I'm closing in on the last 3 weeks of my time here in Paris and while 3 weeks is still a substantial amount of time in my book, the timing has definitely made me pause and reflect on my experiences so far here. There are still a lot of sights here in Paris that I haven't seen, so I'm going to make it my goal over these next three weeks to get as much sightseeing done as possible before I head back to the states. Stay tuned for more frequent blogging now that I'm done with my homework..
In an effort to knock an item off my Paris bucket list, today before my EU Law in Context class I headed over to Musée Rodin. The line was super long and slow moving- anyone who knows me knows how much I hate long lines, which unfortunately seem to be ubiquitous here in France-but gaining entry to the museum was DEFINITELY worth the wait.
Musée Rodin is a museum in Paris dedicated to the work of August Rodin, whose better-known pieces include "le penseur" (the thinker) and "le baiser" (the kiss). The museum was converted from a hotel in which Rodin lived in during the later part of his life. The museum also features some of the most beautiful rose gardens that I personally have ever seen.
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| Beautiful..note the sun glinting off the dome of the Musée de l'Armée in the background... |
Perhaps it was seeing "The Thinker" that put me in an especially reflective mood, but I started thinking about this semester and how it compared to my expectations and to semesters past. Of course I knew things in Paris would be different, but there was no way I could have prepared myself for just how different. Sometimes I feel like I've been falling behind the rest of my peers because I haven't been volunteering and going to interest meetings...also a lot of programs I wanted to participate in this semester at USC required me to be physically there to participate...but at the same time, I have to believe that there's no way that I've been wasting my time here in Paris. I'm hard worker and I'm used to pushing myself hard..but here its hard to push yourself in the same way. Maybe that's a good thing. If anything, I think that being here has forced me to finally confront myself about some of the choices I've been making in my education and what I want to do for a career, instead of blindly doing whatever I could to make myself "more competitive". I'd been viewing my time here in Paris as a distraction, but if anything, I think that this experience has enriched me in more "real" ways that a traditional semester in an American university ever could have. If anything, I think that the overwhelming feeling I have-and should always keep in the forefront of my mind- is the feeling of gratitude. Sure I don't quite know what I'm going to do this summer...but I'll figure it out. In addition to many, many other things, my experience here in Paris has taught me the importance of having unwavering faith in myself.
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