bonjour et au revoir.

there is a faculty member of my alma mater's french department who is notorious for her ability to make you feel like you are nothing.  some would argue she is cold, judgmental, unsympathetic, and downright heartless.  but there is not one student i've talked to who didn't come out of her class knowing a lot more than when they went in.  she somehow brings out the best in you, pushing you past the self-imposed boundaries of your brain.  and if you give it your all, she may recognize it, she may not, but either way, you come out better in the end.

in my mind, this professor is the embodiment of paris.  my semester in paris was a difficult one; paris pushed me in its sometimes cold, heartless way to help me discover some of my true capabilities.  in reality, paris and i do not have particularly compatible personalities.  we will never be besties and i will never really fit in here. and you know, i am perfectly fine with that.  i don't feel as though i have anything to prove here like i did 4 (!) years ago.  i can, like over the past three days, appreciate what the city has to offer.  after all, it was paris that gave me my first true glimpse into the outside world and for that, i will be forever grateful.

p.s. austria tomorrow.

sainte chapelle 

floor of sainte chapelle

stained glass at notre dame

sacré-coeur from roof of musée d'orsay

arc de triomphe from place de la concorde

le penseur

my fav rodin. and my fav schwestern #4

stained glass at st-denis