(Photo Credits go to me)
When I was a senior in high school I had the opportunity to travel to France with my Advanced French class. It was just six of us and then our teacher and I can honestly say it was one of my most memorable experiences from high school.
It was three years ago basically to the date that I set off on my first trip outside of the United States (Canada does not count when you’re from Rochester, NY.)
The day I left for this trip will always stand out to me.
I woke up and started my day with with a strong sense of anticipation and excitement. I just had to get through a day of school and then at 4:00 I would be off to the airport and in pursuit of the Champs-Elysees.
It was first period and I was sitting in my Dynamics of Citizenship class, a graduation requirement for seniors. The day I was supposed to get on an international flight, I had to sit through an entire documentary on 9/11. Needless to say, I really didn’t want to get on an airplane later that day.
The September 11th documentary was not the worst thing that happened before I left for the Rochester International Airport.
I’ll never forget I was sitting at my kitchen table eating a Wegmans sub with my mom while waiting for my dad to get home from work. The sun was shining through the kitchen windows, it was warm enough to not wear a jacket and I couldn’t stop thinking about how awesome it was going to be to climb the steps of the Eiffel Tower.
I heard the garage door open and my dogs began to bark, so I knew my dad was home and we could load my luggage and I was going to be one step closer to my first international trip.
When he walked in the door, I could feel something was wrong and the look he had on his face seemed to make more sense to my mom than to me. I suddenly felt like there was something they had known for awhile and I was completely out of the loop.
I was leaning against my kitchen counter when my dad started talking about my uncle’s cancer. The only word I can really recall from the conversation is “terminal.”
I should have been worrying about airport terminals but now was worried about terminal cancer.
I got to the airport and blocked out the tears I had been crying and put on a happy face for my classmates. I didn’t tell anyone nor did I really want to. If I wasn’t ready to get out of Rochester before that news broke, I definitely was now.
I spent the week living up my experience and reveling in being able to try out my French for the first time outside of the classroom. I soaked up everything. I forgot about my uncle’s cancer. I wasn’t thinking about anyone in my family at all. For the first time I experienced true escape through travel and I fell in love. This experience was a major reason I decided to study abroad for a semester.
In the months after I returned from France, my uncle continued to get worse. I lost him in the middle of my first semester freshman year of college and it was a huge blow to my family. He was the third brother out of the six to pass away.
I was going through my France photo album on Facebook today when I remembered it was the anniversary of my trip. As I scrolled to the bottom, I got to the comments section of the post. I had forgotten that before my uncle had passed away, he asked that I put up my pictures from that trip. There, in the comments section, still exists my uncle’s comment: “Thank you Claire.”
So, today, I remember not only my French memories but also my Uncle Brian and I remain thankful that I was able to share them with him before he passed.
Wanna go abroad? 