Sunday, January 6, 2013

Paris, til we meet again

As the semester comes to a close I sit in a small Parisian cafe with a friend I’ve made over the course of the past months speaking in a mix of French and English. We listen to the sounds of the other patrons – French, something more guttural, German, another language I can’t identify, Chinese – while the sweet aromatic tendrils of coffee seep into our clothes. I look forward to saving the smell for later. It always reminds me, this cafe, of the idealistic Paris I’d envisioned and have, in some small part, gotten to know.

This past weekend I was in Lyon, for Fete des Lumieres. A festival of lights commemorating the day that Mary saved the town from the plague. They’d all prayed for her protection and put lights in their windows, as if they could send their prayers to heaven’s gates through flame. I watched a young girl and her mother light candles from a balcony’s window, and it was easy to imagine in that old, small town, a different generation from centuries earlier doing exactly the same.


Being in Lyon was a good time to reflect on the experiences I’d had in Paris – frustrating, but good too. The people in Lyon were significantly nicer than their Parisian counterparts, and made me wonder what my time in France would have been like outside of a major metropolis, and just outside of convention… But my reflections can’t be filled with regret as I know that once again I’ve been blessed by a series of experiences so exquisite its hard to imagine I’m deserving of them. The chance to meet new people, and stay near to close friends; the opportunity to go to Tunisia and translate, fully submersing myself in an alien environment, and being challenged to a grueling extent; the chance to live with a kooky host family that I won’t ever forget; to be in Paris, and work on my French…

I’m a lucky girl.

I only have a few days left.

A semester that was just as mad as the summer that had preceded it. Its amazing how relaxed I feel now, sitting over this cup of coffee and flicking through pictures of Lyon’s ancient monoliths bathed in modern day lights. This stillness comes in spite of the fact that my life feels like constant motion – a wheel rolling in a vacuum through space. I think of how quickly I have changed and how drastic those changes have been. Throughout the course of my college experience, each year – each semester – has marked a new beginning, and a sweet end. And now is time for yet another…

Enchante, Paris, and farewell.