The closer it gets to the end of my time in Paris, the more I think about coming back to live here in the future. I love this city! There is just so much to see and do and, even once I’ve seen and done everything, I am sure I’ll still be uncovering more things to see and do. It’s really a shame I could only afford to stay here for one semester (my French bank account is literally at negative euros now).

I don’t know what the process is for getting a French work permit or how a common law degree would apply here (if it does at all), but I hope one day to be able to come back to Paris and live for at least three years. However, I always have these grand dreams that don’t seem to come to fruition or, if they do, it takes about a decade to get the wheels in motion.

With full-time work starting in September, I am beginning to feel the opportunities of traveling and living in foreign countries slipping away. It seems lawyers plan to stay at a firm for many years, trying to work their way up the ladder, hardly taking their vacations, all in hope of becoming partner as soon as possible. I don’t want that. I want to work to live, not live to work. As much as I love Vancouver, I couldn’t help but feel stifled every single year that passed without me getting on a plane to somewhere new.