2013!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Time just seems to have sped up since I’ve been here. When I look back at 2012, I think of the last 4 months — the 8 months previous just seem inconsequential. Not that they were. From January to August I learned a lot about filmmaking, worked pretty hard, and had a fun summer. But these past 4 months have been so wonderful that they eclipsed the rest of my year. Sure, there were moments here when I felt out of place or frustrated with things I had to deal with on my own. But my experiences, the good and the bad, have been invaluable in learning about myself and the world I live in. No, my career goals aren’t any clearer, I still don’t know what to do after I graduate, I don’t even know what my thesis film (which I’m writing next semester) is going to be about. But it’s okay, because I’ve just spent 4 months in Paris and I have 1 month left and I’m going to enjoy that now.
I can’t remember ever – even for one second – regretting my decision to come here. And to think I had doubts about it early last year! I think it was my cinematography professor who really convinced me, after the first semester of the year, when I hadn’t applied to MICEFA yet. It was so simple, but I just needed that last push. It was the last day of class and we were watching the whole class’ work so the prof could critique it and grade us. After we watched my group’s project, for whatever reason my group-mate mentioned that I was going to Paris the next year, as if it was a done deal. The prof got really excited about it and I said, “Well, I’m not sure yet…” He said I had to go. “But I’m afraid of missing out on a semester at the film department, of not being able to work on films and…” And he replied, “Come on, it’s life experience, it’s Paris! You have to go!” Well, that’s obvious now.
2012 was great. And I’m going to do my best to make 2013 even better. I’ll be very sad about leaving Paris, about leaving the community I’ve found myself in and the friends I’ve really connected with, about leaving a place where simply speaking in a different language felt like an accomplishment.
But I’m taking some really great classes next semester. I’ll get started on the most important project of my college years, I’ll have the new experience of being a teaching assistant for a media class, I’ll be helping out with a French film festival that’s expanding to New York (Brooklyn, actually!). And I’ll definitely keep improving my French at school. I’ll meet new people and reconnect with my old friends, and I’ll turn 21 in a country where it actually makes a difference.
If things go really well, I’ll come back to Paris in the summer. But if not, I will do something else totally awesome, because… I know I can. And I’ll be back here eventually, no matter what.
I spent my New Year’s Eve at a friend’s party — it was also her birthday on the 1st. I knew most of the people there but I met some new people too, danced for an insane amount of hours, watched the Eiffel Tower sparkling at midnight (give me that over Times Square any time, any time)… as it got later everyone ended up singing along to Disney classics in French, which was beyond confusing yet hilarious… we ate pasta for breakfast before heading home around 8 am. Ringing in the new year in Paris with music and friends… unforgettable.
