I'm home!

I'm back on Canadian soil, as of this last Wednesday. My last day in Paris was strange for me, knowing that I was at the end of a journey. I went with a girl named Eve to the "Graves of the Innocents" (The catacombs under Paris), where 5 million Parisians lay. Then we went to see the graves of Chopin, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, and Oscar Wilde. We had a picnic in the cemetary on this patch of grass until a man came and told us we were dining on people's graves! After that we went back to Montmartre and I did my last minute shopping. I said goodbye to Eve and took the metro to Jaure, the stop before the hostel. I wanted to walk back and reflect on things. I began to walk by the pier and I was completely taken aback. I noticed outside of the window in my hostel that every night, the pier was filled with people sitting by the edge, but I didn't know why. When I walked by, I realized that they were all young people having picnics. Every single night, hundreds and hundreds of people buy food and wine and drink on the edge of the water. They bring their guitars and their cards, their children and their pets. Every single night! It was amazing to see and it was beautiful to see so many people enjoying their time with one another. When I got back to the hostel it was quite late and I went to the internet cafe to print out my e-ticket for my flight home. I was sitting there, looking at my email, when I notice something out of the corner of my eye. It was PAUL, my british friend from Barcelona! Remember the post in Barcelona where I talked about my roommates that I liked? Paul was the guy from Liverpool!!! Anyways, we both had no idea that we were going to be at the same hostel or even in Paris! So of course, even though I had to be up at dawn, we sat down and had a drink together. It was so completely random! So we were sitting there talking, and all of a sudden paul says, "Hey, isn't that Ally??". Ally was another of our roommmates from Barcelona, the girl from Toronto. Paul yells her name, and the girl looks over...and it IS Ally!!!! What a small world!! She freaks out of course and we all have a drink together. I realize it is 2am and I have to sleep sometime. I sleep until 6am when I have to wake up and catch my flight. I go to the Airport with two girls from Ireland who had flights home as well. The flight was quite good, actually. I had two seats to myself, so I was able to sleep somewhat.

I couldn't sit still on the flight and when we arrived, I was so antsy about going through customs and all that. When I walked through the arrivals gate in Calgary and saw my Mom and my sister, Becky yelled my name. It can't even describe the feeling of seeing them again. We all cried and cried and embraced, it was so wonderful. The drive home was surreal, as was walking back into my home. Mom, Becky, Nathan and I went out for a celebration dinner for my sister's 18th birthday. It was a wonderful night and I passed out extremely early of course. On Friday I started work again. I was so excited to see everyone again. Penny and me shared an amazing hug. I'm definitely looking forward to starting tomorrow with the kids. It still feels strange to me that I was in Paris earlier this week, and in Barcelona last week, and Rome and Athens the week before, Milan and Cinque terre the week before that....and so on. I am so proud of myself for not giving up and being able to travel alone for 2 and a half months. I feel really blessed for having been able to do this at this point in my life. All the things I experienced, all the incredible people I met, the cities I fell in love with...I will never forget these things. The things that I went through, the hardship and the hilarity of it all, the kindness of strangers and the meaning of the term beauty all have new meanings to me now. I've learned that there are very scary and terrible things in the world, but there is ALWAYS something good and worthy in each one of us. We need to be strong for each other, to not give up hope. I've learned not to be afraid of living, to trust that everything will turn out okay. I've learned so much history of the world and about many people's different opinions and world views. I guess you could say this trip taught me alot about opposites. I saw the poorest people I have ever seen, but I also saw the richest. I saw the Old Europe contrasted against the new. I met capitalists and socialists, catholics and hindus and buddhists, atheists and agnostics. I played games with children who didn't speak English, and had conversations with weathered and wise old people. It has been something that will stay with me forever, and I am forever grateful. So this is the end of this journey, but I dare say that it will not be the last!
I hope everyone enjoyed reading the blog for the last couple of months as much as I enjoyed writing it. There are so many things that I didn't write about that happened, but if I did, this would be a novel by now! Soon I will update with some more pictures just for fun, but all the other photos are on facebook of course :)

Lots of love,
Sarah