As I was leaving my first French class of eighth grade, I walked past my teacher. She was holding the door and telling each student goodbye. "Adieu," I said, smiling. My teacher looked shocked. "Adieu? Non, non! I will see you next week, no?" That day, I learned a very useful distinction. To say goodbye in French, you say au revoir. Adieu is used to say goodbye when you will never see someone again. I'd just told my French teacher goodbye forever! Well, I went back to class next week, and the week after that. I continued learning French, and I continued making mistakes. Those successes and failures have brought me here, to Le Puy, and to you, Kimberly's class! And here I am, already saying au revoir.
As I'm writing, I am about to finish up the third period of the school year. The school year in France is broken up into five periods. Each period is six weeks long, and they are separated by two-week vacations. For this next vacation, I will be going home to Florida and giving my parents a very, very, big hug. Then I will say goodbye and start the next and final chapter of my time in France, my last school period.
