Visiting Champagne

Champagne’s sweet, distinctive scent struck the moment we stepped off the train and would continue its surprise attacks as we wondered around the city of Reims in eastern France. Much smaller than Paris, with almost 200,000 inhabitants, Reims played a significant role in France’s monarchial past and continues to be called home to several champagne producers today.

Lac Inférieur

The lake, looking north along the east side, in the afternoon.

Classes

Sorry I haven’t been updating! It’s been an exciting couple weeks. I will write soon about what I’ve been up to but for now I’m going to simply post the courses I will be taking this semester. One will be English and the other three are in French. I’m excited for the content courses, not so much for the spoken French course. We are required to take a language course though and my spoken French definitely needs some help. Next week I’ll be able to talk about how they are. The most exciting thing? I only have class Tuesday through Thursday, four day weekends!

Preparing

And once again I find myself in the weird time/space that sneaks up from behind me whenever I’m about to leave one home for another. I’ve been living at home in DeForest since mid May and I’m about to leave for Paris, pausing in New York for a few days. I will be in Paris until December.

It seems I’m not as excited as I should be. I am, very much so, but there’s an aspect of exhilaration missing. Traveling and exploring places that are new to me is among my favorite things to do. Still, I don’t feel as excited as I did when I was preparing for Dublin or Belize or Hungary. I’m not passé about it, it just seems natural to go, which is somehow muting the pre-departure experience.

Part of it all may be that people here are incredibly, incredibly excited for travel, especially international travel. Most vacations involve a cabin up north or hours upon hours getting somewhere in a car. I don’t say this to be judgmental, I love camping and road trips, but perhaps its hard to be excited when you’re trying to be humble and are trying to downplay something that might cause jealousy or resentment.

Regardless, once my flight lands and I arrive in Paris, I will feel like I’m standing on a mountain’s top nearly flying on the wind’s powerful gusts and I can not wait for that feeling of exhilaration.

And so I dive...

And so I dive

deep into those scrawling symbols

representing lives lived not my own

but known.

Diving down, kicking there, leaving here--

eyes stinging and lungs burning--

but stop, no. I hurry, striving deep

within to find the light those lives keep.

For my own stolen after offered,

stolen quickly, simply, dejectedly

plunging my way into darkness

complete and blinding.

And so I dive

deep into these scawlen symbol

representing lives lost, never to be known,

my own.