Where was
I? Oh, yes, Paris.
First: I am
now done with my second week in Toulouse and it is beautiful here! But more on that when I actually get caught
up with my own timestream. Spoilers.
I feel a little like the Doctor (for those of
you who understand what that means), I feel like I am travelling in time in so
many ways. Every time I walk into an
ancient cathedral or see something that was finished being built before my
country, America, was even a glimmer in the forefathers’ eyes I feel like I
have literally stepped back in time. There
is nothing more magical than the feeling that when you put your hand on a piece
of stone that has been worn smooth by time and the wear of people putting their
hands right where yours is and knowing that people have put their hands right
where yours is for longer than it is quite possible to comprehend. It’s invigorating. It’s that moment when you actually kind of
believe in ghosts because you can almost see them walking through the streets
where you are and you can almost hear their skirts rustle behind you or their
boots stride across the huge stones of the floor. You can also see how easy it would have been
to believe in G-d, when you see the absolutely breathtaking architecture and
the absolute majesty of everything. The amount
of details that are on every inch of every building, even the parts that people
would hardly be able to see.
On
the other hand, I also feel like a time traveler in a less amazing way. I have had the great pleasure to talk
(whether with voice or just typing) with my parents and many of you guys, my
friends, who are still residing in the states, and I must say that it’s
confusing. It never ceases to amaze me
when I get a call from my parents at 4 in the evening my time and they are just
getting up and getting ready for the day.
Or when I talk to Anna at 7 AM my time (because I really only seem to
talk to her then) and it’s midnight for her.
It’s all so insane. I am talking
to them back in time! But it isn’t
magical at all. I feel kind of like Rose
Tyler (I know, not everyone will get this reference) when she calls her mum and
finds out that it’s Wednesday and that Jackie is just doing laundry while
outside of the window for Rose it isn’t Wednesday it’s “5.5/Apple/26” something
or other and the world is getting fried by the exploding sun. I feel like it’s always Wednesday for you
guys and I don’t quite get it here. Or
that it’s Wednesday here but it’s a Wednesday that I won’t ever truly get to
share with you guys because you’re always a step behind and you’re probably still
sleeping or already asleep and aren’t yet at this Wednesday with me. For you poetry fans, I have a favorite poet
Billy Collins, he’s amazing (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and you should read his poem “Eastern
Standard Time” that I always liked and thought I understood but now realize
that I didn’t quite get until JUST now. (I
also feel I have a better handle on his poem “I Go Back to the House for a Book" which is another Billy Collins great poem!)
I also feel
a lot like a companion of the Doctor. I
feel like there are days and days when I am adventuring and having the bloody
time of my life and I am meeting people and talking in a language that I have
only begun to actually master and I am doing what I’ve always dreamed that I’d
be doing even though there were times that I wasn’t quite sure if it would ever
be more than just a dream. And then
there are days and days that I feel like I can’t keep doing this, when I really
just want to go home, when I really just want to speak English all the time and
never have to deal with French ever ever again and to be on the same continent
as my family and my friends and sleep in my own bed and, good lord(!), have
more than two colors of nail polish! But
I also know that when I go back that nothing will be quite the same as it was,
and that scares me. I know that I am a
very different person now than I was just about three weeks ago when I left
(and I must say that I don’t actually know if that is the right amount of time
because it feels like it’s been about 6-8 months), I know that I understand
parts of myself better than I ever did before and I also know that even more
will change before the end. And that scares
me too.
I started
writing this to be another post where I have thirty gazillion pictures(most of
which are very similar and are probably not necessary) and about 200 words that
don’t explain nearly enough of the pictures or my adventures, but I have
started a post like that four times in the last week and I have never finished
it. I keep trying to write another one
of those and it keeps not working. I
realize now that it is because I needed to talk about this, and as much as I
talk about it to my new friends here, Sylvia and Robert and Anara etc, I also
needed to share it with all of you back home.
I am having
the time of my life here. The food is
fantastic and the sights are amazing, and I am learning tons and having a
blast, but I miss you guys so much!
Now, so that
this post wasn’t an entire waste, here are the pretty pictures that were taken
on my mom’s birthday September 28th which is also Ellie's birthday? Or is is Abby's? Elanna, shoot me a comment to let me know which one! On that day Elizabeth and I went to two different art museums, one of which was the
beautiful Louvre. At the Louvre I found
my official favorite DaVinci painting (and no, it is not Mona Lisa) it is a
portrait of a beautiful woman that no one is quite sure who it was supposed to
be. I saw her and thought that she was
the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and was then surprised and flattered
when Elizabeth said that she thought that the woman and I looked quite a bit
alike. I still don’t see it, but
Elizabeth claims that we have found my Renaissance era doppelganger…not that we
know who she is!
The pictures
are of everything we saw at the Louvre and none of what we saw at the Monet
museum because they didn’t allow pictures (which I think is stupid if the Louvre
allows them!) and whatever misc pictures I have that the silly computer let me put up in this post, which aren't as much as I would like (I'll rectify this with a post that's all pictures and descriptions really soon) and the pictures that aren’t going to be part of
the next post which will have an actual plot line of some sort! What is it about, you ask? Spoilers!
 |
| The ultimate picture of beauty and womanly perfection, oh, and the Venus de Milo |
Love you all
so much! Well, I think I love all of
you, my stats said that I am getting a couple of people following this blog in
Germany and Russia and I’m not quite sure if I know them or love them, but,
whatevs! Hope all is going well in your bowl
of wibbley wobbley timey wimey stuff and that none of you hate me too much for
all of my Doctor Who references!
