Summer 2016 gave me a lot of opportunities to be my own person. When I discovered that I had the whole world at my finger tips, I was on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France looking at the world below me.
When I was given the opportunity to explore Paris and Switzerland, I was a junior in high school. A teacher that goes by the name of Mr. Wright and his wife, Mrs. Wright, take a handful of seniors after graduation to different countries. Our trip included Lucerne and Lake Geneva, Switzerland and Paris, France. This was the farthest and longest I would be away from my mom who is my best friend. When I went on this trip, I knew my best friends weren't going to be on this trip so I had to make do and befriend my classmates who I wasn't the closest with throughout high school. Let me tell you, it was a massive struggle because everyone had a friend to hangout with. I struggled but I eventually found people to hang out with. I mostly hung out with my old assistant principle, her sister, her niece, her daughter, and her dad. Meeting her father and walking around the Palace of Versailles was one of the highlights of my trip. He was easy to talk to and reminded me of my grandfather and that made being so far away from home a lot easier.
Our first few days we spent in Lucerne and the sights I saw were incredible. The beautiful lake that Lucerne rested on was so clear and the town square was so quaint. It was like I was looking at a story book and everything was so old and marvelous. When we were there, there was a festival and it was incredible. There was live music, food, and somethings that I really shouldn't write about. I remember everything like it was yesterday and I would give anything to go back.
While we were in Lucerne, we went up Mt. Pilatus. We took a cable car up, saw some cows (who make milk which makes chocolate), and then we climbed the rest. The view was breath taking (like everything else) and I felt like I was on top of the world. Everything looked like it was from a book or a postcard. I kept pinching myself throughout the trip.
When we went to Geneva, we took a tour of the old city, rode a boat on the lake, and eventually we went to a gorge in France and climbed a mountain in France. France was a short bus ride no longer than a half hour.
When we went to go to explore the gorge, our tour guide, Chris, took us 20 more minutes up the road to bring us to a lake where we could swim or rent kayaks. I rented one and sitting in that kayak while watching the world continue around me was mind boggling. I felt so tiny in this great, big world that was existing around me.
The mountain in France was pretty cool, too. We took a huge cable car/gondola thing up and down it and then we climbed it the rest of it. When Chris said a "short hike" we didn't think that it would take an hour. But when we got to the top, the view was so worth it. On one side, you could see the geyser in Geneva and then on the other side you could see the French country-side. 
The following day, we took a three hour train ride from Geneva to Paris. The train reached speeds of 180mph and watching everything zoom by was magnificent! The rest of the day, we went around the city in our coach (which was a down-grade from the one we were used to in Switzerland and our driver Memet). We got to see the Eiffel Tower from a distance and the whole point of this trip was to climb to the top.
33 years ago, my mom was in Paris and she said, "next time I will climb the Eiffel Tower." Well, here we are, 2016 and she still hasn't been back. I promised her that I would do it for her.
The next day, we went to the Palace of Versailles and walked through it with Tom and we had interesting conversations about the paintings on the wall. I explained to him how the positions of the horses represented something about the person that was on their back.
After the Palace, we were given the opportunity to explore the wonderful city and I made my way to the top of the beautiful Eiffel Tower that the Parisians didn't like at some point in time. When we climbed the stairs and I finally got to see the view, I had some tears come to my eyes because this was the sole reason for this trip. I made a promise to my mother and I kept it. It also made me miss her but I kept thinking you're going to see her within the next 48 hours.
When I landed in America and got back to the school where my mother was going to pick me up, it finally sunk in that I got to see a glorious world that I wanted to explore more of. Because of Mr. and Mrs. Wright, I caught the "traveling bug" and I want to visit places like Ireland, Italy, England, and I want to go back to Paris because I feel like I didn't have enough time to see all of it.
If you have the opportunity to travel, do it. You will not regret it. In the words of Will Traynor from Me Before You, "push yourself. Don't Settle. Just live well. Just LIVE." You have every right to explore our beautiful planet.
