Paris, je t'aime pour toujours

“….Amazing, it’s gone by so quickly. Gertrude Stein said, ‘America is my country and Paris is my hometown.’ I’ll always feel that way about Paris….Across the street someone is playing La Vie en Rose. They do it for the tourists, but I’m always surprised at how it moves me. It means seeing life through rose-colored glasses. Only in Paris, where the light is pink, does that song make sense. But I’ll have it in my pocket when I get home, and I’ll take it with me wherever I go from now on.” - The movie Sabrina

Nice to Meet You

“Scenery is fine---but human nature is finer.” John Keats

 

One of my goals on this adventure was to avoid getting stuck in a rut or routine, and instead, branch out, discover new people and different ways of thinking. Each memory I have includes the amazing people I met along the way.  

I am thankful for the friends from my study abroad program, good company while exploring the streets of Paris and other regions of France. Then there were the wonderful students I spent time with in Barcelona, and my travel buddies in Italy, England, and Amsterdam . I will never forget experiences like singing karaoke in Florence, the wildlife in Amsterdam, and those super friendly Irishmen who gave me my 21 birthday kisses.

I love the French people….the artist who sketched my portrait, the teachers of my wine tasting and cooking classes, and the funny French guy who surprised me by jumping into my picture in front of the Chateau. There was that man at the agricultural fair who gave me extra caviar for free, crazy experiences while riding the metro, and I will never forget our amazing tour guides and professors.

As I look back, I feel like this was my personal ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ experience…my own journey of self-discovery, where I learned something from everyone I met. I am so thankful for all those wonderful people.

 

Preparing for Re-Entry: Reflecting on How You’ve Changed

“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” – Maya Angelou

How has my study abroad experience changed me? There are so many answers to that question. One change is my level of self-confidence. This semester gave me the opportunity to see how independent I really could be.

Spending four months in Paris, you could stay in the city the entire time and still not see everything. We also enjoyed a central location in Europe, with all the surrounding countries to visit, which required making some tough decisions. We all arrived here with goals and priorities for how we wanted to spend our precious time and euros. This led to some group activities, and other times everyone splitting off in different directions.

I put my confidence to the test by learning to navigate through airports and train stations alone, sometimes in places where I did not speak the language, and figuring out how to reach my destinations. I discovered that getting lost isn’t always a bad thing. I met strangers who became friends. I came to realize that if you REALLY want to do something, you have to ‘just do it.’

Most of my travels around Europe were in the company of others, but there were a few times I found myself going it alone. One example is the Cinque Terre in Italy. I wanted to see this so badly, even if I couldn’t find anyone else who could go along. Surprisingly, it ended up being one of the highlights of my trip! It was right in the middle of two very busy, fun-filled tours with lots of people, and it gave me two days to just completely relax and recuperate.

As I prepare to return home, I am already planning future trips in my dreams! I feel confident to travel anywhere now, and I am looking forward to new adventures. I am grateful for each experience I have had, all the highs and the lows. They have prepared me to face any challenge I meet, whether it is traveling the world, or back in my everyday life at home.

 

Roland Garros

"Fitting that a game that stirs such passion begins with the score Love-Love"

On Tuesday this week I lived out one of my dreams and went to Roland Garros, the French Open. I started playing tennis at the age of seven, and have been in love with the sport ever since. Watching the grand slams on TV every year, my dream has always been to someday attend all four. Roland Garros is the second grand slam of the year, following the Australian Open. Next up is Wimbledon, and finally, the U.S. Open. The French Open is a unique tournament because it is played on clay courts. The clay courts are a slower playing surface than grass or hard court, which makes it more difficult for a player to hit an unreturnable shot, or what some call a “clean winner.” This, coupled with five-set men’s singles matches without a tiebreak in the final set, makes the French Open of the most physically demanding tennis tournaments in the world.

The French Open main draw officially starts on Saturday May 21^st, but since I will be back in the States by then, I got tickets to the first day of the Qualifiers. It was still an awesome day of tennis; the players were amazing and made it look so easy. The crowds were also smaller, with no lines for the bathrooms or shops. I loved going on the first day because everything was ready, and the souvenir store had everything in stock. Even though the main draw hadn’t started, I was able to see France’s Richard Gasquet practice on the Susan Lenglen court. It was fun to have a chance to watch at least one of the more well-known players.

It was amazing to see such great tennis in person. I was able to watch four matches. The longest was between J. Ward from Great Britain and R. Harrison from the United States. In the beginning I was cheering for Harrison, trying to show a little national pride for a fellow American. However, I switched sides after an incident during the second set where Harrison hit a double fault and shouted at the top of his lungs “F****ing embarrassing! God!” He received a point penalty for disrespectful/rude behavior. I love that tennis is a sport of manners. This brought back memories of all the tennis brats I observed throughout my childhood tennis years. From then on I was cheering for Ward. It was very exciting because the players were so equally matched. They both really moved the ball around the court and played to their best ability, scrambling for every shot. In the end I was disappointed because Harrison, the cry baby, won, but it was wonderful to be at the French Open!

Normandy

"It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly." - Claude Monet

This weekend I went to Normandy on my last excursion with my study abroad program. It was just a day trip, so we didn’t get to see the D-Day beaches or Mont St. Michel , which I had been hoping to see before leaving France , but I still had a great time, and now I’ll have another excuse to come back!

The day started off with a trip to Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny. Claude Monet was one of the founders of French impressionist painting. He first lived at this house with his family in 1883, and bought the property in 1890. Monet transformed the house, building a greenhouse and a second studio. From the 1880s until the time of his death, Monet worked on his “series” paintings, including the famous Water Lilies, which he painted at Giverny. Monet was a master at interpreting light in his art. He loved to paint the organized nature of his garden, and he was an avid gardener, who wrote detailed instructions for his gardens with precise descriptions of how he wanted everything. Monet’s Nymphéas (Water Lilies) series consists of about 250 paintings that depict his flower garden. These are showcased in museums all over the world, including the Orangerie Museum here in Paris . My friends and I went to the Orangerie earlier this week, and we were captivated by the beauty of Monet’s work. Viewing some of his actual paintings, and then later seeing the location for their inspiration, was an amazing experience.

 Leaving Giverny, we headed to the idyllic Normandy town of Honfleur . This quaint town, with its charming port and old buildings, attracted artists such as Gustave Courbet, Eugene Boudin, Claude Monet, and Johan Jongkind to paint here. These artists formed the école de Honfleur (Honfleur school) and contributed further to the Impressionist movement of the time. Honfleur is beautiful and it was nice to spend an afternoon in the laid-back atmosphere of this harbor town. We enjoyed a lunch of very fresh, delicious seafood, and after lunch, took a walk to see Sainte-Catherine church, the largest wood church built in France . It was beautiful on the inside and I even spotted a statue of St. Anne, my middle name. France has many distinct regions with unique characteristics. I loved our visit to Normandy ; being close to the ocean and spending the afternoon in a harbor town reminded me of home