My Dream of France is over already?

I've wanted to travel to France since the beginning of high school. It was something I started planning when I was a junior... Then I went with a couple good friends and moms and my French teacher to the great country after graduation. Now, three years or so later, I can check it off of my list.

It's weird to think about... Having completed a life goal and then looking for another goal, or even when I can go back. I feel like both of those things are out of my control. I suppose my next goal would be student teaching overseas... and then after that, finding a teaching job in Colorado Springs... but again, I have no control over it.

Since the exciting episode in numerous airports around the country, life has been a nonstop whirlwind of activities. Arriving home 1.5 days late throws you off a lot more than you would think. We (meaning my family and I) had planned on a French dinner the night of Dec 20th. That night came and went in the Paris airport. Ok. Plan B: Go to Chicago the next day via the standby list and then get home just one day late. What ended up happening: Made the standby list for Dulles, arrived three hours later than we were supposed to, United lost track of my luggage for three hours so I couldn't go through customs and get on a standby list, crying my way into the heart of a worker who got me on a plane, spent the night in Dulles skyping and sleeping, then getting on an hour delayed plane which arrived in Denver at 11:35am on Dec 21st. I don't really ever want to repeat that. I would say it was quite the ending to quite a semester, though. It's ironic because while France has been some place that I love and I have felt a passion and knowledge for... yet, it was nothing like I expected:
I thought I would spend the majority of my time at cafés and meeting French people... instead, I rode bikes to castles and walked around the town or along the banks of the river and hung out with international friends.
I thought I was going to travel to neighboring countries during free weekends... I ended up using free weekends to relax or go on excursions with Alix.
I thought I would become fluent... I ended up learning more about real life.

Once again, God's plans were not mine. My time in France was certainly blessed and I feel like there will continue to be growth from it... but somethings won't be seen until I've actually had time to process leaving. It feels like something that was surreal... Like I didn't just spend 3.5 months of my life in another country. I don't know what processing looks like, but I know it's coming... If there's one thing I've already learned from this France thing, it's the reinforced understanding that God's timing is not mine and that I should rest in His plans, not my own.

That being said, this is hardly the processing blog that I expected to be able to post, but it's time to move on. I'll be leaving to go to London soon, so I'm starting that blog. Maybe I'll come back to this one and add a little, but this chapter in my life has come to a close. When I said that life was going to change drastically again (right before trying to get home), I didn't really understand what that would look like and all I can tell you right now is that my head is spinning and I don't really know what is going on or what my life will look like for the next 3.5 weeks. I'm coming to grips with that though... almost getting comfortable with it.