Time is a Funny Thing

As I'm about a week shy of being in Paris for 5 months, a lot has changed since I first arrived here in September.

Before coming to France, I would tell people that I was going for 10 months and the reactions I got were always shock and surprise. "How can you go for that long!?", "WOW, I won't see you for a year", "How will you ever come home?"...stuff like that. I always knew it was a long time but I also knew that I never wanted to be just a blip on the Paris radar.

In some respects, the past 5 months have felt like a lifetime. I was watching the Inaugural parade on a live stream the other night and found the American commercials SO weird, which made me realize how long it's been since I watched American TV. This has also felt like a lifetime because I've had a completely different life than I ever had in the states. Yes, I bounced around between DC, Indiana and Seattle in my 20 years, but I had, essentially, consistent experiences throughout my time in all 3 locations. Moving to Paris, working full time, speaking and thinking in another language, and finding my place in the (somewhat) well-oiled Parisian machine is another life. In the past 5 months, I've established my life here...I have a bank account, a French phone, a gym with people whom I recognize and say hi to and a bakery that I go to (because not all baguettes are created equal); and while those things are not the only benchmarks of what it means to be established somewhere, they do say something.
Life here has been richer as well (and I'm not just talking about the food). It's a richness and a meaning that, as a 20 year old college student, I didn't think I was capable of finding yet. I've formed the most amazing relationships with my kids and host parents. I have become a constant presence in their lives, and in turn they have brightened mine more than they can imagine. I get hugs and kisses and laughs and tears and all sorts of emotions from the 3 most important people in my life under the age of 8. It does something to a person when others show such emotion around you, and I don't mean this in a negative way at all. I feel lucky to be there through it all and seeing these kids grow and change has enriched my life more than I thought possible.
I've planted my seed here in the 16th and I too have grown up...and I can guarantee you I would not have grown up or become the person I am right now had I not taken this leap. While it did take some confidence to make this move in the first place, over the past 5 months I've found confidence I didn't know I had. Just try this: move to a foreign country, have countless embarrassing, awkward and terrifying language mishaps, get back on your horse, put yourself out there, fake it til you make it, and then, finally, make it. Obviously, there are much more challenging things you could do to see what you're really made of, but I can tell you, from experience, that one will work. I can also confidently say that I've grown more in the past 5 months than I did in my first 2 years of college. 

So, if you're thinking about going abroad to live, work or study, do it. While I am here to learn French and to learn about the French way of life; in reality, I've learned more about myself than about the French. No amount of time is a waste or is too long as long as you are learning. Don't let anyone or anything hold you back. The people who love you can already see what you're made of, and they will be there to support you while you figure it out for yourself. So go. Don't think twice. Don't make excuses. After all, no one regrets living abroad for part of their life.