A documented insight to the travels of Rachel Darling

I'm sure you have all heard it before- girl goes to France, meets French boy, falls in love, gets married and lives happily ever after eating cheese and baguettes. Pretty cliché right? Yep, I had heard it too, but I never imagined that it would happen to me. When I left Australia in 2013, I expected a lot of things from my around-the-world adventure. I expected to hostel-hop solo through America, breathe in fresh air on ice-capped mountains in Canada, catch up with an old friend in Norway and finally spend four months studying in the UK. So, you could say, that everything went to plan up until that point. One night, a few weeks into my UK exchange semester, I was at a party of forty students crammed into a tiny dorm kitchen, when I met a tall handsome French boy. That moment was where all my plans changed, because months later I found myself on a plane to France thinking 'How did I end up here?' I know what you are imagining- a whirlwind holiday romance played out under the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower- but it wasn't like that. For starters, I didn't go to Paris. I went to La Roche, West of France. I stayed with that French boy's family, ate home cooked French food and experienced French customs- all from a local's perspective. But let's go back to that food part for a second! I am not ashamed to say this was my favourite part about France. After each three-course lunch, complete with hunks of fresh bread and salted butter, followed by cheese, sweets and coffee, I was hooked on the French culture. But I will admit that I found myself wondering the age-old question- ‘Why are these French people not fat?’ My handsome Frenchman showed me around his home town, but also took me to the city of Nantes. Nantes is most famous for its mechanical art museum called Les Machines de l’île, home to a 12meter-high mechanical wooden Elephant. It is an art piece but also a ride for tourists. I may not have seen the Mona Lisa, but I have rode inside the belly of a very large wooden elephant! This was just one of the unique experiences that made me adore France. The trip was unplanned, so it had no preconceptions about it. To me, those are the more memorable moments in travel- the ones you stumble upon by chance, the quirky hidden places that give travelling the illusive magic that it beholds. My spontaneous trip to France was unique- full homemade crêpes, wooden elephants and local perspectives, and I wouldn't have changed a thing- especially not the food!