Forty-six pages, 632 songs and four cemeteries. These, in addition to a few other miscellaneous items, are all I have left of my Paris to-do list. Only 46 more pages until I finish reading a 572 page book entirely in French. Just 632 more songs in my iTunes library until I have listened to every piece of music on my iPod while overseas. A total of four more Parisian cemeteries to visit before Tessa's Cemetery Tours officially closes for the summer. And I have 13 days left to accomplish all of these things. Crazy, huh? |
It’s finally hitting me that I’m going to be home in less than two weeks – and it's hitting me hard. My emotional Skype conversation with my mother yesterday made it official: I'm leaving Paris, and I'm not sure when I'll be back (I am completely confident, however, that Life will lead me back here again one day). And as much as I can't wait to hug my dog, see my family and friends, sleep in my own bed and overindulge in hot wings and blue cheese once I get home, I can't seem to come to terms with the fact that I'm leaving Paris.
It’s funny to think that I’m tearing up at the thought of leaving a place, but Paris is more than just that – Paris is a feeling. As dweeby, dorky, cliché and absurd as that sounds, it's true. Paris is walking down the street in the rain not caring whether or not you brought umbrella. Paris is sitting in a park watching children laugh and play while you remember what it was like to be a kid. And for me, personally, Paris is discovering who you were, are and hope to one day be.
It feels a little silly to be writing these words now when it may seem like I have so much time left in this city. Shouldn't I be out there embracing every second of it instead of sitting behind a key board listening to sappy music and trying not to cry? Maybe that's what you would do, but not me. I rather kind of like this feeling, actually. It reminds me that what I've experienced over these past few months is real. It helps my mind solidify what an extraordinary opportunity this has been and the monumental impact it has had on my life. It offers the realization that I have changed the way I see and think about the world.
There's something so right about this feeling that has crept its way inside me over the past few days, that it would be an injustice to myself not to write about it while the sentiment is so fresh and alive. I'm searching for the right way to describe this emotion, but there's no other word I can think of than, you guessed it: "Paris." It's that Paris feeling, and I'm going to miss it more than I ever thought possible. So for the next 13 days, I'm going to embrace the Paris feeling as much as I can. I'm going to wring this city dry of itself and savor it for as long as my memory will permit.
Like my mom told me, this adventure isn't over yet, and once it is, I'll be starting a new one. Thursday I leave for a five-day journey in Morocco which I've dreamed about for years. That means the next time I write a blog post, I will have less than one week left in Paris before I return to the other place I proudly call home. So to all my family and friends reading this: thank you for your emotional (and sometimes financial) support during this incredible part of my life, and thanks for taking the time to read about it. I'll see you all soon.
It’s funny to think that I’m tearing up at the thought of leaving a place, but Paris is more than just that – Paris is a feeling. As dweeby, dorky, cliché and absurd as that sounds, it's true. Paris is walking down the street in the rain not caring whether or not you brought umbrella. Paris is sitting in a park watching children laugh and play while you remember what it was like to be a kid. And for me, personally, Paris is discovering who you were, are and hope to one day be.
It feels a little silly to be writing these words now when it may seem like I have so much time left in this city. Shouldn't I be out there embracing every second of it instead of sitting behind a key board listening to sappy music and trying not to cry? Maybe that's what you would do, but not me. I rather kind of like this feeling, actually. It reminds me that what I've experienced over these past few months is real. It helps my mind solidify what an extraordinary opportunity this has been and the monumental impact it has had on my life. It offers the realization that I have changed the way I see and think about the world.
There's something so right about this feeling that has crept its way inside me over the past few days, that it would be an injustice to myself not to write about it while the sentiment is so fresh and alive. I'm searching for the right way to describe this emotion, but there's no other word I can think of than, you guessed it: "Paris." It's that Paris feeling, and I'm going to miss it more than I ever thought possible. So for the next 13 days, I'm going to embrace the Paris feeling as much as I can. I'm going to wring this city dry of itself and savor it for as long as my memory will permit.
Like my mom told me, this adventure isn't over yet, and once it is, I'll be starting a new one. Thursday I leave for a five-day journey in Morocco which I've dreamed about for years. That means the next time I write a blog post, I will have less than one week left in Paris before I return to the other place I proudly call home. So to all my family and friends reading this: thank you for your emotional (and sometimes financial) support during this incredible part of my life, and thanks for taking the time to read about it. I'll see you all soon.