Walking in my shoes

I've started walking around again, just because I feel like after France, it really should be part of everyone's life. The weird thing is, in Lure, I'd wear my normal clothes to walk around town. Here, I put on my walking clothes and walk down the street to nowhere, but it still takes 45-60 minutes. Anyway, you know when you're walking or driving and want to say something to someone in another car? Like, "go ahead" or something? Well, I remember when I crossed the street in France, I always said out loud (yet still to myself), "Merci" whenever someone stopped for me to let me cross the street. Last week I was crossing the street walking, and a car stopped for me, and I actually said out loud, "Thank you." I realized then that I've really adapted back to America. Like 100%. It's weird. It feels like my life in France never existed. It was just this short time away, and now it's long gone, never to be seen again. It's also weird to think that by the end of last November, I'd been there for about 2.5 months. While I felt quite settled in (although not completely since I didn't have internet yet), it still felt fresh and new, and my life back in America didn't seem so far behind me. Well, I've been back home now for about 2.5 months, and my life in France seems SO far behind me. I feel like I've been home forever.

Whenever I work, I wear shoes that I wore in Europe traveling. It makes me sad to think that those shoes went all over the place, and they just led me back to Target. Honestly, I'm wearing them out more at work than I did in Europe. But that makes no sense because I haven't walked up a hill since I was in Switzerland. (Or so it seems.) I need more hills. Oh, and I'm not tan at all anymore. I'm realizing how much time I spent outside before. Life is sure different here compared with in Europe.

I met a woman at work the other day from Italy. She grew up near Venice, but when I told her I just stayed in Panzano for a week, she knew right where that was. Cool! Told you, it's a small world.

Today I considered relaxing after work and walking to LeClerc. I'm not even kidding. That dream was short-lived when I remembered that life is long over. Then I almost got tears in my eyes. That life I had is so untouchable now. It's like when you miss someone so bad and you just want to touch them and would do anything to see them. I just want to go home for a minute to Lure, but I can't. It's so weird that a life so far away and lonely is so what I want right now. There's something so thrilling about being away from everything and everyone I know and just figuring out how to live minimally. Buying the cheapest toothpaste and soap, and walking everywhere and not spending money on gas. That's how life should be here, but somehow I manage to buy things "just because."