April 6, 2021

Tuesday

Well- it was time to start the preparations for my return to the US. I knew that I wouldn’t have space for my books, so I put in a call to my neighbor Catherine J and asked her to help me ship them. Conveniently, she had a shift at the post office at 2pm. I loaded up all my books and hopped in the car with her when it was time to go.

At the post office, we got my books packaged and taken care of. Only 14 euros! They’ll arrive after me, but that’s fine.

When the books were packed away, we took the time to close my Livret A. This was an account that would allow me to receive my paycheck, but force me to withdraw all my money in cash. After about 15 minutes we got that closed.

I thanked Catherine for all her help and went over to the Carrefour for one last grocery trip. I made sure to only get the essentials (and some treats for folks that might be interested to try French candy).

Bernadette Bodet picked me up from the store and we drove to Mr. Bricolage, a store devoted to home repair. We grabbed the items that she needed and went back to Anthon. I told her about my success with the Livret A and we planned to go later in the week to Banque Populaire to see what steps needed to be taken to close my account with them.

When I arrived at home, I made lunch and set about sending all the emails I could. It was finally time to book my plane ticket! I called AirFrance and sat on the line for an hour before suddenly- the line went dead. I called back again and after another hour I reached someone. I scheduled a flight to Detroit for free because my previous flight was canceled. I was thrilled. I called my dad to share the good news and schedule a pickup- only to be interrupted by a call from the airline. I picked up and was told that the flight I scheduled not five minutes before was canceled. Thankfully, we were able to find one to Chicago on the same day! I called my cousin and confirmed she could pick me up from the airport. Woo! I’m coming home!