1.09.08

Five years ago from this week, I spent my first week in Paris. The school put us in the most horrible housing apartments that first week. We were in a terrible neighborhood, way on the outskirts of the city. The rooms had cigarette burns in the sheets and the shower flooded into the room every morning, leaving a wonderful smell, you can imagine, when we returned from school. The city was freezing cold, extremely unfamiliar, and the language was overwhelming. Mid January we moved into an apartment right in the city near the Opera district. The older couple we lived with fed us disgusting food, our bedrooms were freezing and there was only enough hot water for one shower a day, meaning we had to switch off cold shower one day, luke warm water the next. I missed my family so much that every time I talked to my mom (usually once a week) I couldn't help but cry at the sound of her voice. I missed Grant so much that I would stand in a freezing cold, smoke filled, urinated on, phone booth for hours, in the dark, just to talk to him. In February my grandpa passed away. I wasn't there to see him for the last time or to attend the funeral. But soon spring came and the blossoms came out and the grass changed to green. The gray skies turned blue and I became somewhat use to the Parisian life style. I didn't have to study the metro routes, I knew what I liked to eat and where to find it, I knew enough French to get by... And then I really feel in love with the city.

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All in all, it was the most uncomfortable and challenging four months of my life, but also the most life changing. I learned so much about myself and who I wanted to become, it was worth every moment. And most importantly it gave me a greater apprecitation for home, for family, for my life....