The pursuit of happyness.

No pictures, today. Just writing. (sorry!) But it's needed.

It's now April. I'm entering my eighth month here. I sometimes take a step outside myself and can scarcely believe I actually did this. Just looking where I am now in relation to this same point a year ago...every so often I have to remind myself that yes, it's true.

One of my favorite movies is the title of this post. The Pursuit of Happyness, purposely misspelled. Evidently it's not like this particular story reflects my own life or anyone else's exactly. The thing that makes it so compelling and why I constantly return to it to give me some much-needed perspective on life is because of his determination- and how he feels so relatable. Take your own problems, self-doubts, and challenges and at least for me they transcend this medium until you feel like you very well could be watching yourself on the screen; your highs and lows, the feelings like nothing's going your way but you keep going because you can't stop. Because, really, all anybody wants to do is the best with what they've been given - no matter what that is - and overcome, bit by bit, clawing ahead one hand after another, to find whatever happy is for you. So before advancing from this unexplained episode of philosophizing, I'll just take a moment to say that Will Smith rocks.

Some people go abroad to further their career opportunities. Others go to learn a language, experience a new culture, escape their own, get the opportunity to travel...or any combination of the above. Me, I think I've pretty much figured the principal reason out. I'm a pretty simple person. All I want out of life is to be happy. And to try my best to do what it takes to achieve that. Coming to France, though perhaps a bit unusual and certainly something that won't give me anything concrete to show for being here, seemed to be the right thing to do at this point in life. I'll probably reflect more on this at a later date, but for the moment at least this fact is established. Happiness.

Naturally, one can't expect to be one hundred percent happy and giddy the entire time here, and doing that would set you up for some big disappointment. That being said, these past couple weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster ride, finally culminating in one of those moments when you get to learn through experience (argh. who else hates that word.) one of those nasty little Facts of Life. It sucks, a lot, but to steal a quote from somebody who escapes me, sometimes you've got to remember that failure is an event, not a person. So there you go. I feel like I've done a good job so far keeping negativity out of these blog posts, and now it's time to move on. Can't keep a soldier down for long.

Besides that, life is more or less as usual. Planning a vacation to Italy/Morocco/who knows where? in late April, so that's cool! Also, the weather here is nothing short. of. amazing. Focusing on studying is so hard it isn't funny. Every day I want to go out for a bike ride, a jog, or just lay on the grass and do nothing. Or take said bike and go downtown on a whim with friends on a Friday, and gratuitously buy two pairs of sandals from one of the cheap shoe stores in town. So I feel entirely ready for summer, perhaps a couple months too early, which may not be the best idea since exams at the fac des sciences are looming right before vacation. Until next time, wish me luck (and concentration)!