoy it. Madame wanted to know Dad's recipe for the turkey, she cooks turkey for Christmas and might use some of his tips! My roommate really liked the food, too. It was so nice to have Thanksgiving even though we're far away from home. Jenny, my roommate, had some friends who are studying abroad in Spain come and visit and when they saw all of the Thanksgiving food they were almost moved to tears!

After that Dad and I spent the weekend with Gerti and her family. We took a driving tour around Versaille. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very nice then, but that's northern France in the wintertime! It even snowed as we were driving to the airport.

After Dad left the fun wasn't over. I got to attend Anika's 4th birthday party! It was so much fun. She even made me a little party favor filled with cookies and marbles and cool things to take back with me to Paris. I definitely have to make it back to France, if just to visit with Gerti and Xavier again. They really are such a nice family.

I'm leaving for Dublin this weekend so I'll post something about that soon! Hope all's going well back home. A bientot!

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