“I stood at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower today and looked up at it. There are very few times in my life I’ve felt so small.”

-Leisa Rayven

I will be participating in the 21 Weeks of Travel Blogging Challenge by Winta from Wandering Outside the Box. (She’s a couple weeks ahead of me because she started this before I created my blog.) Here’s the layout of the challenge:

Week 1: A favorite travel photo of you and intro

Week 2: Little known travel tips

Week 3: Funny travel story

Week 4: Travel misadventures

Week 5: Top three cultural foods

Week 6: Unusual travel activities/photos

Week 7: Inspiration for traveling

Week 8: Five favorite travel blogs

Week 9: Gross/disgusting travel stories

Week 10: Best adventures while traveling

Week 11: What’s in your backpack?

Week 12: Happy and sad travel stories

Week 13: Unique cultures encountered

Week 14: Top three favorite destinations

Week 15: Travel regrets

Week 16: Scary and cool travel stories

Week 17: Things to purge

Week 18: Humbling things learned from traveling

Week 19: Confessions

Week 20: Travel bucket list (countries/activities)

Week 21: Your challenge post highlights and what you’ve learned during this challenge

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Week 1: A favorite travel photo of you and intro

This was a trip of many ups and downs, which I will tell you about in the coming weeks. For now, I’ll just tell you that I snapped this selfie while I was in a hurry to see the Eiffel Tower and all its glory in just 30 minutes. Selfies taken that quickly NEVER turn out well for me, but I actually don’t hate this one. If you look closely, you can see a huge tennis ball dangling from the middle of the Eiffel Tower. That’s because I happened to be in Paris at the time of the French Open. How cool! I was upset that I didn’t run into any of the famous players I grew up idolizing, though.

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Intro

I’m a full time pre-med student at a university in the Dallas area, and I really love learning. But more than learning, I love traveling. I guess those terms are synonymous because I’d argue that I learn more while traveling than I do sitting in a classroom. I think exploring the world is the best way to gain experience. Kind of like they say the best way to learn another language is to immerse yourself in the culture. Why sit around and read text books or listen to lectures about it when you could actually go live it? Unfortunately, ‘living it’ does require money which is why I’m in school. If traveling was free, I’d be living in a new place every month! There is no part of this earth that I don’t want to see before I die, and there is no possible way that I can make that happen but I’m sure going to try my hardest.

I’ve had some amazing experiences thanks to family and friends, and I know almost everyone with a travel blog has seen a lot more than I have, but I’m going to get there at one time or another. Check back next Wednesday for Week 2 of my Travel Blogging Challenge!

-Aly