WHEN I WAS 30

On a normal working day, my manager informed me that he had registered me for a course and he had asked his boss to approve the course. The course was about technical equipment and services that our segment was providing, it was held in Melun, a suburb of Paris, France. At that time, I was a few days away from turning age 30, it was like a surprise birthday gift that I did not expect.

After the course was confirmed, I arranged my work schedule and asked my manager for a week off after the course so that I could visit Paris and Amsterdam and my manager agreed. The course came unexpectedly with limited time and a long to-do list at the office, as well as I did not know how many places I could go, so I did not prepare anything for the schedule to visit Paris and Amsterdam, I only knew that I wanted to go to Paris and Amsterdam, the rest I left to life flow and my ability to improvise.

When the course ended, I took a metro map and a Paris map from the reception area of ​​the hotel I was staying at. These were my compasses, I carried these two maps everywhere to find my way. I bought a metro card and started to visit the centre of Paris with only a few famous landmarks in mind and 2 suburbs of Paris such as Versailles and Marne-la-Vallée Chessy with the excitement and nervousness of visiting these places for the first time. I used the metro to get to where I needed to go and then I walked around. Every day I left the hotel at 8am and my goal was to return to the hotel at 8pm, but most of nights I returned after 8pm, one night even after 10pm, I were wandering around all day by myself, every day I worked at my full capacity before returning to the hotel.

During the trip, I also encountered many interesting, exciting and touching things from the help of the French people I met, but there was one thing that made me feel proud of myself when I was walking to the Eiffel Tower, I had already walked to the edge of the Eiffel Tower park, my two feet were numb after many hours of walking and standing on the train because every train I took that day was crowded and there were no empty seats, the numb feeling from my feet spread to my ankles however, I still tried to walk to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, but there was still about 100m to the foot of the Eiffel Tower. My goal was to sit near the Eiffel Tower to rest and have lunch. I was standing at the edge of the Eiffel Tower park to let my feet released numbing and then I continued walking, then a white woman in her under 40s with a son around 11-12 years old approached me and asked me the way to the Eiffel Tower, I showed her the way to the Eiffel Tower, then I asked her “where are you from?”, I thought she was a tourist from Europe, then she answered me “she is from a remote area in France and she is French, this is her first time in Paris and she wants to take her son to visit Paris.” After answering me, she said goodbye and left. At that time, I also wanted to go with her to the Eiffel Tower, but my legs were still numb so I couldn’t walk and I didn’t dare to sit down because I knew that if I sat down, it would take a long time for me to stand up and continue walking. So, I had to stand for a while to release my feet’s numb then I could walk to the Eiffel Tower. I saw an empty bench nearby Eiffel Tower and I sat down to rest until my feet were no longer numb, enjoyed the scenery, and had lunch as planned 😊.

When I returned home after my solo trip through Paris, as well as the 3 suburbs of Paris -Melun, Versailles, Marne-la-Vallée and Fontainebleau then Amsterdam, I had been to visit more places than I expected. I ventured to strange places alone and found comfort, joy and unique emotions that are hard to describe during the trip. I didn’t just come back with beautiful pictures and great memories—I came back with something deeper: a quiet confidence and a sense that I had grown.