La Vie en Rose

Bonsoir Bloggies:

I have decided to start occasionally writing a series of posts that let you know a bit more about me. Sure, you currently know I’m a wannabe runner, I like to work out, I like to eat healthy, and I obviously love to travel. But that’s about it! Well here’s the part where I share a little bit more of myself with you!

 

If you were to ask me to name my most epic and life-changing adventures I would have no trouble answering: the time I moved to Paris. As a teenager, and in my early 20s, I was no different than myriads of authors or daydreamers around the world. I longed to see the city of lights. I’m not sure it was so much about being in Paris as it was the grand romance of it all.

After I completed my Undergraduate Degree I decided to packed up my bags and moved to Paris to study French Language and Civilizations at the Sorbonne (Paris IV). Until my dying day I will remember what an elderly gentleman who had served during World War II said to me before my departure: “May Paris be as magical for you as it was for me after the war!” Le sigh. Even know I get misty eyed at the thought.

In Paris I finally became fluent in French. I tasted culinary delights that lived up to my imagination. I made life-long friends. I walked downed the hallways of Versailles and felt the history speaking to me around every corner. Kings. Queens. Revolutions. Post war Treaties. They had all been there. And I was too. I drank in the experience with every fiber of my being.

And somewhere in the middle of my time in Paris I changed. In fact I’d say I flowered. I realized I was stronger and more able than I knew. I became a more determined and driven individual. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think I went to Paris to find myself but somewhere in those tree lined boulevards I created myself.

 

After my time in Paris, I moved to the West Coast of Canada for law school; during which I would return one more time to live in that beloved city of mine. The second time around I was studying International and Comparative Law (through Cornell and Paris I). Again I lived adventures. Again I had the time of my life. Again I grew.

Truth be told, no matter how many times I return to Paris nothing will compare with that first time. I will carry those memories and experiences with me as long as I live. They form a part of my very core.

Confession? I’m someone who doesn’t very often remember her dreams. But when I do, I’m in Paris . . .

 

Have you ever had a life changing and epic experience? What was it?