Katie in Paris: For My Family

Mom, Dad, Joe, Jack, Aunt Jackie, Aunt Julie, Aunt Sam, Uncle Scott, Matt, Nick, Andrea, Justin, Tim, Uncle Matt, and Uncle Terry,

I am finding it hard to search for the appropriate words to express how you all have made me feel this past week. When you arrived exhausted on Saturday after 20+ hours of traveling and nothing but horrible airline food in your bellies, you greeted me with enthusiastic hugs and smiles that showed no signs of how crummy you felt. Having sixteen of us in Paris is something I never would've imagined when I started looking into this whole study abroad thing, and you have all made it happen. I want to let you know how appreciative I am. "Thank you" doesn't even begin to sum up my gratitude, but I'm running on three hours of sleep right now and can't think of any fancier ways to word what I want to say:

Thank you for letting me drag you all around Paris in blustery winds and torrential rain, even though your feet were sore and soaking wet.

Thank you for the countless amounts of times where you made me laugh so hard my stomach muscles ached (mostly due to the dynamic duo of Aunt Jackie and Ter Bear).

Thank you for being patient when my directionally-challenged self led you the wrong way.

Thank you for giving me all of your euro pocket change and then some (I promise I didn't count the envelope, Uncle Scott. I put it in my wallet without even looking at it!).

Thank you for taking me out to restaurants far beyond my student budget and graciously paying for it all.

Thank you for understanding if I ever got crabby and not calling me names (to my face) when I did. Thank you for entertaining me with your endless stories and jokes- I think Uncle Terry's Paris-sites pun takes the cake for the week.

Thank you for taking time away from your jobs and schools to come all the way over here just to spend a week with me.

Thank you for taking me to French cooking classes, theatre productions, tourist attractions, etc. and selflessly expecting nothing from me in return.

Thank you for putting up with my itineraries and plans even if you didn't want to get up and go to a museum at 9am.

Most of all, thank you for being the most loving, caring, and supportive family anyone could ever ask for. This past week has easily been one of the best weeks I've ever had, and it's all because of the fifteen of you. I have never in my life felt so loved or valued and these past eight days have truly given me such a deep appreciation and understanding of how lucky I am to call you people my big, crazy, wonderful family. Love you all and miss you already. Paris won't be the same without you.

Affectueusement,

Katie

For the rest of you that just trudged through that sappy profession of love for my family, I promise I'll get around to blogging about some of the many things we did. In the meantime, here are some pictures from the week: