Almost the end.

Well, I've come to the end of my YouEsseAye travels.

It was great,
it was emotional,
it was depressing,
it was uplifiting,
it was... interesting.

It was inspirational.
I want to paint and I wrote my first poem since I left here last December. Wow.

A year ago, I never thought that I would love this place so much, that I'd come back. If you would have asked me a year ago what I would be doing in July 2010, I would have probably concocted some vague answer that included Spain or France. I would have never guessed I would have embarked on this crazy crazy trip of insanity that gave me a lot of clear-mindedness. Perhaps, it was even cheaper than therapy! Perhaps, it would have been cheaper to just hire a shrink. Anyway,
Some stand-out moments;

• arriving to NYC from London in business class, seeing the big apple from above with the lights glittering
• many good dinners with good friends (during the whole 6 weeks)
• turning 21 in NY/NJ
• The Barking Dog cafe
• getting asked for my ID when buying alcohol (though no-one asked on my actual birthday!!)
• sitting on the side of the road in Jersey at 3am on my birthday after the car broke down
• looking for a mechanic at 7am in heels and a white cocktail dress
• fighting my way to LaGuardia
• smelling eucalyptus in california
• frozen yoghurt in Stanford
• pretty Berkeley
• the sheer amount of pick-up lines recieved while walking around the Mission district of San Francisco.
• spending the night at the SFO airport, on a couch at subway, finding a pill and a penny on the ground. not eating either pill nor penny.
• 2 memorable hours in Texas
• seemingly endless midnight talks
• very unfortunate soccor games (involving Australia and France.)
• finally getting Ceviche again. God, I missed it.
• passing customs into Canada
• passing customs into the USA
• Cristal Monee Hall playing the Montreal Jazz Festival
• Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
• Dad's Tuna Bagels, Montreal.
• watching jeopardy and drinking wine in montreal
• Ben and Jerry's icecream
• finding my way around Paterson, NJ on my own
• JUST making the bus for Baltimore when I thought I missed it
• 4th of July fireworks
• airconditioning
• walking around Baltimore port

well, thats all I could think of off the top of my head.

I'm glad to be going back to France. Very glad. I'm counting the hours until I arrive in Lyon.

And, although I've decided not to come back for a while, I will miss this country. It's an enigma. There's still so much to see/do/discover here.

But I will be back. I know I will. America, you can't get rid of me that easily.

Baltimore and Washington DC

I think I'm getting into the time here. I slept in untill 6:30am. Which is good considering I have been waking up at 4am. I guess I was also so exhausted from an intense day yesterday.

I caught the 8am train from NY to Baltimore, it was less then 3hrs and really empty, I had enough space for all my luggage and to stretch my legs. Wunderbar! I also had a typical NY breakfast, bagels! I caught a cab to Penn Station in NY mainly because I just couldnt be bothered lugging my crap around the subway. It was only $13 inc. tip, not bad. And I got to drive down Park Ave, see all the museums and embassies and wish I lived there. On the train I was busy taking photos, and they're all on FB. It's pretty amazing how many states are crammed on the East Coast. From NY - MD, I passed through New Jersey, Philadelphia and Delaware before hitting Maryland. Unbelievable.

I was picked up at the BWI station by our family friend, Ania, who is pretty much the nicest person on earth. We then went to this amazing Indian place for lunch, and headed to DC to check out some sights. God, it was so so so hot. But amazing, none-the-less. While we drove into DC, we saw pretty much everything from the car; Capitol Hill, White House, Washington Monument. We walked around and saw them all up close anyway. What a trek!! In that blasted heat too! But it's all really pretty and clean, so I didnt mind. We meandered our way through from the Regan International Building to the Treasury, the White House, The WWII Memorial and the Washington Monument.

If that wasn't exhausting enough, Ania and I then went shopping to Macy's and H&M in Columbia.... I want H&M to be my wardrobe. Just... love. and cheap. and amazing. I'm keeping a lookout for a nice dress to wear for a christening back in Poland/Christmas/NYE/Just out because it's pretty. Found some nice ones, and fair cheap too. (I enjoy being a size 10 in US sizes). However, I need a few more intensive sight-seeing days like the last few to get a comfortable size 8, or even 6!!! (WOW.. I love america and it's sizes).

In fact, I just love america. I totally see the hype now. People are friendly, its so nice, it's pretty, there are SO MANY things to do. Granted, I have only seen the East Coast. A guy I met at the hostel spent some time in LA and said it was the worst decision he had ever made; "California is a collection of everything that is wrong with America" -- direct quote. Well, ok, I love the East Coast. New York and DC are both beautiful. I would love to live in NY... perhaps one day. :-) For the time being, I am snoozing a bit before breakfast.

Love,
-A