Want To Meet For A Coffee Or A Drink?

Those are the words that I have not wanted to hear all year. Most of the time it's "Where are you, want to come round for dinner, go out, meet at the park, etc." When you are calling to meet for a coffee or a drink it means one thing, let's say goodbye. Wednesday night I met Maddy for a beer late in the evening before she left for Italy. She will be back on Monday evening and we are going to have some dinner together, but it was like a little taste of what was to come. We both said that we are not saying goodbye, it's not going to be the last time and I am headed down under after graduation, bank or bust.
Today at 1:00pm I am meeting the twins Rachael and Claire, Alex, and Jules to have one last coffee or tea with them before they head out of Lyon. Jules is staying on until next February so she will not be leaving me, but soon I will be leaving her and it's beginning to hit home. I am leaving in less than two weeks for Paris, in less than three for North Carolina. It feels so foreign to me, I imagine that my reverse-culture shock is going to be really bad. Not being able to walk to the grocery store or the daily markets to get my food. The inability to hop on a Tram or Metro and spend the day with Maddy, Emelie, Alex, Jules, Jo, Anna, Rachael and Claire, hang out in the teacher's break room, get lost in Lyon, do some shopping, see my wine guy down the street, etc. When I get back it will be all in a car, I have not driven a car in 10 months, haven't needed one. I can probably count the number of times that I have been in a car since leaving come to think of it. Lyon has about the same population as Charlotte, why don't we have public transport? I know that we all have cars and think that life is great even with high gas prices, but what about 30 years from now? Should we go ahead and begin planning for that now? I vote yes, especially after seeing how effective and safe it can be.
I will begin packing up soon, putting my life inside another suitcase and moving on down the road. I am excited to be coming back to my friends and family. Don't forget Jules as well, but I am also scared of losing this feeling I have. I feel more alive than the last 3 years that I spent in Charlotte. I look back and I realize that the last year I was actually in a depression before coming to France. I am going to start writing things down about what I am looking forward to back home, and then why I also must stay focused on travelling more. Time will tell of course what the future holds for me, I know that this is like a window into my world. The blog is a very transparent representation of my thoughts, feelings, and life. I hope you all enjoy and take some pleasure in the things that I have been writing. I plan to keep it up when I get home, I think it will give me a platform to express my ideas, vent my frustrations, and stay motivated for the future. Thanks to everyone that comes to the site, I am sorry for the extra mushy posts as of late but I guess that is just life working it's way through my keyboard. Love you all, see some of soon, some of you in Melbourne, Sydney, or New Zealand ( That's just for you Jo! ), some of you down the road ahead. The main thing is I will keep working towards the next adventure and try to keep my horizon open and my thoughts young.


Cheers, Bisous, Ciao

Sean