I wasn't sure if I would address this on the blog or not. I'm not sure how "political" I want to get on here, considering everybody is a politician these days. Seriously, about 98% of my Facebook friends think they're expert at foreign policy and relations. Well, I am not an expert. I won't pretend that I am. On the contrary, I am a human. I am a human with strong ties to France, with the strongest being to Paris. With that said, it has also taken me a few days to collect my thoughts to say what I want to say.
When I was a senior in high school, I participated in a French-exchange program at my high school. A group of about 30 of us hosted as many students from a school in Châteaubriant, France. They stayed with us for about two weeks over Halloween 2006, and in March 2007, we went to stay with them. Châteaubriant is about 3.5 hours from Paris, so naturally we traveled to various cities with Paris being one of them. I was given the opportunity to stay with a loving family and see some of the most beautiful parts of the world. The pictures below are when I saw my host sister, Elodie, in 2007 and 2010.
If you have followed me and what I've been doing for a while now, you know that I also studied abroad in Carpi, Italy during 2010. [Here is the blog from that experience]. Once my Maymester was over, I hopped over to France to see Elodie and my family's old foreign-exchange student, Patrice. For more summers than I can remember when I was growing up, Patrice came to stay with us. So many of my childhood memories include him; from going to Worlds of Fun, to visiting family, and so much more. Below are pictures of Patrice and me from 2010, and then again when he came for my wedding in 2014. Patrice lives in Paris.
Knowing so many people who live within just a few hours [if not minutes] of where all of these things are happening scares me. I haven't really been able to watch the news or read much about what is going on because it leads me to tears. So many people that I have such fond memories of, people who I love in this life, are in harms way and that makes my heart hurt. Thankfully, those that I know are safe. Thankfully, Patrice was out of the city visiting his mother. Thankfully.
Today, I keep Paris, France and Beirut, Lebanon in my heart.
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