And So It Begins...

I can't believe I'm doing this. I never thought I'd write a blog. Don't get me wrong! It's not because I dislike blogs. In fact I enjoy them very much. I think their blend of humor and personality made them super enjoyable and sometimes inspirational to read. It's just I never felt that anyone would want to read my pure stream of conscious thoughts. I mean how full of myself would I be if I assumed people wanted to read about every aspect of my life and my boring day to day events? However, in the Church we've been told the importance of record keeping and journal writing. Something I seem to do poorly... So in order to keep up with my adventures in France I figure I'll keep a blog - for myself, and if anyone else wants to read it, that's cool too. And that's how I rationalize it to myself. Don't expect to find deep insights here - hopefully I'll have a few but I wouldn't bank on it. I'm sure it'll be a lot of raving about France and the french food, clothes, culture, and people. Oh and lots of pictures :)

I'm starting the blog a little early because preparation is part of the journey. And right now I am doing a lot of preparation and planning. But I'll talk about all that in a later post. Here's the thought for this post:

The point of travel is to expand our horizons and add more perspectives to our life right? Well how can you possibly do that without getting out of your comfort zone? It's not enough to be in a different city or speak a different language to a native. You have to internalize your experiences. You have to stretch yourself. You have to let your travel change you. That's my goal for my trip. Everyday I want to have a new experience or something I've never done before. One day it might be standing on top of the Eiffel Tower, but a lot of days it'll be something a lot simpler, like trying a new pastry (I expect that will happen A LOT). Life is beautiful and full of amazing experiences and I plan on experiencing it all. I truly believe that there is magic in the world (ok, not like Harry Potter or wands, unfortunately). But I think the magic is in that moment that takes your breath away. After all, "Life isn't measured in the number of breaths we take, but the number of moments that take our breath away" I feel like at school and in our everyday routines, we get caught up on the first definition of life - and trust me this happens to me worse than anyone so it's not like I'm an expert. But it means sometimes we forget to smell the flowers along the path because we're so anxious to get to the destination. I guess what I'm saying (to myself more than anyone else) is 

Don't Let Life Escape You. 

Because it only happens once, and as Ferris Bueller says "If you blink, you might miss it". Enjoy the little things. For me, today it's the warmth of the sun on my skin - in Provo, it's been quite a while since I've really felt that, and the fact that I can wear a dress and NO jacket. Yeah. It's pretty amazing. And so is life.