The most bizarre thing perhaps is that I've already booked my flight home for Christmas, and my countdown app tells me that it's exactly 73 days until I return. Which in turn means I'll be half way through my time in Aix, which is NOT OKAY.
But, amongst booking my trip home, I've also managed to book two other flights... BARCELONA AND ROME. Super excited. Whilst a lot of people opt to visit home during the October mid-term break (which I did consider) I think I have too much of a wanderlust thing going on at the moment, and I can't quite believe how cheap it is to get to Spain and Italy from here. And if I don't make it back from either place, because quite frankly I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached, then hey... I've seen the Colosseum, so it's okay.
The main purpose of this post, I suppose, is to fret how important I think spontaneity is. Do something you would never expect yourself to do. For me, I NEVER in a million years (even after finding my university and confirming my place) thought I would actually move abroad and spend a year here, and I'm so damn proud of myself for it. If there's anything I've learnt so far, it's that whilst planning does produce results, nothing quite compares to doing something on a whim. Personally, I'm a meticulous planner (I know, hard to believe) but I really hate doing anything which isn't planned to a T. Something I'm trying really hard not to do is over-thinking, and over-planning everything. Whilst I'm not saying that jumping on a plane with no concrete plan is necessarily wise, the thrill of not knowing what to expect is somewhat worth the risk. Unless you end up homeless. Nobody wants that. Anyway, the real point of this is that I feel like I've already achieved something whilst being here. Even something small like conversing with someone in French, without having planned what to say first for fear of failure. And it feels damn good.
Perhaps the biggest form of spontaneity so far, was something that happened in the first few weeks of being here. Whilst just casually browsing online for things to do in France, we happened to stumble upon... wait for it... The Paris Half Marathon. Do I need to explain further?
Yes, of course muggins here decides that this would be a fantastic idea, and the rest is history. Myself and my crazy Irish friend (I guess that kind of explains it, right?), and my equally crazy Aussie friend, decided we would run 21k in March. I'm just kidding about the muggins part, I am actually REALLY excited... but 21k. TWENTY ONE KILOMETRES.
Anyway, this leads on to something that I did recently which was ridiculous amounts of fun, and that I want to share with you because if you ever get the chance to do it, then you MUST.
There's a 5k 'fun run' (fun???) which happens in various places over the world, called The Color Run. The idea is that you run, or walk, 5k and at different intervals there are stations where you have powder paint chucked at you. Although, if you're remotely sweaty, then powder paint no more. Who knew being covered head to toe in paint could be so entertaining! The only way I can really do it justice, I think, is through pictures:
Somehow, whilst everyone else seemed to come out with dainty splats of pink and orange paint on their faces, I managed to attract ALL the green paint to my face and ended up with a Shrek like resemblance. You win some, you lose some. I also forgot to close my mouth whilst running through one of the stations (green, probably) and ended up with a mouth full of dry paint. Thank you, life.
One more thing- it's mid October, and it's still beautifully sunny. Although I'm secretly longing for autumnal English weather so that I can wear boots and a coat, I really shouldn't complain. I know that I'll miss this when I'm home.
A x
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