Travel Memoirs

My little blog here began as a way to share my overseas experiences with family and friends while I was away. The travel theme has been recurring here many times since I have been so incredibly fortunate to have traveled and spent time abroad in my life thus far.

I think of these many travels daily. Most often I am thinking of dear friends I made during my travels and missing them terribly. Other times I think of little things: the quiet restaurants, the amazing coffee, the fresh bread and pastry shops, walking everywhere, lovely architecture. I love these little moments of remembrances that transport me back to these special places where I've visited, lived, studied, or worked, even if only for a tiny instant.

These little memoirs that are a part of my daily life are very special to me. Travel is sacred to my soul. Travel is something I desperately need in my life. I had felt a longing for it ever since I was a young child, but until I first traveled abroad at age fourteen, I never really knew how deeply I needed it. I still feel the call of travel tugging at my heart each and every day, beckoning me to adventure and new discoveries.

I am a firm believer in living in the present and enjoying it to its fullest potential, however I find it to be quite refreshing to my mind and heart to pause and reflect upon my travels. I believe that is what travel is all about. It's excitement, discovery, stepping outside of one's own comfort zone--these things inevitably change a person, be it in big ways or small. The times I have studied or worked abroad have been especially intense times of growth for me--personal growth, spiritual growth, academic/linguistic growth, and thousands upon thousands of enriching experiences. I feel that if I were to forget these times and not pause to let the memories flood my heart and mind once again, then it was all for naught.

Strasbourg, France

Because I recently read a book on French parenting, France has been especially on my mind. I essentially spent eight months total there--two six week-long study programs in Normandy and five months studying at the University of Strasbourg. Oh! How I adore France! I lack the words to convey how deeply I love the French language, culture, and people. Yet in my recent remembrances of France, I've felt inspired to start sharing some of these travel memoirs that cross my mind--not just of France, but everywhere else I've been, too. It may be something as small as foods I came to love or something as big as a specific event that was quite memorable.

I hope you will enjoy these snapshots I will soon begin to share!