All Good Things

Written June 25, 2013:

Hello again! Well...my time in Paris is coming to an end.
In 2 weeks I will be on a plane headed stateside.

Crazy. I know I've said it before but I can't believe this is ending. When I arrived, I thought this last week of school for my kids would never come and I didn't even have a flight home booked. But they have 4 days of school left and there are no more pictures on the walls of my little room that has been my home for 10 months. It's that time where you start preparing for the transition that you've simultaneously been dreading and looking forward to for so long.

I've done a lot of reflecting back on the past 10 months of my life spent in France and it's really shown me a lot. First of all, it forced me to think about why I came here in the first place and what I had hoped to accomplish. It's always been a dream of mine to live in Paris.  By live in Paris I don't just mean I wanted to occupy a room that had a Paris mailing address. I wanted to be a part of the community and a part of the family. I see people from my gym walking around the neighborhood sometimes and we generally chat and confirm with each other that we will be at spin the next day. We've even gotten to the point of reserving bikes for each other. I had one of my most "Parisian" moments the other day when I was closing the shutters in one of my girls rooms and, as I was opening the window, the landlady from across the street was walking down the sidewalk and she turned, saw me on the balcony, and waved. Sounds silly I know...but it validated my spot in the neighborhood. 

the view from the 16th

I also wanted to become fluent in French which, to some degree,  I am. No, I will never speak it with the fluidity of a native speaker, but I conquered a cooking class that was all in rapid-fire French and have formed relationships with people at my gym as well as other au pairs who only speak French. It's hard to judge fluency but to me it means having a language be fairly effortless and natural. I don't have to think about what I'm going to say before I enter a store because generally I am already thinking in French. I don't spend minutes contemplating the right way to ask a question anymore. I am taken aback when I'm asked for directions in English. I have to make an effort in order to speak to my girls in English because when they speak to me in French, my gut reaction is to respond in French which is hard to fight.

I've also been reflecting back on why I didn't come here. So, I'm going to brag here for a minute: I have some of the most incredible, talented and accomplished friends in the entire world. They have been all over Africa and volunteered in hospitals, shelters, with wild animals and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro; they have been all over Europe and experienced some incredible cultures; they've seen central and south America; they've been to Thailand and the Philippines; they've put in hundreds of hours of work as volunteers in Seattle schools and organizations; they've worked their tails off and graduated college with some of the highest honors; and they've been commissioned as officers in the U.S. Armed Forces. While watching my friends accomplish all of these things and more, it was hard not to sit here and think, "hmm and I'm just giving baths, reading stories and eating baguettes in Paris?". Sometimes I felt like I was falling short, or was being selfish by following my own dream and not doing something more worthwhile. But, what I do everyday here, does make a difference. It makes a difference in the lives of 3 kids. They count on me to be here and be present in their lives and that is more than enough reason for me. I also have realized that if I don't follow my own dreams, how am I supposed to move on to accomplish bigger and better things or tell other people to follow theirs? I didn't come to France to find the cure for cancer (although that would have been a nice outcome), nor did I come here to be a student like I have been since I was 5 years old. I was here to live and I truly lived. It's about one person at a time, one dream at a time. You can't do it all. But, you can change the lives of the people you directly interact with each day, and whether you change those lives for the better or for worse is a choice you make. Hopefully, in 2 years I will tell you that as a nurse I am changing lives for the better as well.

our last day together at the park

...must come to an end

Well, it's been about 6 months since I've returned from France. Wow. Never thought I would say that. Finishing this last entry is something I never wanted to do, but is necessary. This chapter in my life has come to an end, but I will carry my year in Paris with me forever. A lot has changed since returning to the states. It was an exhausting last few days in Paris. I was the sickest I had ever been with a nasty virus and poor Caitlin came to visit me. We went for a walk around the neighborhood and to a cafe and then promptly to the doctor. I'm so glad she was there to help me wrap things up. Somehow we made it to the airport with all of our bags and landed in Chicago. I think everyone can attest to the reverse culture shock that takes place when you return from being abroad for an extended period of time. It's sensory overload. Why was the woman at Starbucks speaking to me in English? Why are there so many juice options!? I couldn't make any decisions.

It wasn't an easy transition by any means. It's sad when you leave people you call family and when your kids ask if you can adopt them. It's hard leaving any place you call home. It's also hard returning to the rental apartment we were now calling home due to the fire. My parents and brother were there which was the best part, so at the end of the day, my physical location didn't matter much. Looking back, I felt a little numb during that transition. There were so many new things going on and I felt like I now had 87 balls in the air. The advice I have for anyone returning from being abroad is you will never be able to really prepare yourself for what it will feel like coming home, so don't. Enjoy your last minute in that country. You'll be in the states soon enough so get everything you can out of your last moments abroad. You will never get them back.

