My Life In Europe: Part 15: Thank You Paris.

As the days narrow their way down to zero, my time in Paris has come to an end, not before it threw everything it had to offer at me. Over the past 7 weeks on my exchange, I've done it all. I've seen it all. There is a reason why so many people come to Paris and leave it saying it is the best city in the world, and from what I have been through in the last 7 weeks, I can only agree with their contentions. From the first day I arrived here in the driving snow, I knew I was going to be in for something special, and now that it's over, I guess I should explain why it was that special, which is actually quite a hard thing to do.
The best things in Paris come under the category of 'unexpected'. Everyone knows about the Eiffel Tower, The Arc De Triomphe, The Louvre - the list of global attractions goes on and on. These are some of the marvels of the world, but maybe you'd think that the fact that they are so well-known would ruin how special they are? If you thought that, you would be wrong. There is a sense around Paris, a certain atmosphere in the air that just has that wow factor about it. I went to the Eiffel Tower countless times and stared at it for countless hours, because there is this 'something else' when you are actually there in the flesh seeing this beacon of France watching over the world's greatest city. And that really is unexpected. I thought that flocks of drop-dead-retarded tourists with their happy snaps with peace symbols frolicking around the main attractions would ruin my experiences with them, but unexpectedly, they didn't at all.
Even something like walking down any road has its own individual beauty to it, and just the amount of things that are going on at any time of the day is unexpected.
This weekend was truly spectacular and it was one where the amazingness of the people shone through the grim, cloudy and cold skyline. It was a weekend where the people I've been with for the last 7 weeks made me feel like I belonged in Paris, and I can't thank them enough. For anyone who hasn't been to Paris reading this; the stereotype that Parisians are arrogant and rude should be completely abolished; they are in fact more than content to put up with someone who can't string sentences together (at the start of the trip anyway) and show everyone what it's like to live in this beautiful city. I probably should've written that bit in French. I'm sure they can manage.

As for now, I leave in high spirits, knowing that my 71 day Europe adventure is all but at an end, not for 3 days in the north of France and a 40 hour trip back home. The feeling is a bit weird. With these adventures of a lifetime, the memories and looking back on everything is great, but you'd rather actually be in them because that's when you have the most fun. So here I am after weeks of complaining about how difficult it is away to be from home, now saying that I'm upset that this adventure is coming to an end. The beauty of the situation though is that, starting January 30, I have an even better adventure starting. An adventure in the year that can be considered as one of the hardest yet one of the best of our lives, an adventure with my friends, the sun, a year where we finish school and pursue everything we want in our lives. This will be an adventure where the pressure of school will try to bring us down, and where we will not let that get in our way and have an amazing time the whole year. So perhaps it is justified that I spend 3 days in a small and unknown french town, just to divide these two amazing adventures that I have done and am about to do.

My favorite photos of Paris: