Ladies and gentlemen, I can now say that I have eaten escargot in its country of origin. I remember the time that my host mom asked me if I wanted to eat escargot before I left. I blurted out “oui!” before I thought through what eating escargot actually entailed. After seeing my host mom’s face light up with delight, there was no way that I could go back on my word. Overall, I’m not really a picky person when it comes to food, but for some reason, I was nervous to eat the snails. I think it was simply because. . . .well, I was going to eat snails. Finally the day came. I walked into the house and the smell of garlic and butter filled my nostrils, and my host mom was ecstatic. “Tu est prête ma fille?”, and I responded back in French, “Ready as I’ll ever be.” The escargot was absolutely delicious, and I finished the entire plate while my Japanese housemate squirmed in her chair as she watched me eat every single one. That dinner was a good way to start the goodbye process, and I will never forget it.