It's the Little Things

There are the big things I will miss and not miss. But when you live somewhere you notice the little things as well as the big things. So here are two little lists of the little things.

Things I Will Not Miss:
- the tiny smelly bathrooms at IAU
- RyanAir
- dog poop piles on the streets
- sidewalks big enough for half a person
- pigeons flying at your face
- benches in the cave that have no cushions 
- being confused about which side the bise starts on
- handheld shower heads
- things being closed on Sundays 

Things I Will Miss
- not having to wash my fruit
- the streets smelling like bread
- walking in the middle of the road and not getting run over
- all people of all ages in any place stopping to give the bise to someone they know no matter where they are, even if they're in a car and the other person is walking
- the nonpolluting buses
- the colors of Provence
- casually picking up cheese at the market
- wee tiny dogs all over the place
- the adorable window shutters everywhere, America just doesn't really have them
- euro coins: the one and two euro coins are decidedly the most useful things, it's too bad America's golden dollar idea tanked (the other day, I actually forgot we had a one dollar bill in the US)
- the Provence sun

I think I'm actually more nervous to go back home than I was to come here. Maybe it's because I knew I'd come back home on a very specific date and I don't know when I'll be back here. France was full of unknown things, but that was to be expected. Now home, the place I'm supposed to be the most familiar with, is now strange. When you go abroad, you think that life back home has stopped because you left. Logically, you know that's not what happened, but that's what it feels like. Now everything back home has changed, you just weren't there to see it happen. So in my last few hours I have to remind myself to chill out, because I know everything will be absolutely fine, and instead enjoy my last bit of France!