With Tuesday’s daybreak came the cool sensation of a breeze, a feeling that I had long taken for granted until I was met with the hottest days in Paris with no AC. Even better than the breeze, however, was the view of the sunset at the end of the cramped street I had just stepped out on. In that moment, the winding, aged street became more than newfound beauty; it felt like home. Stunned by the beautiful sky, the familiar feeling of peace washed over me. In a city across the ocean far away from my home and family, everything I had built for the past 21 years. I saw the same sky and the same sun washing over the horizon. I felt I had connected with a place I have never known. From this moment on I felt I had embraced Paris in its entirety; the two-day strain of a bucking horse had broken, and now I could learn to ride.
The iceless water became my thirst quencher, the new food was my sustenance, and the bustling metro became my bastion of transportation. The days filled with history lessons and growing friendships with those around me were only half of my journey. The evenings transformed the city. The drag of the day, those going to and fro work, exploring the city, and the tourists attempting to soothe their aching feet melted with the wilderness of night. Those who lived at the university became more than a repeated face. They adopted the role of my guide and companions in exploration, both of the mind and my surroundings. By my side, Avery was my trusted friend, someone I had grown up with in college, who was with me for this adventure. The two of us, taking in this new world we had yet to see. I walked the city with my newfound friends, taking in every inch of the stone below my feet. The Seine was a flowing river of culture, of libations and dance, of wafting smoke. The people around me parading the night like deities and venerable spirits in the mystical utopia of Paris. My night out on the town was comparable to that of Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge, swept up in the fervor of Bohemia. The rushing tides of the night would soon slow to a babbling brook, a chance for reflection and connection. The conversations I would have with the people whom I now considered my friends about politics, about the future, the overwhelming urge to reach out and embrace the world for all it has to offer. With every passing word, I further solidify my feelings to press on and fight the good fight.
