Last night was the most dramatic and emotional moment of my life. When I arrived at the beach, Anaïs was leaning against the fence and her head and her arms were resting on the top of the fence. She was looking at the sunset and was seemingly that she was missing someone. I quietly walked toward her back and then put my arms around her. She immediately turned around and grasped me with a strong and a hard squeeze hug. We hugged each other so tight and so long that we could not escape. Then we looked at each other and smiled. Afterwards, Michele, Anais, and I went to a cafe by the beach where we got the biggest glass of ice cream. I got vanilla with the most delicious strawberries. Anais got vanilla with chocolate syrup and powder. All of three of us just sat and chatted about our week and random life stuff until after the sky have become fully dark. Then, Anais and Michele drove me home. Once we arrived Jean-Victor’s and Marie’s house and Anais and I got out of the car, we embraced each other tightly once again. When I heard Anais saying, “Nooooo,” tears fell under my eyes. I literally could not let my new best french friend go either. It was such a difficult moment – much more difficult than saying a good-bye to a friend who is only moving to another state. We live over 4,000 miles away and knowing that we live so far away makes it difficult for us to realize that it will be a long time before we will be able to see each other again. Michele came to me and gave me a big hug. She looked at me and said, “You will come back to our home.” With the tears that I had in my eyes, I had a difficult time to reply by saying, “Come visit my home too.” Anais and I continued to stare at each other until we had to separate. It was the toughest good-bye in my life.

When I walked in the Maublanc’s house, “You will think about us when you arrive home,” Madame Maublanc said to me. Marie and Madame Maublanc were in middle of making gateau Basque for me to take home so that my family can have a taste of the Basque region. My heart was full tenderness, but full of sadness too. I did not even want to leave the Maublancs either. Jean-Victor is still funny as always – since I have first met him in Atlanta in Feburary 2004. Even though Marie is 4 and a half years younger than me, I always forgot that she was 14 because she is so intelligent and mature for her age and she reminds me of my brother so much. She has taught me even more about the French culture including politics. Saying good-bye to them this morning was just as difficult as it was saying good-bye to Anais and her mom last night. Marie and I hugged each other so long and until I had to really board the plane. Tears literally started to fall again. As I was heading to the plane, I kept turning my back around to wave good-bye to the Maublancs again. Bayonne has truly become my second home. Madame Maublanc said to me last night, “Next summer, you will come here and celebrate the Fete de Bayonne with us.” I have already marked the Fete de Bayonne on my calendar for summer 2007. Fete de Bayonne is a huge long lasting traditional Basque celebration that takes place in Bayonne during the first week of August.
While many new college students will enter this fall with a new flashy computer, I am gong to enter SCAD with my same old PowerBook. I rather use the money that I would have paid for a new computer for my trip to Bayonne next summer. One of the biggest things that I learned during my five weeks stay in France is that if we were not materialistic, did not continue to buy new upgraded technology consistently, and did not own things that we really don’t need, we could really have saved thousands of dollars for better opportunities such as for my example, returning to France to see my beloved friends.