There’s this small corner, within a corner, encased between four walls of four different buildings. If you take a moment and block the college noises out, you’re no longer in Madison. If you take one second out of that perfect fall day, in that tiny corner, you’re transported to Paris. Between the old concrete buildings, narrow passageways and quiet tree rustling, I feel Paris. Every day, no matter where I am, I have flashbacks to the most amazing ten days of my life—the ten days that my mother and I spent in Paris. To me, Paris was more than just a historical city, or a scene from Les Misérables, Paris to me was the symbol of hope and change and a new start. I fell in love with the city before my plane even flew over the city. I fell in love with the romance of the city, the language of the city. I fell in love with everything Paris stood for… as cliché as that sounds. Argue as you wish, but everyone has one place that you compare all other loves to. My roommate is currently debating studying abroad, and as much as I absolutely hate being without her for an extended period of time, I can do no more than stress the incredible memories traveling abroad has given me.
I traveled to Paris prior to my freshman year at UW-Madison, and the trip was planned entirely with my mother. We had picked a cute, girly boutique hotel just two blocks from the Eiffel Tower. There was a bakery located next door where, through our open window, we could smell their fresh delicacies baking at 5:00 a.m. every morning. We made a pact: there would be no tours, no direction asking, no backpacks or maps. My mommy and I would just explore, drink fancy wine and people watch… all with the Eiffel Tower in view and cobblestone under our feet. My mother is an artist, an incredible one who knows her stuff. With that being said, we spent the majority of our time exploring everything artsy. From painters on bridges to Degas in the Musée d’Orsay, mom and I saw it all.
It was in Paris I had my first glass of wine: Rosé, of course, under the Eiffel Tower.
It was in Paris I became overly addicted to coffee, and too in love with sugar cubes.
It was in Paris I learned so much about my mommy, and felt our relationship change from that of mother and daughter, to best friends.
It was in Paris I learned that walking over 20 miles a day can feel like just a few steps when you’re surrounded by beauty on every corner.
I learned more from Paris than I can fit in one article. If you have any doubt about studying or traveling abroad, realize that there is more world to see than just the familiar territory you inhabit every day. It isn’t just the new land that is fascinating about travel, it is the people as well. I remember my mother and I being in this incredibly long line to enter the Palace of Versailles. It was misting just enough to be a rain, and we were without an umbrella. After using my adequate, yet limited, high school French, I was able to sneak into the palace and purchase an umbrella (an €80 umbrella). When I found my mother in the snake of a line, I was introduced to a couple she had been chatting with. They were from downtown Libya, with six children and currently on a bike tour to raise money for the orphanage their child was from. I learned from the woman that she holds an engineering job with the same salary as her husband. I learned of the strides Libya was making for the independence of their women, and the changes they were making within their education system. I’m not sure how long my mother and I stood there discussing country to country, but it was there I had the realization that there’s a whole world out there. Things are happening every day that I am blissfully unaware of, but are disrupting the lives of others. Paris gave me more than a love of art, but a love and respect for the world.
Now I sit at my kitchen countertop… A countertop I pay $600 a month to sit and type my articles and drink my tea, all the while finding it hard not to think about Paris. I think about it when I hear my mom’s voice, or when my roommate brings home Rosé. I think about it when I open my wallet and see my museum pass behind my Wisconsin Driver’s License. I will think about Paris every day, and be so unbelievably grateful for my father’s ability to provide my mother and me with an experience that was like no other. I will think about Paris every day and love that those ten days were the most inexplicable, perfect, lovely, blissful ten days of my life—and the fact that I got to spend every second of it with my best friend.
I hope that in the aftermath of reading this article, you will find more peace with a decision to travel abroad. If you ever want to chat more about my Parisian love, or about your travel loves, you’ll find me in this small corner where, if you turn your Edith Piaf playlist up really loud, it’s just like being back in “the city of love”.