Leaving Home for Home

The word "home" for me evokes the aroma of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, the soft patter of thick snowflakes on my windowsill, and the golden rays of evening sunlight as it filters through the trees in the backyard.  Nothing quite compares to the tranquility of being home.  And in a few short days, I will be home!  Until that day I plan to profite bien of my last few days in Tours.

The sun as it set during my run

It is in thinking of home that I am reminded of my privileges.  Not only am I privileged at the young age of twenty to be able to study abroad in France and India for a total of eight months, but I am also privileged to return from these travels to a warm, happy, and healthy home where I can pick up my life with my two loving parents and cuddly cats and delude myself that winter break will last forever.  

In my blog posts I have talked frequently about privilege.  The more I travel, the more I interact with people who have different religious backgrounds, ethnicities, and life experiences than I.  As I start conversations with the fascinating people who surround me, the more I realize that the confluence of my educational opportunities and my natural curiosity has placed me in an opportune position to use my privilege to help others.  How exactly I will accomplish this vague goal to "help others", I am not entirely sure.  My ideas range from international human rights lawyer to public health specialist to journalist to philanthropist, and, to be honest, my Life Plan changes weekly, but that's how your tumultuous twenties are supposed to be (or so I've been told).  Realistically, there are a multitude of different paths that will lead me to my ultimate goal of leading a life that makes a positive difference in the world.

On verra.

I am completely content to live ten minutes away from this lake

Profite Bien: 102 Days in France

      What do I love about France?  After living here for exactly 3.5 months, I find myself defaulting to see the negative aspects about this temporary home.  For that I've made a list of things I do love about this country (there are many more, but these stand out).

• Sunny blue-sky days: Though rare during these cold December days, they are stunning and the whole city stops what they're doing to go outside and enjoy the sun.

A beautiful, sunny day in Paris

• My host mom who loves to explain aspects of French politics and culture to me as we watch French TV shows.

• 6 hour lunches with friends over good food and pastries and long strolls through the garden have become something to which I look forward all week.

• I love walking absolutely everywhere.  On a normal day I walk at least 1.5 hours from home to class to lunch and back.  I just feel more in-touch with the city than I do even with my own city at home by whose streets I swiftly drive rather than casually stroll.

• I love going for runs in the city through the charming parks or alongside the river as it sparkles in the sunlight.  I've even found an island, which I call the Goat Island, that is filled with goats, sheep, and cows.  Though this might have been common in India, I certainly did not expect to find it in the middle of a French city

• I love that the French set aside copious amounts of time to spend with friends over coffee or to spend with their families on Sunday ("family day").  In the U.S. I get so caught-up by the next deadline or my over-stuffed schedule that I forget to take time out of my day to enjoy the moment and spend time with the amazing, intelligent people around me.

• I love Christmas markets (les Marchés de Noël).  Christmas lights twinkle above you as vendors sell hot wine and crêpes sucrés from their cozy stalls.  For a decidedly secular nation, I do not know if I've seen anyone get quite as much into the Christmas spirit as France.

The Christmas Market in Tours

• Finally, I love that vacations and free time here are understood as critical for mental and physical health.  The French get the misnomer of lazy due to their gracious yearly vacation time (minimum 5 weeks) but I find it lovely that people have the time to prioritize their family and themselves every so often.  Then they can return to their jobs and be better employees, daughters, mothers, and sisters (etc.).

I spent hours just looking at the stunning stained glass of Saint Chapelle in Paris

All of this is to say that I love the French spirit of profite bien, which translates roughly to enjoy yourself or literally "profit well".  When the French tell you they hope you profites bien from something, they want you to really enjoy it and get lost in the moment and forget about everything except that moment.  A perfect example of this was on my three-hour train from Grenoble to Tours.  For the three hours most people just looked out the window and watched the stunning scenery pass.  A few read books and even fewer did work on their laptops and I only saw one person on their phone.  Phones on the TGV (high-speed train) never work because the train is moving too fast for the phone to find a signal.  The French profite bien  from this beautiful respite from the modern world.

Naturally after 102 days here in France (as of today) I miss quite a few things about America.  Three things stand out:

1. I miss being able to walk down a sidewalk and not worry about stepping in dog poop.
2. I miss living in a culture which is more interested in eating healthfully.  Don’t get me wrong, I love French food, but a girl can only eat so much bread and cheese and meat until she really craves her fresh fruits and vegetables.
3. I miss being able to make friends with ease.  The language barrier is tough, but the cultural barrier here is more so.  The French make friends at a young age and keep the same small group of friends for life.  I’ve made a few lovely connections here, but only just now, really (after 3.5 months) have I been invited to someone's home for dinner.  I suppose you have to start somewhere!

I'll end on a positive note, last weekend in Paris I finally stopped by a café I had passed numerous times in September but had never gone.  Les Deux Magots is a café known city- and world-wide as the intellectual meeting place of some of the world's best writers (think Hemingway and Gertrude Stein).  I had two hours to spare before my train left, so I sat down and ordered chocolat à l'ancienne and a brioche.  Sitting there I started up a conversation with the elderly gentleman beside me who is a international law professor at Sciences Po.  Finally my French is at a point where it is conversationally fluent, so I sat there, loving Paris, while chatting in French and reading Harry Potter in French (thanks, Stephanie!).  It was a magical morning and the perfect end to a perfect trip with my best friend, Emily.

The perfect cafe for the perfect morning (Les Deux Magots)