For three weeks in May of 2009 I was able to study abroad in France — both in the Normandy region and then in Paris. France was never a place I aspired to travel to; Paris was never a destination I’d had any interest in seeing. And then I did. And I fell in love.

It’s unreal to me that this month I celebrate the three-year anniversary of that trip. It’s been three years since I had altogether too many ham and cheese baguette sandwiches, got by on a knowledge of the French language based solely on a two-hour cram course and Pepe le Pew, got mistaken for a French hooker (because apparently they all wear rain parkas and Crocs) and frankly, had the time of my life.

Time flies. La vie est une aventure.