Au Revoir, Let's Go (For Now)

C'est fini! My research stint is over. No more cooking fast food, eating brainy desserts, attending circumcision parties, or clubbing back-to-back nights (it was strictly business, I swear). From tiled mosques to pink-bricked monasteries, from cabernet vintages to vintage stores, it's been an unbelievable ride. Though I know now is not the time for regrets, here's what I would do differently if I could do it all again:

• Book trains far far in advance. Why shell out 50 euro more when I could have been spending that on pastries, non-supermarket meals, and glasses of wine with dinner?
• Wear V-neck/sleeveless/hell even transparent shirts. Walking around outside for the whole day means I get a great tan from my elbows down and the neck up. Everything else—let's not go there.
• Bring a bigger backpack. Stuffing my bag with too many toothbrushes and types of shampoo means that I'll never be able to bring gifts back home. That bottle of Turkish raki? Had to chug it back in Istanbul. And speaking ofhugging liquor...
• Build up my alcohol tolerance. What a shame, having to spit out the best of French wines while hiking around the vineyards of Bordeaux and St. Emilion. But if I gulped it all down, they'd have arrested me for public drunkenness in no time.

In fact, all of these are small, tiny things that really don't matter at all. And I still have a lot ahead—my work is done, but my time in France isn't over yet. Next up: Nice. Gotta hit the beaches and work on that tan.