Hi, my name is Anne and I'm a travel-philiac.

So it has been one heck of a first week here in Paris...done a lot, been all over the city, and seen quite a lot as well. Needless to say, it's been a bit exhausting, but worth every minute. I wake up every morning so anxious to start the day and find out what it's going to bring. And so far, the days have been pretty good to me.

It's interesting to travel in a large group consisting only of 20 year old girls. Some have traveled all over, some have never been out of the country. Some are adaptable and find the beauty in being put out of one's element, some have a little more trouble. For me, someone who has had study abroad experience in the past, I'm familiar with all the feelings I've been dealing with for the past seven days. Knee-knockingly excited, exhausted, motivated, successful, not-so-successful, comfortable, and extremely uneasy--it's all part of the ride. I've been able to identify with a few other girls on the trip who have traveled before and love learning about themselves when they are put in a situation that necessitates a bit of spontaneity, imagination, and logic in order to get through. We've discussed how study abroad really brings out people's true colors and strips you down to the essentials. As corny as it sounds, you really learn who you are when you can be yourself in a totally new city, surrounded by an entirely different culture, entranced by the sound of a different language being spoken all around you 24/7.

I know now why I find myself traveling abroad every year at school since I was a freshman. At home in the states, I'm dedicated to my studies, to my family, to my friends, to my health, to my well-being. I go through life day by day without a known long-term goal in mind, other than graduating and hopefully one day finding a job that I love and being happy with my life. But when I'm in other country, constantly stimulated by my new surroundings, I find myself more preoccupied with the here-and-now, rather than worrying about what will come tomorrow. I walk through the streets, inhaling the intoxicating scent of the freshly baked pain and croissants seeping through the doorways of the boulangeries, the smell of cigarette smoke that you positively cannot avoid in Paris, absorbing the sound of the r's of French words rolling elegantly off the Parisians tongues in the streets, in the marchés, and at home with my host family. I'm so obsessed with soaking it all in and being present that I forget about the things I feel I have to do eventually and concentrate more on what being in Paris now is all about. And that's the beauty of life--making the best of what you have now and allowing oneself to subscribe to the idea of que será, será.