Today Paris went above 20 degree (centigrade) and the clouds disappeared. After one of the city's longest winters, this Sunday was the first real day of spring. While every Parisian I have spoken to insists that this is incredibly unusual and one of the longest winters they've ever seen, it is possibly the only winter that I will be in Paris for and it has become a bit rough.
I chose to celebrate in one of the most touristy fashions possible, which is to say that I picnicked under the Eiffel Tower with friends; there was bread, cheese, fruit, and every stereotypical panorama of Paris. While it's not hard to find someone playing "Aux Champs Elysées" in the metro, they were sadly lacking in the Champs de Mars this afternoon.
It was gratifying to finally explore Paris in the sunshine though. One of the greater impetuses for my decision to study abroad in the spring was the fact that I would be able to say I spent Paris in the spring, and now I've finally begun fulfilling that goal. I can only hope that the days will become more and more beautiful as I move into my last month-and-a-half in Paris. In addition to all of the homework I have to finish before leaving (I have conveniently forgotten about finals) there's so much in the city I want to take advantage of. I had the horrible realization a few nights ago of just how little time I have left and how quickly it will all pass me by. It's hard enough to accept that I can't spend my days wandering around the city and reading in cafes, but even more so to think of everything that I have to take care of between now and then.
It is easy to spend my days abroad thinking about everything about everything that I am missing back in Washington D.C. There are always forms to fill out, jobs to apply for, and folks to keep in touch with; sometimes it's hard to really feel as though I'm here when distracted by so much of my life back in the United States. But I am a firm believer that you have to just go with it sometimes. There will always exist a divide between reality and expectations, and it's important to remind myself that expectations are never worth the effort and they'll rarely coincide with reality. It's important to be where you are when you're there. In two months when I'm sweating in the D.C. summer I'll wish with all my heart that I were back in Paris and I'll likely start wasting my time reading travel articles and reminiscing. But with a quick picnic in the sculpture garden and a Baked and Wired cupcake I know I'll be back on track and realizing how lucky I am.
I currently need to motivate myself to write papers on Fauvism, children's literature, and French culture, but I need absolutely no motivation to take advantage of the beautiful city around me and all it has to offer. While I will always cherish the photos and pounds I have gathered during my time here, it's the sentiments that last. So I'm determined to soak up the Parisian sunshine (with horribly large, black, bug-eyed sunglasses) and profiter in my last weeks here.