But also, remember that your experience is something no one will ever be able to take away from you. You might want to talk about it all the time, and that's OK. It was a year or 6 months of your life...I'm sure your friends in the states told you about things they did over the past year. You're allowed to have stories. Just make sure the people you are telling them to really want to listen. If they don't, don't take it personally. No one can ever take away what you got to do.

And, what I think is the hardest part to realize: your experience is over. Realizing you're back in the states is hard. You want to be somewhere else. But, you're here and it's important that, after at least a couple weeks or months, you live in the now and you focus on what is happening here. Your experiences will always stay with you and they are a big part of who you are today, but it's so important to still remember where you are is not where you were. The beauty of the time you took away is that it has shaped the person you are now in the best way possible. 

Thank you all so much for the love and support through my year in Paris and for following this blog.
Please please please, go out into the world and be kind, gracious, daring, carefree, driven, humble and bold.
Go after your dreams, form new ones, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. 

Planes, Trains and Potty Training

Once again I've been MIA for about a month, but I'm going to use my globetrotting as an excuse.

List of things that have happened since I last blogged
1. Road tripped to the south of France with my French family
2. Went to Sevilla and the Canary Islands in Spain
3. FINALLY made it to London without encountering any snow or the Red Cross
4. Successfully (meh, most of the time) potty trained Louis

SANARY
After 9 hours in the car with 3 kids, we finally arrived in Sanary sur mer. Miraculously, no one threw up in the car which I was pretty sure was going to happen knowing our past road trip history. Sanary was an adorable little beach town...and by little I mean I went for a run one day and ran to another town without knowing it. Vacation was surprisingly relaxing even though I was "working" for a week straight. It was a bit tiring due to the late night 6 and 8 year old visitors who would wander into my room but it was also pretty cute. We spent most of the days hanging out in the garden and around the pool area which was a welcome change of pace from Paris life. We also took some day trips to local vinyards, the Calanques de Cassis, and the island of Porquerolles.

Seeing the Calanques was something I had always wanted to do so I was SO excited we were going. We saw them by boat which gave you a good perspective of just how big they really are. It was really fun to explore and hike around after too. We ended up on a trail that was much longer than expected and were not at all equipped to be hiking, but my kids are all such troopers! Not once did someone start complaining or crying about how far we were going and no one mentioned the fact that we were hours past snack time. Everyone was content to be exactly where they were. After we stopped for snack, we turned around and headed back while singing camp songs (they are Princess Pat experts) and taking a rock skipping pit stop.

The potty training was an interesting experience because it sort of felt like jumping off the high dive. No matter how hard you try, the first few times you do it, it's not going to be pretty or graceful but you can't stop trying if you want to succeed. It's not like while a kid is in diapers they will magically stop using them...so they learn by having accidents and then asking their au pair why their sandals are wet. Being in bathing suits and flip flops helped but there was still a lot of clean up involved. But, I am proud to say that I have potty trained a toddler in French so I'm fairly confident that one day I will be able to do it in English (or French, who knows). It's still going well and we have fewer accidents....although I did walk into the hallway one time last week to see a row of turds leading to the bathroom...we will just assume that was a present for me.

After having breakfast outside on the patio while everyone was still in PJs, we headed off to the island of Porquerolles. It's a little island off the coast and is mostly national park land. We rented mountain bikes and had such a fun day! Louis was in a little seat on the back of dad's bike (he later proceeded to tell me that riding a bike was tiring) and the girls each had their own. It was fun doing something I love with my family and seeing the girls enjoy it. They both surprised me by making it through the 15km with only one fall and one crying episode. All in all, pretty good for a 6 and 8 year old. The water and beaches were amazing and so clean! It was just a very peaceful day that didn't involve taking the metro or getting to school. Everyone was good and tired by the end and turned in early before it was time for me to leave the following morning.

Going away for a little over a week with my family was perfect. I connected with them more than I have already and it was much more relaxing than our normal after school routine. It was a slower pace of living and it was simple. We weren't rushed to get anywhere and didn't really have an agenda everyday. We did what we wanted to, I had plenty of time to run, we ate well, read books by the pool, had snack under an olive tree in the garden and just enjoyed life. There are many things that the French do well and vacation is no exception. They know how to truly separate work and play. Their idea of vacation isn't waking up at the crack of dawn to see every sight while checking their iPhone in between photo opportunities.

