Hello all,

Well I guess it is not really all as there are really only two people whom I know read this and one is my mother. PS Thank you Aunt Nancy for calling me just to check up. It really meant a lot.

Lets get started I have absolutely no excuse for taking so long to update. I cannot even say that nothing has happened because so much has. Ill give the readers digest version first for those of you who don't want to read all the way through. I believe that the last time I updated was sometime in Avril. Well since then I finished classes, went to the US for two weeks, Alice came to visit and we went to Prague, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Paris; I moved to a new apartment in the same building, I was given a surgery date for my ankle of July 13 ( yes I am aware that is Friday the 13), and the last of my new found family here in France has returned to their respective homes and countries.

Those of you that are interested in K8E ramblings feel free to continue all others thank you and you are now sufficiently caught up on my goings ons.

It is hard to think of where to even start. The last few months have been overwhelming in so many ways. Interesting thing though is that they are positive overwhelms. The most impacting will seem silly but to me it is a big deal. I am not good at good byes, I never have been. Not since my step dad died when I was a tyke (this whole other story about a glass of milk, perhaps another time). For a great portion of my life I have not had to say goodbye. People simply leave, are not going away for ever, die, or I go away. I don't mean that at all in a feel bad for me way. Lets face is most of the time it is me leaving or me managing to get other people to leave (98% of the time my own darned fault).

But this is different I am in a position now where I am expected to say bye. How weird is that. I mean I know that back home I went out to dinner with friends for my farewell dinner, but really it wasn't bye I will see them again. Yet here I find myself going to these dinners, drinks, group hugs where I am to say goodbye to people whom there is a great likely hood of me never seeing again. To put it simply I just do not know how to do it. Part of me is still that little girl in the back room playing thinking that everyone elses lives just pause or cease to exist when they are not in my life anymore but the rest of me is old enough to know that is not at all the case. It is strange for me to see these people whom I barely know that have well they have accepted me for who I am. Another really new phenomenon. Some people I met for just an evening like the Belgian Dr. Student or the Glorified Pool Boy and others I knew almost the whole time I was here like Silke and Dan. They never once question who I was or what my motives where and for the most part never expected anything from me. I wonder if maybe this is what philosophers are talking about when they say as you get older you make family not friends cause its true they each and every one of them were part of my family even if just for a short time. Is this what it means to feel like you are home?

If it is then moving to France was the smartest thing that I have ever done because I truly have missed out on this feeling and these people who so seamlessly fit into existence. And in the end it makes me appreciate 100000 times more the people that I know are back home. The Collin and Nicole who still take care of my mail even if they are ready to divvy up my things if I decide to stay ( WHICH I HAVE NOT), Amy who gets in touch with me halfway around the world to tell me she is marrying the guy of her dreams, Garrett who wakes up to look up phone numbers for me while I am in Europe (cheaper than info.), Tim who avoids me just as much as I avoid him (yes we are both okay with it), Staci who is up for the impromptu Vegas trip, the people who remember my postcard collection and send me some now and again (thanks Kathryn and Katie), and Alice who flies halfway around the world so we can stay up until 7am at some Bistro in Paris with a bunch of Belgians. I am the luckiest woman in the world because those people whether we are still getting into trouble 30 years from now are with me forever. How cool is that. And as my life continues on this path that I am so uncertain of I get to meet more amazing people who will impact my life in ways that I cannot even begin to acknowledge. WOW!

Okay enough philosophizing you want to see pictures and here about what I was up to :)

I went to an doctor while I was in the USA and he stuck me in this cast. I spent two and a half " wonderful" weeks in it before the French doctor promptly took it off so that I could get strong enough for surgery. Ironic is it not that you have to have a healthy strong ankle in order to repair the fact that you can not walk without hurting it. :)

You can see that Karrie, Ducky and I had a lot of very important bonding time. That blob on my right side is actually Ducky.

These two photos were taken at dinner the night before I left. I was especially grateful for this because I did not get to see most of these people before I left the last time.

Alice came to visit for a few weeks and we had a fabulous time. We were able to meet up with Silke and her friends in Paris. This picture above was from a pub called Wallace here in Lyon.

When we got to Prague we decided to take this car tour of the city from this kid who thinks the fall of communism was the worst thing ever (you can imagine how well we got along). And boy was he in love with this car.

This was also in Prague in front of the original Town hall. Most of it was burned by the Nazi's but this clock that represents the plague managed to survive.

While we were in Amsterdam we managed to fit in a trip to the Anne Frank hous which was far more moving than either of us had anticipated. Everyone should try to go there at least once in their lives.

Here are Alice, Silke and I at Versailles. We spent 9 hours there and still just barely managed to see the orangery. AKA big area with more than 800 orange trees that Louis XIV had because he was jealous of "some other not royal guy".

I don't remember whose idea it was but we ended up renting a canoe on the Canal at Versailles. We probably should have been more prepared for the fact that we would then have to row ourselves. We survived unscathed and surprisingly enough no one ended up in the water although we were a bit wet.

The last night we were in Paris Alice and I went on this awesome outing. It was dinner at the Eiffel Tower, a river cruise, and the night ended with seeing the Moulin Rouge. Each and every peice of it was as wonderful as I could imagine.

I figured I would end this post with an entertaining photo. Leave it to Alice and I to be super silly on the night cruise in Paris. Seriously how could we not be everyone all around us was kissing..

I will do my best to update after i get home from the surgery but I know that I will be out of it for a few days. If you want to email me your phone numbers so I can call when able I will. Otherwise if you just email me at katie.nolde@gmail.com I will just email back so you know everything went alright.

love to you all.

Be Well,

K8E