Saying Goodbye

As I sat in the train station early this morning, eating my breakfast of pain au chocolat and a petit café crème, I had a remarkable realization:

I was alone.

There was only a very few, selective times when I was completely alone this past month. Many of those times were when either Jessica or I were doing our duty in the bathroom or showering, and even then we were always just a few steps away from one another. The only time we were actually apart for more than a few minutes was three days ago, when Jessica stayed home to recover from a cold while I wandered the streets of Paris by myself.

At 5:45 this morning, I headed to the metro. I bought my one ticket (I was not accustomed to the $1.70 price – isn’t it supposed to be $3.40?) and sat in silence, watching the others around me. About an hour later, I was boarding the TGV, asking a man sitting near me to help lift my heavy backpack onto the overhead rack. I hadn’t had to do that before.

I am sitting here now on the train, scattered tears dripping down my face every now and then, staring out at the morning fog coating the French countryside. 

August was an absolutely incredible time for me. I saw so much more of this world than I had before, and even better, I got to see it with my best friend.

I cannot even begin to estimate the number of times we laughed, the amount of philosophical and ethical discussions we held together, the countless, astounding sites, monuments, and people we saw in every city. Experience is immeasurable; this experience was the same.

All I can say is that my life would suck without Jessica Higgins.

We ended our time together in the City of Lights… also known as Paris. I have never visited Paris before, but I quickly fell in love with the vibrancy and rich history of the metropolis. Because we are basically professional tourists now, we had to, of course, fulfill our duty and visit all the main attractions.

 We ate goat cheese, baguette and grapes on the steps of Sacré-Coeur.

We paid a visit to the hunchback of Notre Dame’s lair.

 

"Dark fiiiiyyaaa, hell fiyyaaa!"

We walked along the banks of the Seine.

Ahhhh, the Seine!

Alfred enjoying the Parisian sunshine.

 We posed in front of the Arc de Triomphe and strolled on the Champs-Élysées.

In front of Place de la Concorde, where the guillotine used to chop off all those heads.

 And, just as in London, we decided to try out Parisian nightlife on a Saturday night pub-crawl.

We spent two and a half hours exploring the Italian painters’ exhibit and the sculpture exhibit in the Louvre, a miniscule fraction of the time it would take to see the massive museum in its entirety (it would take 3 to 4 months to spend one single minute at every artifact, including time to eat and sleep normally).

Sassy centaur.

 Among many, many delicious food and drinks, I had my first ever, authentic French macaroons.

Raspberry, chocolate, and coffee! 

The Hunchback of Notre Cheese. 

To summarize, our time in Paris was an incredible improvement in our trip from the previous week of bed bugs and robbery.

Speaking of which, I no longer have any bed bug bites on my body!! Yay!

The first part of my European journey has come to an end. Sure, that makes me sad, and I will be honest and say that I am certainly nervous about my study abroad experience beginning in – well, two hours. However, I am not one to hold back from any challenge, and this may very well be the greatest challenge I have faced in my two decades of life. And so, as I watch the fields and trees pass by from seat 72 in coach 8 – eyes now dry, a smile on my face, and the sun shining outside – I appreciate the incredible time I had with my best friend in August, gather my courage, and speed ahead into the next chapter of my life.

Me and my beautiful, wonderful friend.