After having breakfast with Louis on the morning, and being told by him that he would like me to miss my train and would also like to come to Spain with me, I caught my train and TGVd back to Paris. I had about 18 hours before I left for Spain the following morning so it was laundry, unpack, repack, eat, and sleep.

SPAIN
Twenty four hours after being in the south of France, I was landing in Sevilla, Spain! I was visiting my dear friend Celia for a couple days and exploring this beautiful city. I was immediately struck by the sunshine and warmth that greeted me...it was SO hot. Celia met me off the bus from the airport and showed me to my hostel (complete with a rooftop terrace). On top of being the best tour guide ever, she was also taking finals during the time I was in Sevilla so this girl is amazing. We ate tapas the entire time and I learned how to very poorly pronounce a couple Spanish words. Just going on my runs through the city I could see how much history and culture was there. It looked so untouched and preserved with detailed tile work on almost every surface of the public parks, benches and buildings. I also learned how to siesta and how to eat dinner at 10pm (which felt surprisingly normal).

After soaking up the sun in Sevilla, Celia, Marissa and I headed down to the Canary Islands! Celia and Marissa both studied in Sevilla during the spring semester but I'm pretty sure the last time I had seen Marissa was in 6th grade when we played soccer together. We had the best time in the Canaries! The apartment we rented was only about 300m from the the beach so for the 2 days I was there, we spent most of our time on the sand. It was so relaxing and again, I didn't feel like I had to be anywhere else. Between the Macklemore and Jack Johnson that was constantly playing from one of our phones I'm sure we annoyed the locals, but someone had to. I'm glad I at least got to spend 2 days on the beach but it was still too short. Leaving at 4am was not easy but there was a 2.5 year old who was probably leaving more presents for me back in Paris.

LONDON
Last weekend Landy and I finally made it to London! Her host family was nice enough to give us a ride up there as they were already driving up that weekend. After making it through the passport check (and, as the 2 non EU citizens in the car, being thoroughly questioned by the authorities) we boarded the Eurotunnel train. Being on a car while in a train that was traveling close to 90mph was one of the most bizarre feelings in the world but it allows you to cross between France and England in a matter of 30 minutes. We had the classic lunch of McDonald's and arrived in London that afternoon. We stayed with the nicest couple in the world who greeted us with proper English tea and gave us some sightseeing tips. Borough Market was first on the list, followed closely by Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and all the other London landmarks. Of course we couldn't leave without eating fish and chips, drinking tons of tea and making a stop by Harrod's. 

As much as I loved London, it felt oddly foreign. Everything was in English and everyone was speaking English. I saw herbal essences shampoo in a drugstore and was not pleased about the cheese selection in the grocery store. It was confusing and a little unsettling. French has become the norm and my comfort zone and now English (aside from the bits I speak to my girls) has become the unknown. I sort of breathed a sigh of relief when we were back in Paris and thought to myself, "ahhh I understand things here". That might not make any sense because obviously I understand English, but I almost had to make an effort to understand it and to speak it...sort of like I did when I first started speaking French and came to Paris. One time in London, I actually said "s'il vous plait" after ordering food. So, it's safe to say my transition back to America and the English language might be a bit rough.

IN OTHER NEWS
It's getting to be that time...6 weeks left. I don't know how a person goes from living in Paris for a year to suddenly not living in Paris. This city is cruel in that way...it doesn't let you leave easily. But, all good things must come to an end and I know I'll be back. I'm not going to get all sentimental right now (no worries, it will come later) but I will say one thing: if you have ever had the slightest interest in going abroad, do it. I don't care how old you are, what your major was or is, do it. Go somewhere new, feel uncomfortable, challenge your beliefs, learn a new language, struggle through and eventually break through a language barrier, get to know people who didn't grow up playing on rec soccer teams or watching nickelodeon, get lost in a foreign country and find yourself. No excuse is good enough in my book for why you can't get out there and see the world. What's stopping you?

Spring has Sprung

Over a month since the last update! So sorry for the delay...I really have no excuse other than no crazy train adventures or fires have occurred since I last updated so things have been pretty low key here in Paris.

Things that have occurred in the last month:

1. I booked my flight home
2. I got tan from the PARIS sun
3. It his 75 in Paris but the French were still wearing fur and down (bien sur)
4. Explored my local pool at all hours of the day and almost gotten into some fist fights while swimming laps
5. Had a visit from Moira!
6. Planned some trips
7. Started drinking more coffee
8. Left my window open for days at a time
9. Went to a World Cup qualifier game 

Those are pretty out of order....but you get the idea.

