Spending three years in a country that values beauty, presentation and attention to detail will have an impact on you. While living in France, I learned to look for and find these qualities in many different types of projects, from soufflé-making to spread-sheet perfecting. I am no longer (thankfully) finding beauty in 20,000 line spread sheets. I left marketing for education and, in the process, traded in the haut Marais of Paris’s 3rd arrondissement for more spacious digs in what I affectionately refer to as “Cow Town, USA.”
In an odd way, those three years in Paris prepared me for my new venture. Had I not learned to look for beauty in unexpected places, I might have had a less rosy outlook on my new home. It’s easy to find art in every-day Parisian life. At first glance, this can be a more difficult task in Cow Town. The corner gas station, dilapidated farmhouses and fields of feed-corn did little to inspire my craving for beauty. But after a week and a half, I am growing to appreciate my new surroundings. After a long day, listening to frogs sing at night is more soothing to the ear than, say, an angry cab driver belting out a list of very obscure French obscenities.
Is Cown Town my Forever Town? Probably not. But for now, I am enjoying finding Cow Town’s arts that will brighten up my day-to-day vivre.
I love the way you see the world. It is through experience that we truly learn. You are wise beyond your years.