committed.

my traveling book: Committed - elizabeth gilbert.

last summer i read Eat, Pray, Love & elizabeth has forever marked on my view of life. Eat, Pray, Love was one of the most influential books i have ever read. she was so careless, uninhibited, and wrote the details of her life that every person could connect to. her adventures with love, food, and meditation made me think of my own life, especially now that i am abroad i can connect to her feelings and stories in other countries. (plus, since i have been to bali, i really could visualize the details of the beautiful city, and how it was easy for her to be influenced by its beauty). she was also so liberated. leaving all inhibitions and problems at home, and just traveling to learn. "a traveler without observation is a bird without wings" (Moslih Eddin Saadi)

committed is pretty much an update on her life, and her views on love, which are pretty skeptical, like many women in the world. i guess i'm pretty skeptical about love too. don't actually know what it really is yet, think i do, but i'm still young, and still have a lot of heart to be broken, and a lot of hearts to break. i am only half way through this but so far her knowledge and observations of the marriage and union of relationships in other countries are truly influential, and i would recommend this book for anyone, those married, young, old, single, cynicals, hopeless romantics, pretty much any woman or man who has ever had one moment in life when they look into how they see their future, and if they see a marriage or if they don't. its a great way to learn about yourself, and what values you want in a relationship with another person, if any. read both books, especially before the movie comes out!!

TRAILER- Julia Roberts looks amazing.

mixed feelings.

last week.

it is the last week in paris. confused on how i feel.

lots of stuff to look forward to in america but a lot to miss from paris.

things i will miss:

drinking in public.

the eiffel tower.

the louvre & tuilleries gardens.

every famous monument, actually.

speaking french & being understood.

the clubs.

french food.

seeing the adorable fashion that americans don't have.

looking out my window :).

the champs-elysées.

champagneeee.

having a french mom.

things i won't miss:

no free refills.

the service at restaurants.

being american & hated.

speaking french & not being understood.

creepy french men.

the expensive euro!

the metro with sweaty people.

some french food (i'm all ham-ed out).

having to walk miles to every museum.

the french assholes (*gypsies)

bahh.. one week. weird weird weird, but what an experience. being a completely different person in a completely different country and culture. every person should experience another country as a citizen there. maybe not paris, but somewhere in this world, everyone should have experienced a double culture, and the shocks, fun, and troubles that come with it.

i would do this experience again in an instant. (maybe without the gypsies, and creepy french men). next country: africa or australia. one day.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

merci paris, pour j'ai appris beaucoup. au revoir dans une semaine. ou, au bientôt.

ps- bonne jour d'independence aux etats-unis!