About a week after my London adventure, Moira came to visit! She and her friend Emma are studying abroad in England for the semester and they stopped through Paris for part of break. It was so good to see a Culver face and to talk to someone who went through the same inspections, infractions and crazy bubble that is Culver. We ate and walked our way through the city for 2 lovely and surprisingly sunny days.

Moira and her crepe

Around this same time, Landy and I went to the France vs. Spain world cup qualifying game! After the metro crawled along to get to Stade de France and after we ran for a solid 10 minutes around the perimeter of the stadium, we found our SECOND ROW seats between the goal post and the corner flag. It was AMAZING. We missed kickoff but were only a couple minutes late. France couldn't keep possession for longer than about 3 touches and Spain ended up winning 1-0 but the experience was more than worth the 25 euros tickets (yes, ONLY 25 for 2nd row seats).

 I also celebrated my birthday with my host fam! They had me over for dinner one Sunday evening complete with a champagne apero and traditional French apple and caramel tarte. It was so special and made me feel so loved. The kids were really excited to blow out the candles (pretty sure I didn't blow out any). It was a perfect evening that made me realize I am going to miss them that much more.

It has FINALLY started to warm up in Paris! I've officially put away my down jacket and wool socks as have my kids. They have the cutest spring coats...and then there's me in my industrial strength Seattle quality rain coat walking them to school. Not exactly Parisian approved but when they take my umbrella to use, it gets the job done. We also had a 75 degree Sunday here last week! Amy and I prepared the most amazing picnic I've ever seen and spent all day out on the Champ de Mars talking, reading, enjoying some wine and then some nap time. It was a great way to relax before another week of work.

I've also begun training for my triathlon in August. It will be the longest one I've done to date so I'm doing more prep than I've done in the past and really focusing on the run (my weakest of the 3 legs). I think every time my host mom sees me she says that I've gotten tan (which really just means more freckles) and I'm pretty sure it's just from running outside because my face is an entirely different color than my stomach.
In addition to the run, I've been in the pool a couple times a week. I try to go at 7am when it opens just to get it out of the way and to avoid the water aerobics class that takes place at noon. Swimming laps with Parisians is like trying to drive blindfolded in England while eating with chopsticks. It's impossible. In addition to not understanding the concept of circle swimming, they have no concept of how fast or slow they are. There is nothing at the ends of the lanes to differentiate between slow/med/fast lanes like I'm accustomed to in the states. So, naturally, I end up in a lane with 2 Michael Phelps who pass me by simply doing 2 dolphin kicks underwater and then popping up a yard in front of me, 2 grandmas doing doggy paddle (who are significantly slower than my own very fit and active grandmother), and the awkward guy trying to do backstroke but actually playing whack-a-mole with everyone else in the lane. I usually end up with about 6 other people in my lane if I end up in the correct lane. One morning, I thought the Red Sea had parted because I had a lane to myself for about 15 minutes and then only one other person joined me. It wasn't until I stopped to get water that I looked up and saw a rather large swimming instructor telling me to get out of the "class" lane. It's always an adventure at the pool...I'm sure some Parisian will eventually write a complaint about the American with the florescent puzzle piece suit who flipped turned into their water aerobics class or splashed them while they were doggy paddling along.

In addition to training for the tri, I've done a lot of other prep for coming home. I've bought my flight home, looked into housing and registration and started stressing out. It's a weird combo of stressing about things I have to get done to get ready for school and also stressing about leaving Paris. With under 80 days left it's becoming real....I have to leave eventually. I won't go into detail now, but it's going to be hard. I don't know how to say goodbye to my family, my kids, my friends, my city and my life here. It's overwhelming and I'm just trying to enjoy everything here while I can and live in the moment. I often have to remind myself that if you can't change it, you shouldn't stress about it.

In the meantime, we are going on vacation next week! It's the last vacation of the school year and I'm spending a week of it with the family in the south of France! I'm so excited to go there...and will be even more excited if we can make it through the 9 hour road trip without vomit. It will be a great bonding time with the kids outside of our daily routine and hopefully we can all relax and soak up some sun. I will be sure to blog all about vacation when I get back. I'm disconnecting while there and trying to take care of any emails and such before I leave and taking my iPhone off wifi for the week (or at least going to try).

