The sun just set. You are newly arrived to one of the most magical cities in the world. Armed with a warm baguette in one hand and too much cheese in the other, you are wandering down a charming alleyway. As your feet glide over the uneven cobble stone streets, you see the glittering of the Eiffel Tower shining through the Art Nouveau inspired rooftops of the many Parisian apartment buildings nearby. As you look up in a fit of incredibility, you forget all your worries, including the fact that you feel lost in more ways than one and you begin to melt into the very street you were once standing upon.

Now whether or not I may be idealizing or romanticizing *my moment* when I know I’ve officially landed in Paris for my study abroad program next spring, there’s a lot to be said about realizing the beauty of a particular moment, no matter how scary it is. And guess what? The same can be said about future jobs, internships, or other exciting applications.

It is often when we are extremely vulnerable that we can begin to make more sense of the world around us, of course that comes after much panic, many worries, and lots of silent or loud cries. But it doesn’t always have to.

You know when you look back at something that you once thought was stressful, but then realize it worked out and it was all dandy, rainbows, unicorns, and the like. But what if, instead of letting our fear for the unknown (in my case, getting through the lovely but maze-like alleyways in Paris in an attempt to not get lost 100% of my time there) we just enjoy the adventure that life throws our way?

I’ve noticed that for myself, I get so carried away in my own nervousness that it often detracts from an otherwise exquisite moment. If we could just be in the present, look at the moment in front of us, as if we were reflecting on it as if it had already passed, knowing it would all work out, imagine how rosy everything may be!

Now it may just be my unrealistic optimism or love for Edith Pilaf’s La Vie en Rose, but if we just rest assured that our street smart skills will kick in when we need them too, or that I will find an extremely helpful Parisian to guide me home, or my inner Francophile will understand the crumbled map in my back pocket, things will work out somehow and someway. And maybe things working out involves me getting even more lost, going in the wrong direction to get to the right direction, and finding this really cute back road, that’s all apart of the beauty of life and its adventure, right? Right (well at least I’d like to think so).

Now whether you can relate to this from having studied abroad or traveled alone or even hoping to get an internship and applying for jobs, it’s best to keep this little dose of optimism in our jacket pockets, in case we ever need to cash it in someday. Because either way, if you get lost, don’t get this job or that internship, you’re life will unravel quite beautifully, and whether its a surprise or not, trust me, it will be okay.

We’ll always have Paris mes amis,

Isabella