Kaleidoscopic Experiences of a Dreamy Girl "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." - T.S. Eliot

The air on the plane was filled with a tension I have been craving all year and which made my whole being flare. It was rapturous to inhale the scent of fresh Swiss air and exhale ecstasy. I even fell in love with the grey concrete on which I was treading,the smooth alignment of the trees and the strange faces everywhere. Here I was, roaming a new constellation, floating and floating.
My aunt who received me lives in Bonneville, France, just 25 kilometers away from Geneva where I arrived. I still felt my mother’s warm kiss and promised myself that I would make the best of the days ahead.
The landscape was breathtaking: huge mountains kissed the blue summer skies and colorful blotches were painted upon the canvas around me where I took solitary walks. This solitude amidst nature,this sheer seemingly infinite realm of my own enchanted me. Gaia was calling me, her healing hand swept over my then gasping heart,appeased it and solaced my whole being.
The highlight of my trip was Paris,la métropole d’amour. My cousin and I travelled there by train. Inspired by the rural marvels we crossed, I started sketching landscapes and writing poetry in my travel notebook. In Paris, I visited Versailles, Notre-Dame de Paris, le Tour d’Eiffel and undoubtedly the Musée du Louvre. It was sheer bliss to admire the works of art, sculptures and wonders of ages past.
My cousin and I drove on his motorbike through the Parisian night of which I recollect various images: the neon lights of the Red Light District and Moulin Rouge, L’Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées with the fullmoon hanging over Paris as if from a string.
How I adored seeing so many people of different nationalities, cultures, attires and religions - all gathered in one enthralling city. I talked to a Japanese girl in Japanese and English, received a French book as a gift from a French family and went cycling with my cousin's friends. I wished everyone could travel to understand the flower of infinite tolerance and forgiveness that bloomed within me. I couldn't wait to show my mother all the pictures I took, to tell her what a wonderful time I had.
I will never forget the day that I had to leave Paris.
I left it in tears, with a bag of hastily packed clothes. My mother had died.
I boarded the plane home with feelings opposite to those I had when I arrived in France. It was an unforgettable journey but the way it ended struck me as unfair.
Goodbye, France. When I come back next time, you will see me smile again.