So that's all for now! Sorry for the quick update but just wanted to get a few words in before the vacation. I'm sure I will have some stories when I get back. Happy Spring everyone!

spring on Ile St. Louis

The Fox Fire

Fire. It's something you see on the news, it's the sirens you hear as you fall asleep, it's something that happened to someone you took one class with at school. It's never something that happens to you.

I've never won the lottery or found a 4 leave clover, and I know I've walked under a ladder and opened an umbrella inside. But, since Wednesday, March 13th, I've felt like the luckiest person in the world.

After taking a 5 hour nap and returning from the notLondon adventure, I woke up to an email saying there had been a fire at my house in DC. I frantically tried to call whoever I could via skype and facetime so that someone could get a hold of my family. Thankfully, Jasmine called my dad and no one had been home when the fire happened around noon that day, except for the cats. Unfortunately, the firefighters found Peanut the day of the fire and my dad found Indy the next day both sleeping peacefully in my parents room, and who I hope were not in pain when they passed.

I was on facetime with my dad later in the day as he was walking through the house with our insurance people and I was pretty shocked. The fire started in a Harry Potteresque cupboard under the stairs. The entire staircase was gone, the walls were black, the floors were black, the ceiling was somewhat intact, my television literally melted off my wall, anything plastic was melted and anything glass was black. The firefighters had also climbed on to the roof of the house to get access to the back (because it's a row house, there is no way to get around the sides) and had busted a hole through the ceiling of my mom's office and through most of the windows in order to enter the house and let the smoke out.

It didn't feel real. I felt like there was no way this could have been my house. It also didn't feel real because I wasn't actually in DC to see the house in person. Since the fire, I've facetimed with my mom in order to sort through some clothes and stuff I had at the house since it all has to go out for cleaning. That really hit home when I saw my mom going through my stuff with gloves on. The more photos I see, the most real it is all becoming and while I was shocked at first, I am OK now.

Honestly, we are all doing well. The damage to the house is more than I ever thought possible, but our family is still here. Mom was on a business trip, dad was at work, Wes is the farthest away in Russia and I'm in Paris. We got incredibly lucky. And while the repairs will take several months, and while we did lose things, in the end it's just stuff. Stuff I didn't know I had, stuff I can live without and stuff that can be replaced. But you can't replace family so I'm beyond grateful that I don't have to worry about that. I will miss my cats, but they lived 10+ happy years on Constitution avenue and will be remembered fondly by us, and not so fondly by some local dogs.

I know this post wasn't France related, but I thought it was important for people to know what happened. I think I speak for my whole family when I say that we truly are fine. We will be renting an apartment for the next 6 months and will get to do some redecorating when we go home. We have each other and a great insurance company. Thank you for all of the thoughts and messages, they really do mean a lot.

the stairs

the formerly wall mounted TV

London or bust

After returning from Austria and doing LOTS of laundry, I had about 36 hours before Landy and I left for London!
We were so excited to go and had booked our megabus tickets for the night of the 11th...yep, big night out on my 21st. But, we were going to celebrate the following night in London so it didn't really bother me that I was spending the night of my 21st on a bus. That is until the bus didn't make it...

Laying this adventure out in a list form is much easier to do (and it's been at least 24 hours since I made a list)

Monday
11pm- we leave Paris on megabus for London (with an estimated arrival time of 7:30 am in London)

Tuesday
2am- planned arrival time in Boulonge, France to switch bus drivers

5am- actual time of arrival in Boulonge due to blizzard conditions on the roads

3 hours- the amount of time we sat in a restaurant in Boulonge waiting for the roads to reopen. The police had closed the roads between where we were and where we needed to catch the ferry to Dover in the UK.

8am- finally leaving Boulonge

Really excited to be in Boulogne

10am- we've made it all of about 20km in the past 2 hours and have now been stopped by the police saying we can't continue until they get the roads clear. The French Red Cross had set up a refugee camp type situation in a nearby rec center so we went in for what we thought would be an hour or two to have some tea and coffee.

and we wait

3pm- now delirious from no sleep the night before, we are all drifting in and out of sleep on the chairs in this rec center. I was doing some "legs up the wall" (my favorite restorative pose in yoga) because nursing school has convinced me that I will get a DVT if I sit for too long. Around this time, I can look down into the big gym and see that the wrestling mats are being pulled up and some cots are being brought in....no. This is not happening....but this was happening: they were now setting up the gym so that we could spend the night there. The roads were closed to get to Dover and they were closed to get back to Paris, so this was our only option. We were told that there was a stretch of road 2km long that was piled 2.5 meters high with snow that had drifted. LOVELY. Thankfully, there was a grocery store across the street so we could get some fruit to supplement all of the baguettes and cheese that the Red Cross was providing (yes, the French Red Cross really did provide baguettes and cheese). At this time we also called the person we were planning on staying with in London and told them we would not be able to make it due to weather.

