Joyeuses Fêtes !

Dear friends and family,

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and Happy (nearly) New Year!

Enjoying vin chaud and chilling with Santa at the Marché de Noël de La Défense, which is my preferred Christmas Market in Paris.

While 2016 was a bit of a doozy, what with the number of times we said good-bye to cultural icons and the unfortunate rise of nationalism in the Western world, I can’t lie and say that this year wasn’t, overall, a great one for me.

The Big Things

• I started this year with the French boy by my side, in the warmth of my best friend’s home (but without my best friend, because we’re on that level, where I can just chill with her parents and her aunts and uncles. You wish you were that cool.).
• I had the luck to visit with cousins who live far away from me, as well as the luck to spend lots of time with one of grandmothers who had lived in another state for a decade.
• I brushed up on my French, managed to get a sold B2-written and C1-oral score on my TCF, and was accepted to my preferred Master’s program in Paris.
• I said goodbye to my Nana Ann, which gave me the chance to reflect on cherished memories with my family.
• I got to experience Phoenix Comicon.
• I celebrated my maternal grandparent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary, and I got to see a few old faces at an impromptu birthday party at my favorite brewery.
• I took an unforgettable trip to New York City, where I was able to meet up with several wonderful friends, and then I moved to Paris.
• I spent a week reconnecting with city life and the French boy, which included successfully finding a house to live in and building an IKEA bed without killing the French boy.
• I started my Master’s program at Université Paris Descartes in spite of French Administration.
• My best friend came to visit me in Paris, I took a trip around the Côte d’Azur, and I found a Thanksgiving feast to crash (thanks to my awesome buddy Kurt!).
• I took a trip to the Alps with the French boy, and I learned that I don’t actually suck at snowboarding as much as I thought I would.

And finally, to finish off this wonderful year, I’ll celebrate Christmas with a dear friend and her family, study hard to ace my tests, and take a final chance to faire la fête in 2016.

Thank you for sharing this year with me.

Love,

Amanda Lyn

P.S. Here are the pictures I haven’t posted yet of that trip to Les Menuires with the French boy.

I mean, we’re not experts. We did fall quite a bit.

Glorious, glorious mountain after the snow storm on Sunday.

Mon potato. ❤