Life is self discovery

I've been living in Paris now for a week and loving it. I'm torn on whether I want to stay in the hostel or move in with Igor, staying on his floor. Igor would allow me a place to sleep for free but I'd miss the opportunity of meeting all the folks I'm meeting.

I've had people from 7 or 8 different countries in my room over the course of the week. I had a chap from Finland in Paris for a dance festival. I've had foreign exchange students on break from Australia, Canada, and the United States. I've had an older gentleman who lives in Paris mistakenly rent out his apartment on a night he would be in town so rather than remove the tenant, he stayed in the hostel.

 The chap from Finland though has made the most lasting impression thus far. He taught me about his silent retreats he does for up to 10 days at a time. No talking and no communication with the outside world.

We've been trying it in our room for an hour at a time, giving me the chance to figure out why exactly I'm doing something like this. I don't even have an answer. I just thought it was a necessary step in my progression. It's something I'll have for the rest of my life. I've already made life long friends along the way who plan on visiting the United States some day and I will surely be there when they do. I've experienced so many new things that you read about but you really don't understand until you're there. You can look at as many pictures of the Eiffel Tower as you want but it's not half the experience of standing below it looking up. Hearing the crowd of people all talking in different languages.  Eating a baguette and drinking wine in the grass in front of it.

Once this is over, I'll have so many more things to offer from knowledge of the world to little tricks such as meditation techniques. And I've made more progression in self discovery in 2 weeks than I have the prior year. I'll never be completely satisfied but at this point I'm pretty close. I have short term goals, long term goals, fulfilling hobbies, fulfilling relationships and more experiences than I ever though I'd have. This whole experience will only make the next one that much easier. The next time I want to put myself out there and be vulnerable, I won't think twice.

I've also realized your choices in life are not live the young life, travel and then settle down and have kids VS settle down and have kids and never do any self discovery.  Life does not end with family life. I am 26, and I have traveled and self discovered, and if I settle down now, and have a family, I will NOT stop traveling, and discovering myself, and having fun. Things are not black and white.

Anyway, I'm still living in Paris and traveling south to Fontainebleau every day there's good weather. Today is rain so I'll bum around Paris taking photos. I have a possible trip to Morocco on the 18th, definitely going to Scotland on the 29th and Iceland on April 1. I'll try to post more pictures but it's just not the same as being here.