5pm- we all set up camp in the gym. Earlier in the day, I thought to myself, "hmm sleeping on those wrestling mats would actually be pretty comfortable" so I was a little bummed out when they pulled up all the mats and replaced them with carpet that was about as soft as 40 grit sandpaper. We got dinner (baguettes, cheese and soup) and then tried to figure out a plan. At this point, going to London made no sense because we both needed to be back in Paris on Thursday. Now the goal was getting to Paris. Our megabus driver (who was off his rocker, might I add) wanted to leave at 1am Wednesday morning.....yeah because by then the roads would be in much better shape. We watched a movie with some other people who had been on our bus and thought things over.

10pm- as people were making themselves comfortable on the gym floor, Landy and I were making friends with the Red Cross workers. They were impressed with our French speaking ability and we became known as "the two Americans" or as "Monday and Thursday". For those of you who don't speak French, Monday in French is "lundi" which sounds like Landy and Thursday in French is "jeudi" which sounds a lot like Jody. So, as we were downing countless cups of tea in the Red Cross room and telling the volunteers about our dilemma, our megabus driver demanded to know whether or not we were coming at 1am. We told him no and he, quite violently crossed our names off his list and walked out. It ended up being to our benefit that the Red Cross guys saw how crazy this guy was. After weighing our options (find a bus back to Paris or get to a train station and catch the train back), we called my host mom who was back in Paris. She knew about our situation and had been following the weather for us. It was so nice to hear her voice on the other end of the phone and she wisely advised to get on a train and not a bus because black ice was starting to form. We went back and told the Red Cross guys that we needed to get to a train station in the morning.

Wednesday
12am- Now that we knew they had our backs, we tried to get some sleep.

1:30am- Beds arrived! After shivering through an hour of sleep, the Red Cross delivered beds! They were cots that we had to assemble, but after assembling more than our fair share of Ikea furniture and legos, it took Landy and I all of about 60 seconds to put our cots together. The French teenagers next to us even commented on how quickly we did it. By 1:35 we were back in bed with blankets! I have no idea how much I slept, but I do know that I was coughing through the whole night because I remember waking up to Landy feeding me cough drops a couple times....now that's a friend (and someone who just wanted me to shut up).

"first night in London"

6am- the gym lights were on and everyone was up disassembling their cots. The roads were open again and the school groups that were there wanted to hit the road. We stumbled into the Red Cross room to get some breakfast and chat while the school groups left.

8am- by now, the only people left were me, Landy and about 6 truck drivers who the Red Cross had gone out on the road and rescued so they wouldn't have to spend the night in their trucks. Once the Red Cross got permission from the Gendarme (a sector of the military that carries out police duties) to take us, a very nice Red Cross volunteer (who happened to be in nursing school) took us to the local train station in Frethun.

9am- got to the train station! We then glanced up at the board and saw that ZERO trains were running today. ZERO. Well shoot (or words to that effect). We asked the useless ticket people if we could somehow get to Paris and they, of course, said no. Landy started calling her relatives and I started looking at the map to see which cities we could possibly get to that had bigger train stations (this one was TINY). During this time, an SNCF worker came up to us and asked what our situation was. We explained everything, he asked if we had passports with us (to which we said yes) and then he walked away and said he would see what he could do. In the meantime, we were still planning a combination of taxis, spending the night in a hotel, and then getting 2 trains the next day to get home. I kid you not when I say we were one phone call away from calling the US Embassy. Just as we were getting caught up in what had the potential to be a logistical nightmare, the same SNCF worker came RUNNING up to us and said "get your things NOW and let's go!". Having no other options, we grabbed our stuff and sprinted through the station with this stranger until we arrived at a Eurostar train that had pulled up outside. Eurostar happened to be running through the weather, but was not supposed to stop at this station to pick up passengers (it was just a "service" stop). The train was going direct to Paris, which we found out just as we were jumping on it. We were helped on to the train by Gilbert who works at Eurostar. He said "go find a seat and then come with me". Oh great, we are in trouble. After we put our stuff down we followed Gilbert through the train to the snack car where the woman at the snack bar served us free tea, coffee and twix bars.

