A little over a year ago I was in a bar celebrating the French Rugby team’s qualification for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It was monumental. Rugby 7s had never before been an olympic sport, and the French team had never set foot in an olympic arena. On the evening that I celebrated France’s qualification for the games, I celebrated … More The Olympian from Afar
It’s raining again. The weather has become a popular topic of conversation these days. When I pass the cleaning man in my apartment building as I head out for a run, and he asks how I’m doing, I smile and tell him that I’m doing well, and himself? And he tells me he’s well too, happy … More A Sunless Summer in Paris
I can’t stop smiling. It’s past 8pm and the sun still hasn’t set, the birds are still out chirping, and all I see out the window of my little apartment is green. Green on the trees, green spattering the ground, even a little green growing on the buildings. My suitcase stares at me ominously from the … More Sprung
Sometimes I try to remember what it felt like the first time I made a friend. The furthest back I can remember using the term “best friend” I think was when I told my parents and anybody who asked that a little girl I spent all my time running around and holding hands with in my first pre-school … More Making Friends on the Playground
Over the weekend my roommate was out of town, and for the first time since I’ve lived in this apartment, I was left home alone. When she reminded me last Thursday before she left that she wouldn’t be home until Tuesday, I felt that tiny, horrible bubble that rises in my stomach to signal the … More I’m a Close Friend of Mine
Big Rose is the affectionate (or, at times, not so affectionate) nickname of the backpack I travel with. She’s a violent/rose shade, hence the nickname, and about two and a half feet tall and one foot wide on a good day. On a bad day, when my pockets are empty but my backpack is full of … More Two Weeks, Two Continents, and a Lesson on Sharing
After having lunch at Diner Bedford, a cozy, American inspired diner in the Marais, I strolled back through the 3rd arrondissement towards the 1st to get to Anticafe, my favorite study spot. As I traversed the streets to make my way towards the Louvre, I passed Centre Pompidou, turned down Rue Rambuteau, and continued on … More Paris as a Living Museum
The apartment smells like freshly brewed coffee. The smell infiltrates every corner of my new little apartment, seeping out of the French press I left on the counter and the cup that sits next to me on the table. Sunlight is streaming in the window, despite the floaty, thin, white curtains that hang loosely to the … More Falling in Love with Paris All Over Again
12 people died, 11 wounded, 4 seriously injured. “Did you hear about the terrorist attack in France?” “Did you hear about the explosion?” Precise or not, tidbits of information have been flying, and talk of the town is the shooting that happened at Charlie Hebdo in Paris yesterday. Headlines and graphics read “The French September 11” … More Paris: For Whom Do We Grieve?
2014 was, to date, the best year of my entire life. I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve said that as the end of that year approached and the new year began. This past year I traveled to 8 different countries, countless cities within those countries and my own, and learned more about other cultures … More New Years Resolutions… And Why They’re Not Called Rules
The Transition Artist 