This month last year I was traveling Europe.For me, Paris was step 1 on the adventure. The month-long journey to which I'd just embarked. The night before leaving home was the first moment a gut-wrenching solitude I was so eagerly awaiting rushed over me, an instant realization that this carefree time alone, well, it might be, kinda... lonely.
Still, I felt on fire with the determination to return in thirty days time redefined- not by the community to which I'd been dropped- but by me. By the experience I alone created. By the people I alone made the decision to befriend. I needed to kick-start what made me tick. A mission of self-acceptance, introspection, and fun, damnit.
Soon enough, wheels up, wheels down, and Paris 'here I come' became Paris 'I'm here'. I'd been twice before, those times with family, and as a follower. Here I was now, at the same Presidential Airport, in quite a dissimilar situation. I was leading. The only problem- I didn't have the slightest idea where to...
A hop skip and a jump and I'd checked in, freshened up, and cruised through the faintly familiar hustle & bustle of Parisian life on a sunny summer Sunday, alongside 30 equally-as-eager hooligans also staying at St. C's Inn in the 19th arrondissement.
How does one begin to speak on the incomparable energy that defines the allure of pristine Parisian sidewalks? I only spent one night in Paris, but in one night, Paris opened itself to me, offering its spirit in the form of 9 Russians, 8 cranberry vodkas, 7 pubs, 6 blisters, 5 hours talking in a hostel stairwell, 4 hours dancing, 3 hours walking home, 2 new girlfriends, and 1 night I can't believe I remember.
Wakey wakey at 9am, to yonder (southern) sea I sought. Now how do you say 'Cannes' correctly? Oh there's two you say.....glad I knew that before I got on this train.
Still, I felt on fire with the determination to return in thirty days time redefined- not by the community to which I'd been dropped- but by me. By the experience I alone created. By the people I alone made the decision to befriend. I needed to kick-start what made me tick. A mission of self-acceptance, introspection, and fun, damnit.
Soon enough, wheels up, wheels down, and Paris 'here I come' became Paris 'I'm here'. I'd been twice before, those times with family, and as a follower. Here I was now, at the same Presidential Airport, in quite a dissimilar situation. I was leading. The only problem- I didn't have the slightest idea where to...
A hop skip and a jump and I'd checked in, freshened up, and cruised through the faintly familiar hustle & bustle of Parisian life on a sunny summer Sunday, alongside 30 equally-as-eager hooligans also staying at St. C's Inn in the 19th arrondissement.
How does one begin to speak on the incomparable energy that defines the allure of pristine Parisian sidewalks? I only spent one night in Paris, but in one night, Paris opened itself to me, offering its spirit in the form of 9 Russians, 8 cranberry vodkas, 7 pubs, 6 blisters, 5 hours talking in a hostel stairwell, 4 hours dancing, 3 hours walking home, 2 new girlfriends, and 1 night I can't believe I remember.
Wakey wakey at 9am, to yonder (southern) sea I sought. Now how do you say 'Cannes' correctly? Oh there's two you say.....glad I knew that before I got on this train.
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