10am- Shock. That is really the only emotion that was going through my head at this time. Here we are, thinking we probably won't get home until Thursday and then out of nowhere the angel of SNCF comes and finds us. I probably could have cried, I was so happy to be on that train (and so sleep deprived). We didn't know what to do with ourselves. We met some very nice women who were headed to Paris to catch another train and we decided we would take the metro with them and drop them at their train station. Paying it forward to strangers was the least we could do.

12pm- I have literally never been happier to arrive in Paris. We took the women to where they needed to go, went home, showered, and slept for the next 5 hours.

SO, moral to the story?
1. Be nice to strangers who try to help you...they might actually save you someday.
2. Laugh. We were pretty upset that we never made it to London but when you literally have no control over a situation you just have to make the best of it.
3. Pay it forward. I wish I knew the name of the SNCF worker or of all the Red Cross workers because they were all amazing and went out of their way to get us home. We are writing thank you notes to the departments but after having so many people help me with this adventure, I'll probably be a little more helpful when I see confused people on metro.
4. Travel with a buddy. If I had done this alone, I would have been a mess. Thank goodness Landy was there because between 2 sleep deprived people, some rational decisions can actually be made.

#noregrets

I’ve done SO much in the past 2 weeks that it has felt like a month and a half has gone by! 

Things I’ve done in the past 2 weeks:

Gone to Austria to ski for a week

Turned 21

Attempted and failed to make it to London

Saw parts of northern France that I never wanted to

Met some very nice French Red Cross volunteers

Got a free trip on Eurostar

Lost 2 cats

Saw a friend from preschool

Facetimed with my family countless times

But, don’t get too excited…this post will only be about my Austria trip.

So, Austria! I took a night train from Paris to Worgl and got one of the best nights sleep ever. There was an actual bed and the white noise from the train made it so easy to fall asleep. I woke up about an hour before arriving in Worgl and looked out on to a Narniaesque landscape. It was beautiful! I had no clue if I was in Germany or Austria at this point but it was all very pretty. 

Fast forward a few hours and I arrived at the Contiki Haus Schoneck in Hopfgarten, Austria. Side note- I did this trip through Contiki Holidays, a travel company that sets up holidays for 18-35 year olds around the world and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to have a great vacation with people your age and have it all organized for you. We were staying in what could be described as a guest house with a common room, dinning room, bar, and many dorm style bedrooms. I got checked in, got my room, hung out for a bit, met some of the people who were also trickling in and then we all went to get our ski gear and lift passes. 

Haus Schoneck

It would take me about 57 pages to go through every detail of the entire week so I will sum it up for you: awesome.

It was a great combination of going out at night, either in town or at the bar in Haus Schoneck; and getting to ski more kilometers in a day than I ever thought possible. I was lucky that on the first day, Contiki had set up a guided “tour” of the mountain for us, which helped me figure out the 89 (!!!) lifts of SkiWelt. The guide showed us all of the different towns/areas we could ski in which was really helpful and I think by day 6 I might have learned 10% of the mountain. It was probably some of the warmest skiing I’ve ever done too. I went from wearing underarmor on the first day (and sweating bullets) to a tank top on the last day (and still sweating). The snow was usually good in the mornings, but got to be the consistency of a 7-11 slushy by afternoon, which was a good leg burner. Despite the warm conditions (and the somewhat late nights), I logged 200 kilometers of skiing in 6 days. It's safe to say that my legs were shot, but I couldn’t have been happier.

The people I met on the trip were fantastic. From the Contiki staff who knew how to have a good time, while still being professionals, to the other skiers and boarders; everyone was there to have fun and meet new people. I was the only American and consistently butchered the English language, especially when asking for water. Others in the group were from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and a couple from France.  

Hopfgarten was a tiny little ski town. It had one main street with some restaurants and shops but that’s about it. Because I took a night train back to Paris after the trip, I was the last one left in Haus Schoneck so I had the last day to explore the town. This little adventure took me all of about 10 minutes, but I did find a nice café where I got some much-needed coffee. While I was more sleep deprived than expected on this vacation, it was one of the best weeks of my life. I thought it would be a challenge to wake up between 7:30 and 8 every morning after a night out, but it turns out that when you are waking up to go eat a big breakfast and then ski all day, that’s plenty of motivation. 

I was actually pretty sad to come back to Paris. Being with people 24/7 for a week straight makes it pretty easy to bond, so it was a little depressing getting on that train home.

Home? Yeah, I just called Paris home. I guess that is pretty normal now but it still sounds weird when I say it out loud. As soon as I got home, I had about 36 hours to unpack my ski stuff, do laundry, sleep, turn 21 and get on a bus to London. Stay tuned to find out how all of that did or did not work out. 

