Paris.
Where do I begin? I knew immediately after arriving that I would happily fall under its spell. It's quaint cafés and perfect tree-lined streets. It's casual walks that turn into adventitious wanderings that leave you feeling like a time traveler. It's the past and the present meeting up for the most grand affair. It's getting lost and following the mouthwatering aroma that leads to the best crepe imaginable. It's a sparkling Eiffel Tower, lighting up your evening. It's Van Gogh and Monet. It's wandering the cobblestone streets through the colors of Montmartre whilst browsing the local art and questing for coffee to accompany the perfect macaroon. It's climbing three hundred steps to take in the breathtaking view from the top of Sacré-Cœur. It's escaping the rain and ending up in a quiet, old bookstore where you lose all track of time. It's cathedrals boasting stunning stain glassed windows and architecture that leaves your jaw on the floor. It's pastels and paintings. It's fashion and elegance. It's a nonchalant way of life that you find yourself wishing could be experienced by everyone. It's the only place where aimlessly wandering the streets at 10:00 p.m. in the pouring rain feels right, because if there is anything more alluring than Paris, it's Paris in the rain.
It was the one place that I didn't expect to fall in love with the way that I did, and now it's the one place that I feel most nostalgic for.
However, most wonderful cities often come with some not so wonderful aspects as well. It's simply inevitable. For Paris, the not so wonderful came in the form of pick pocketing and stealing. I have learned that I apparently walk around with a face that seems to say, "The whole world is good and nothing bad can ever happen to me," and that this is also the face that makes me the prime target for some not so nice people. My friends and I were en route to explore some more of the city one evening, when I was approached by a man speaking in slurred French and holding an empty liquor bottle. He began pulling at my jacket when I quickly realized that he was searching for my purse. When I tried to go around, he stepped in front of me. I was frozen. I could not move or speak for the life of me. Had it not been for a friend not too far behind, I'm quite certain he would have taken my purse and who knows what else. The incident left me with a bitter feeling towards Paris. I was more upset that this man had brought to life the not so wonderful aspects of this beautiful city for me rather than the fact that he had just attempted to take my things.
Just when I thought he had ruined it for me, I caught my first glimpse of a glowing Eiffel Tower. I remembered where I was and all of the wonderful experiences that Paris had offered to me. So what if I had one bad experience, I still had a thousand beautiful ones. I could have fallen asleep with no purse and stolen money, but I didn't. In the morning, I would still wake up in the most beautiful city in the world. I would still wake up in Paris.
It's safe to say that my learnings here were more of a life lesson for me. The beautiful and good things that we are in pursuit of often come with a small dose of bad. We have to pursue the things that we don't mind enduring the bad with in order to relish in the good. Traveling is just that for me. It's the not so beautiful moments consistently overtaken by the drop dead gorgeous ones. I want to explore every nook and cranny of this world in the short time that I'm here. I want to fall asleep in foreign places that oddly enough, feel like home. I want to step off planes and trains into new places with that familiar feeling of wanderlust tangled up with excitement for the rest of my days. The memories made and the exposure to different culture and adventure never fails to overshadow the tiny ounce of bad that packs it's bag and tags along with it the good.
I've learned that there are some things in life that won't be worth the taking of the bad. Those will be the things that are easy to walk away from. We only have the challenge of finding what brings us enough joy to make it worth the risks. It could be anything. A big move. A promotion. A relationship. If it's worth the jump, then take a deep breath and go for it.
If whatever you're in pursuit of doesn't catch you, at least you loved something enough to make the jump. The sun will still rise, and you will still wake up in Paris.
