The Alchemist and SO MUCH MORE!!

Bonjour!  It has definitely been a couple of days since I have updated, and I apologize for that...BUT it could be because I have some friends!!!  That's right folks!  After a week of solitude, I met a couple of girls who share my same sentiments on this crazy journey that we are on.  I know you are excited, and I will give you the details pertaining to how all of this came about in a little bit.

Before that, however, I wanted to discuss a little bit about the book that I just finished reading, The Alchemist.  Some of you may have heard of it before...apparently it is kind of a big deal?  Anyway, it is about a shepherd boy who has a recurring dream that his treasure is at the Great Pyramids, and he goes in search of it...all the while learning life lessons along the way.  I had heard of this book back in college (thanks Emilia!), but for one reason or another, had not actually gotten around to reading it.  One day while I was perusing Borders, I saw it on the shelf and decided there was no better time than the present, so I picked it up.  I carted it ALLLL the way to Paris and FINALLY started reading it.  The general theme is that when you are a child, you have  dreams of what you want to accomplish in life (the book refers to it as a "Personal Legend")...I vividly remember telling people when I was younger,  " I want to grow up to be a teacher, a painter, a librarian, a Subway sandwich artist, and an actress/singer --- all at the same time, of course!!  As we get older, however, reality sets in and many of us lose the courage and spontaneity that goes along with following your heart.  The reason why I bore y'all with this little tangent is that I can't help but think that maybe I have finally figured out my Personal Legend, and what I am supposed to do with my life.  My mind sometimes wanders back to when I was applying to grad school (x2), and it was such a headache because everything was a hassle.  Chasing down recommendations, meeting deadlines, rewriting 15 page research papers...it was like I was constantly having to fight the current swimming upstream only to get knocked back to the beginning.  And where did that get me?  A handful of rejections --- and my life was stagnant again...

This process, however, was an absolute DREAM compared to the nightmare described above.  One simple click of the mouse and an "Oh my gosh, Mom, I accidentally just hit the submit button on my application to Le Cordon Bleu..." later, and here I am.  Of course, there were some hiccups along the road (ie. trying to secure a place to live, etc), but even that wasn't too bad once we got it sorted out.  So my point to this very long story is that maybe after a couple of years of ups and downs, I am headed in the right direction.  The Alchemist says that the universe will help you out along the way once you are on the path to discovering your Personal Legend...so maybe that is why everything has been going swimmingly this time around (pun definitely intended!).

Now on to my friends.  Well, I had planned to time the walk from my apartment to school on Saturday when the shops were open, so I could see what it was like with everyone buzzing around...but, I ended up going to tour the l'Opera Garnier (see pics below!) and the 2 big department stores (Galeries Lafayette and Printemps ----- WAAAYYYY too overwhelming for my taste).  By the time I got home, I definitely did not feel like walking any more.  I ended up going on Sunday instead, and exactly 23 minutes and 45 seconds later, I was at the front door!  Now, if you recall from a previous post, I had mentioned that the school is in a residential area with no other shops around it, so you can understand my interest when I saw 2 girls standing out front.  It turns out they both spoke English, and we realized that all three of us were starting school on Monday!! The initial conversation went something like this...

Me:  Do y'all have plans for the rest of the day?  Will you be my friend?

Them:  Sure!

We ended up grabbing lunch and walking all over the city because one of the girls had just gotten here a couple of days ago, and it was her first time to Paris.  It was just really, really exciting to talk to two different girls from different parts of the world (one is from the States and the other is from India), and we all had the same kind of story.  We had worked at various jobs after college that we could not picture ourselves doing forever, and craved something more out of life. 

Here are some pictures to make this post a bit more visually appealing....

l'Opera Garnier

Failed attempt at trying to take a picture of myself with the Grand Staircase

By the way, this is the opera house that Phantom of the Opera is based on, so I totally listened to it on my iPod the ENTIRE time I was on the self-guided tour...huge nerd, I know.

The ceiling and Grand Chandelier in the auditorium

 

My post-Opera eclair!!! 

My new friends!!!

So, there you have it!!!  I have lots and lots of other things to tell you --- as soon as I find more time...ahh!!


- Next up: my first day at Le Cordon Bleu!

- à tout à l’heure!