Anyways, the bottom line is Austria was awesome. I would do a Contiki tour again in a heartbeat. If you want to know more about it, please don’t hesitate to ask me. 

Walking through town

Love in the City of Light

It's February! In addition to all of the Valentine's day hoopla (is that a word that anyone uses anymore?), lots of things were going on in Paris for me this month. Of course I'm going to go through these events in list form.

1. I'm over halfway through. Cue denial setting in that I have to leave eventually and figure out my life back in the real world.

2. Emily arrived! I met Emily through friends of friends in Indiana and she is studying in Paris this spring. We spent the whole day together early in February and enjoyed some hot chocolate while seeing the sites. Emily is so sweet and we talked all day about Paris, friends and everything in between. It's so nice to have familiar faces in the city.

3. I did a walking tour with Emily and Landy around Montmartre. I think we picked the coldest day of the year because we nearly died. It lasted about 2 hours but it was the longest 2 hours of my life...the tour was really interesting but it was hard to focus when I was legitimately concerned about losing my toes. We saw Van Gogh's old apartment and passed by the cafe in Amelie which were both really cool to see. After the tour, we found a cafe where we ate the best French onion soup ever created.

4. I had a cooking night and sleepover with Amy. Amy lives just barely outside of Paris (but still on a metro line) but it felt like the countryside to me. It was so nice and quiet there and she lives in an actual house versus an apartment which felt so open. We made SO MUCH FOOD: hazelnut nutella mini pancakes, raisin brioche french toast, egg, zucchini and onion scramble, and brownies (which we overcooked and turned into a large cookie). Oh and you can't forget the mimosas. I think I was full for about a week and a half. After feasting, we played Just Dance on Wii (where we learned that my dance skills are about as good as my spelling skills) and then watched Midnight in Paris. It was delightful to get out of the city and into a house for a night, as well as to have some much needed late night talks with Amy.

5. Valentine's day happened. It was actually much more commercialized here than I was expecting. Bakeries had heart shaped pastries, chocolate shops had heart shaped chocolates and even the cheese shop on my street had heart shaped blocks of soft cheeses and heart shaped fresh raviolis. I got my kids a rose each and they were over the moon. They don't really celebrate Valentine's day at schools here like we do in the states because it's usually a holiday reserved for adults but they were so excited to be included. Also, Clemence asked me if I was engaged...after stifling back my laughter, I told her no, I'm not engaged, this is my Culver class ring on the ring finger of my right hand. Kids...

My Valentines

6. Jasmine came to Paris! The Soo family crossed the pond for a quick Paris-London vacation and I was so happy to see them! After eating our way through the city, Jasmine and I went to lifting class at my gym. The following day, we met her parents at Versailles in the morning and, while they went through the palace, we went for a long run and then did some sun salutations in the gardens. I made sure she saw a light show at the Eiffel Tower and had a baguette before she headed up to London.

7. I've started a note in my phone entitled "Things my kids do" because they really do some of the most ridiculous things and I have to share them with you.

• Clemence misspelled my name "Djodi"... in case you were wondering how the French pronounce my name, that's how. 
• Louis pooped in the bathtub last week...not that weird. But when I came back into the bathroom to clean out the tub the poop was gone and Clemence enthusiastically explained to me that she picked up the poop and dropped it in the toilet and that I shouldn't worry because she washed her hands really well with lots of soap. A six year old voluntarily touching poop? Yeah she's going to be a nurse. 
• Louis ate half an eggshell. The other night for dinner the kids were eating boiled eggs and soldiers (dipping strips of bread into soft boiled eggs) and the kitchen was pretty quiet until I heard this crunching sound...I turned around and Louis is holding what's left of his egg, but has already consumed the top part of the shell. There's a first time for everything...

What was the title of this post again..."Love in the City of Light"? Oh right...love. It's everywhere. It's in all of these things that I've done, it comes from all of the people I've seen or visited or just met. For me, it's a constant theme in Paris. Not in the roses under the Eiffel Tower with Mr. Right type way, but in the sense that this is a city that teaches you to love. I love the family and the kids that I've had the amazing chance to get to know, I love having people visit me here and showing them a little piece of my world, I love getting the opportunity to travel around France and Europe while being here, I love how Paris has changed me as a person, and I love Paris. Being here, I have learned to appreciate and love so many more people and experiences, and at the end of the day, the roses are just the icing on the cake. So, I know the first day of March is tomorrow, but send some love to the people in your life anyways. It costs nothing, and will be appreciated more than you know.