Bon anniversaire à Victoria!

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, VICTORIA!  I wish more than anything that I could be there to celebrate with you!  We’ll have to have a fantastic celebration upon my return!

I still cannot believe that yet another one of my best friends has turned 21.  I feel like it was just yesterday when my friends and I were 12 and encountering pimples for the first time; 14 and entering high school; 16 and getting our driver’s permits; 17 and getting dressed for Junior prom; 18 and receiving our high school diplomas, only to enter college a couple of months later.  And now here we are, 21.

There is no doubt in my mind now: le temps passe trop vite (time passes too quickly).

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was lugging my two gigantic 49.999-pound suitcases up our ridiculously uneven and crooked staircase for the first time, and yet it has been almost three whole months that I have been here in Paris.

Upon this realization, I scrambled to make a list (after all, list-making is one of my favorite hobbies…those of you who know me can attest).  This list was titled, “Things to Do in Paris Before I Leave.”  It was incredibly long, taking up more than a page in Microsoft Word.  Had I really been in Paris for almost three months, and not accomplished any of these things? Feeling pretty bummed, I set out to cheer myself up by making another list, which I titled “Things I Have Already Accomplished in Paris.”  Much to my surprise, this list was nearly as long as the list of things I have yet to do!  I smiled contentedly, as I had learned my lesson: there is simply an INCREDIBLE wealth of things to do in Paris, and it cannot all be accomplished within a three-month time-span.

I gazed at my list while my professor rambled on about prairie dogs – or was it hamsters in the Pyrenees? – and a feeling of determination settled down in my gut: I was going to accomplish every single thing on my list, no matter what.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was that.