one week: paris approaches

one week is not a long time.

i might have argued the opposite a few years ago in high school, when the years seemed to trickle by like drops from the tap. but after having already blown through half of my time as an undergrad at depaul university, i am starting to see the reality: time flies. whether you're having fun or not. and you can't go back.

you see, i still can't quite wrap my brain around the fact that in approximately one week, i will be sitting in paris. it just doesn't seem real yet. for the past year+, i have been planning this study abroad trip, so i've known it was coming. but until now, i've had applications, appointments, and heaps of paperwork to hide behind. i couldn't see the fast-approaching horizon. in the past week, i have slowly removed just about every obstacle keeping me from paris. i finally got a long-stay student visa; i figured out (more or less) my finances for the year; having waited for weeks, i received my housing placement letter; and i've (theoretically, at least) started the packing process. so, here i stand. the only thing between my simple life in kansas and the most incredible trip of my life is one week.

and i couldn't be more excited.

i decided to write this blog because, as most of my friends and family know, i'm pretty terrible at keeping in touch with people. i'm not the best at keeping up with emails. i'm not a big phone-talker. and i suck at responding to facebook messages. all this might suggest that i won't actually write in this blog, but i'm pretty sure this is one thing i can commit to. i know i'm going to have some pretty crazy, possibly life-changing, hilarious, tragic, and noteworthy experiences in the coming academic year. and for most of the year, i won't have any of my closest friends to share them with. so i will need a way to keep y'all in the loop. and to keep my head from exploding. thus, this blog.

so keep your eyes peeled for new entries, new photos, etc. if you feel so moved, go ahead and hit the comment button beneath the post. if you want to contact me via email, send a message to christopher.meinhardt@gmail.com. or if you would like to send a good old-fashioned pen-and-paper letter (which would absolutely warm my soul), stamp it up and send it to my IES Paris address, which you can find in the sidebar to the left.

thanks in advance for your precious time spent perusing my words. i hope you find something here at least a touch meaningful, or merely entertaining. happy travels.

i'll see you in paris!