Still Up

I'm still up.

What am I still doing up?

I've been wanting to go to sleep since 5:30.  But I'm still awake.

I feel a little bit lame.  The plane ticket was originally booked to go in and out through Charles de Gaulle.  I thought about trying to change it to leave out of Amsterdam, but it didn't take much to realize it was going to be a major headache.  Booking a train ticket and a hotel at the airport was WAY more straightforward.  So here I am.

Re: Lameness.  I didn't see anything of Paris.  I feel kind of bad about that.  Like I should have just hopped on the train, snapped a picture of Notre Dame, and come back to the hotel.  But you know, I'm feeling a bit drained.

Drained partly from the goodbye party last night.  It was just me, Forko, and Waffelle, but Forko was dead-set on me having a "good time" with all those fancy Belgian beers, and he wouldn't take no for an answer.  And at some point we got to talking about the family.  Until 2am.

What a summer.  What a freakin' summer.

There's a bit too much personal stuff to post here.  Suffice it to say, people aren't doing at all well.  It's been a long two months of family drama, friend drama, and personal drama.  On one hand, I'm glad the summer is "ending" with my return to NYC, but at the same time, it's really just getting started.  It's going to be a long, hard fall.  I can tell.

It's only been two weeks since leaving Argenton, where the art school is, but it already feels like a far-distant memory.  Looking at pictures on the MyFace or things I snapped with my phone...I have those moments of, "Oh, I remember that!" when I see them.

Those ten days in the Netherlands.  Shewww...  It was like being on another planet.  And yes, the rumors are true.  I put on a ridiculous amount of vacation weight these two months here in Europe, what with the food and no gym and stress and a subconscious desire to feel "bigger" and more solid in the face of Hurricane Life and all that she brings.  I think I really am crazy.

Having a hard time focusing on the computer screen.  I swear, I really do have deep thoughts about what it means to have experienced all this and to be returning to boring old NYC, but they're just not coming at the moment.  Maybe because it's back to the slog, the noise, the dirt, and all the excitement.

Okay then.  Let's do it this way.  Things I really remember:

The Argenton town square, particularly on hot days
The house I stayed in and it's creepy bedroom
The view from the kitchen window
Daily baguettes
Walking down those narrow streets
Practicing French diligently
The Orchard walk
Getting the opening song from "Beauty and the Beast" stuck in my head every morning (Bonjour!)
Restaurant du Lac and their excellent cheeseburgers
The Friday Farmer's Markets
The Town Festival - pigeon, ostrich, snails
Catan games
Nutella on buttered baguette.  I mean seriously
The Shopi grocery store jingle

And then the Netherlands.  Good grief.  This one's easy:

The Van Gogh museum
The canals in Amsterdam
Bubbles the French Bulldog
Amsterdam in general
Eating
How awesome Leiden actually is
Rembrandt
Rembrandt
Rembrandt
The Rijksmuseum
Rembrandt
The Girl With the Pearl Earring being in Japan
The MC Escher museum
The Hague...the old part of town with the castle-y things
Meeting up with my old High School Youth Group leader in the Hague
The awful grocery store in the Hague
Dutch Masters
Belgian beer
Eating
Windmills
The one night on my own in which I played my American Card and got crummy Italian food because at least I knew what it was.

And there you go.  The trip in a nutshell.  Okay.  Bed!