Something's Different

So I've been in Paris for a little over a month. A lot has changed in my life. I've decided to stay in Paris for the entire year, until May. I feel like this is where I should be right now in my life. I'm taking architecture classes and I've also found an Arabic class. I'm here now. And this is where I should stay. Thankfully, I'll also be staying with my same host family. If all goes as planned, I will return to Dallas shortly over winter break (and go to Houston with Dad to renew my French visa) and then return to France in early January. I'll return to Dallas again, in May, but not for long before leaving to go to Monterey for the summer. I'll finish up my last semester at SMU and graduate in December. Hopefully, I'll be working in either London or Geneva. That's the short end of everything. But the day-to-day life here in Paris is very interesting, to say the least. I get to see and experience things that I would never get to experience in America. And I mean this literally. For example, there is a special exhibit going on in the Louvre right now (and because I get a student Louvre card from SMU, I can go there, anytime, for free!). It is an exhibit on Iran during the 16th and 17th centuries. About 90% of the collection is on loan from a museum in Tehran. This type of exhibit would never be in the US, simply on the basis that there would be no museum in the States that could secure a loan like that from Iran. The beauty of the art I saw is indescribable. The intricate art and calligraphy of that period in Iran is stunning. Also, today I was walking home from Pont d'Alma (where Princess Diana died) and I decided to walk around my neighborhood a bit. I found myself at a North African market. That is an experience I would not get in Dallas, Texas. But that is not to say that I don't miss Dallas, I miss my family. Luckily my host family has free telephone calls to America, so my homesickness is eased. Sometimes I love it here. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wish I could speak better French, sometimes I wish everyone spoke English. But I am here now. And that is what is important.