Not to get too sentimental, but 2011 was a bang-up year for me. Having bade my final farewell to the high-end panhandling industry, I started a school program I’d been speculating on for years. Of course, this also involved going without health insurance for a stretch, massive new debt, and the relentless anxiety of doing what you really want to do (if you fail, you can’t blame apathy!). Altogether, though, a full out improvement.

And now, after a 10-year hiatus, I’m finally leaving the country again. Paradoxically, the fact that I lived in New York for a decade (therefore lacked funds and motivation for travel) helped me make a whole slew of friends who live or work in other countries. So just a hop past the new year, I’m headed to France.  I’ve been boning up on my language skills:

Je ne peut pas avoir des produits laitiers.

…and stocking up on tiny bottles of shampoo. Cheeeyeck.

The biggest irony of the past two years is that, for the entirety of my 20s, I worked respectable 40-hour jobs, had no money, did no traveling, was angsty about it; while as soon as I re-entered the temp/food service/student life, I had better cash flow, produced more & better writing, am taking trips.  Still hogtied with anxiety from time to time, but hey, we all need a familiar ground state to fall back on.

So… if a person was spending two days in Paris, where would y’all suggest she eat and drink?