My last week working in Paris was, as I’d predicted, incredibly bitter-sweet. I’ve met so many people and made so many great friends this summer that I’m so sad to leave them! However, I was also extremely excited to travel to Marseille before heading home and seeing all my friends and family in the US.

I have been able to work in an office where everyone has been so genuinely kind and inclusive – I couldn’t have asked for more! I was really able to bond with my coworkers and I definitely now have an international friend group 🙂 My coworkers all joined together to plan an amazing going away get together for me, complete with presents from everyone in the office! The entire summer, I was obsessed with getting cutesy postcards to send to my friends and family at home (I also got one that I sent to me as well so I’d have one that was postmarked for me) so everyone wrote me really cute going-away notes on postcards which they put in a new tote bag for me! I’ve been on the hunt for a new tote bag all summer – ever since my free EUSA tote bag broke on the metro as I was going through the turn style on my way to work one morning. That story was so dramatic (because of course I had to share my trauma with my coworkers once I finally made it to work) that they remembered and got me a (hopefully more sturdy) new one!

I cannot stress enough the amount of love and acceptance that I’ve received this summer from all my new friends! I am so happy I was able to have this experience and I am so sad to see it’s ending – even if it is ending with me on the beautiful beaches of Southern France 🙂

Although I am sad to see this summer end, I keep telling myself to live each day as much as possible, so since I’ve arrived in Marseille, I’ve been saying to myself (because it rhymes and I’m corny like that): Today is for Marseille. This, for me, means: don’t forget to live in the moment where you are now, not where you were (Paris) or where you will be (Pittsburgh) because without doing so, these memories from today will be filled with worry, sadness, and doubt] So, despite my incredibly conflicting bitter-sweet feelings about leaving France, I am having a blast in Marseille and I am making the best of all my experiences – a mentality I hope to carry on! 🙂

I hope everyone is having a great time wherever they are now and that their internships are treating them well (if they’re still happening)!

(This is my favorite picture, possibly ever, which features me and two of my coworkers-turned-friends, Marianne and Maria – this photo was not taken on purpose, which just makes it about 100x better/funnier in my opinion)