ciao la côte d'azur

what i will miss about the french riviera:
- topless sunbathing/swimming. this is the #1 thing i absolutely love about living down here! men don't have to wear tops, so why should i? it's totally liberating and creates no tan lines. that's what i'm talking about.
- the beaches
- the summer months (around may to september).
- our apartment
- hanging out with the eisenhours and st. paul
- the few friends i made while living here
- feeling a healthy distance away from any media bombardment, propaganda, consumerism
- the chicken chimichangas at texas city.
- the grilled pork and rice plate at indochine.

what i won't miss about la france, in general:
- the lack of diversity (maybe i'm spoiled from being a cali girl). and, you know how back in the day in the states, white people would refer to all asians or pacific islanders as "oriental"? over here, the french continue to refer to all of us as "chinoise" (directly translates to "chinese"). that's wack.
- winter!! i'd never experienced living through a winter until moving out here, and i don't want to do it again (maybe i'm spoiled from being a cali girl).
- how everything is taken personally... but it's not personal.
- how a lot of the girls out here act bored or uninterested on a general basis.
- the language... as cool and refined and necessary, etc. as it is to know how to speak and understand french (which i'm damn proud of), it's absolutely useless if you're not in france. okay, if you're on one of the french-colonized countries like vietnam, tahiti, or guadeloupe, it's helpful to speak french... but seriously, other than that, it's a novelty language.
- the unemployment rate/lack of career opportunity for a gal like me.
- how expensive it is.

back to the positives. it's our last day here at the apartment. the weather is hot and the beaches are swarming with lots of happy, sunkissed, and swimming people. i'm gonna take that one last swim, have something good for dinner, and enjoy our last night on atoll beach. bisouxoxo