Hello everyone!

The other day I was listening to Christmas tunes on the radio, when “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” came on (which is, incidentally, one of my favorite things.) It made me start thinking about all my favorite things to do and places to go in Paris. And more importantly, my favorite places to eat, because that is what France is really about. So here is my list of the best of Paris:

Well, I made it to Dublin! This is more surprising than you might think. Anxious about forgetting my passport or fumbling through security, I forgot to worry about the weather until my mom happened to check my flight status as I rounded up suitcases. It just so happened to be the day a massive winter storm hit the East Coast.

Hello again!

I’m currently sitting in my friend’s apartment in London. My journey in Europe has already began since the start of winter break. In Finland and Switzerland, I saw the Northern Lights in Saariselka, slid down the longest toboganning track in the world, snowtreked under the star-covered sky in Zermatt… I am having the time of my life, and yet it’s just the beginning.

Someone has been a busy bee recently! After returning from Harrogate I spent about a week doing some obligatory tourist stuff (going to Howth and nearly getting blown away), some celebratory stuff (NYE in Dublin!), some school stuff (term essays, why, oh why?), before finally jaunting off to England for a couple of days to scare the wits out of one of my friends who was not expecting to see me, in the least.

I’m going halfway across the world tomorrow and it just hit me. I use to think January 11, was so far but now its less than 24 hours away and I cannot believe it. I am about to experience one of the best moments of my life and I am super excited, I can’t wait to arrive to Turkey and explore Istanbul. I am currently trying to pack all of my wardrobe into one 50 lb suitcase and a small carry on. Packing is one of my pet peeves, I can never get it right.  I will be flying to Germany tomorrow and then Turkey.

I have nightmares about packing. They usually involved the same scenario – I’m about to leave on the trip of a lifetime, but I haven’t started packing yet! What will I need? What have I forgotten? I run to the airport with a half-empty suitcase, only to be woken up by my phone alarm and a desperate need for a cup of coffee. As a result, I have officially banned myself from asking the question of “what if?” over the next two weeks.

I can still hear my precocious 8-year-old host sister repeatedly asking me why I have to leave. I see my host father waving goodbye from the platform as my train pulls out of the station.  I regret not being able to find the appropriate vocabulary to tell them how much they meant to me and how much I’ll miss them, but I hope they know. The images of Nantes outside the window blur as the train picks up speed and my tears begin to cloud my vision.