Infinitely Curious & Inspired: WANDERLUST FRIDAY: The Catalyst

When I was finishing up college a dear friend set out into the great unknown to follow his dreams. This same dear friend was the catalyst behind my first big girl journey aka my discovery of travel. I was entering my second year of graduate school with a mere 2 week break between classes. During this break I managed to be in the wedding of my best friend 6 hours away and squeeze in a trip abroad. My first trip abroad. I must confess I skipped the first few days of that semester to make the trip happen and never regretted it for a moment. As far as I was concerned craniofacial anomalies and phonetics could wait. There were much more important things at hand like discovering every inch possible of Paris. Inexperienced traveler that I was showed up without any forethought other than I was on a mission to have a good time. I had just finished summer school and the last thing I wanted to do was read another book. Fortunately, my friend was living there working as a tour guide, so for 6 wonderful days I was a sponge. Six wonderful days were filled with wine, museums (Louvre? What's the Louvre?), being honked at while dodging cars on bicycles, Sacre Coeur, crepes, Notre Dame, the discovery of Nutella, Luxembourg Gardens, fending off admirers, pate, the Eiffel Tower, Catacombs, croissants, Les Invalides. I still remember the sounds of the streets filled with motos and horns drifting in the windows throughout the warm nights. From the moment I stepped foot on that wonderful continent of Europe I got "that feeling", and I haven't stopped going since.