Archive for October 10th, 2009

My last day in Paris — and Sarah and I most definitely accomplished everything we set out to do! Musee D’Orsay, Notre Dame, Shoah Memorial, Centre Pompidou, Latin Quarter, and various other stops along the way. I’m so glad that I was randomly assigned to room with Sarah in Nice, because we ended up having so much fun together both there and here. I guess it’s really true, when you’re traveling alone, you’re bound to meet amazing people.

Tonight, after returning to the hostel (Vintage Hostel in Montmartre), I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with Ismail, who came from Algeria to study in Paris and also works a couple night shifts here. We’ve been discussing how much Jews and Arabs actually have in common, as well as the different racial difficulties each experiences in this city and in America. And we’ve talked about Israel — he 100% believes that Israel should exist; he just thinks that the West Bank should be left to the Palestinians, without settlements. Ismail says that he just wants the world to stop viewing every single Muslim as an automatic terrorist, and just let him come visit Times Square/Fifth Avenue/Statue of Liberty despite his Algerian passport. And then when we were done discussing political issues and ethnic disputes, we went on to dissect the complexities of male-female relationships, and the absolutely ridiculous yet predictable behaviors of men.

Anyway, I can’t believe my trip to France is essentially over — I mean, my vacation is not over, as I’m leaving for Israel tomorrow and will stay there until Saturday, the 17th, when I come back to New York. But as Sarah and I were discussing over dinner, the time here has gone by really, really quickly, and I can’t wait for my next adventure. I’ve learned so much about this country, about myself and about life — but I’m far from complete. I hope to learn just as much or more during my six days in Israel.

On that note, especially since it’s almost 2:30 a.m. here, I bid you goodnight. I’m sorry that this blog post was far from exciting, but today was more of a relaxing and meandering around Paris type of day with (thankfully) few mishaps. Though I did walk straight into a pole one time today and bruised myself in a really bad place. Naturally, I’m Sharon, right?