"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" John Lennon
"Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape" Anonymous
"C'est la vie" Anonymous
As many of you know, I got my full-time offer with Google last year and was scheduled to start working full-time at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California in September 2013. So when I graduated from the University this past December, I embarked on an amazing trip around Southeast Asia. When that ended, I made plans to work in a winery in Spain until June (My little brother's high school graduation is on June 6, so I wanted to go back to America for that). And my dad who's incredibly smart and supportive helped me schedule my flight to Spain and talked to the airline so that I could make stops in both London and Paris on my way to Spain without paying virtually anything more!
So at the moment, I'm writing to you from Paris. I haven't been able to write or post in awhile, but I've just been busy living so much life. There's too many things to eat and too many people to meet. However, I do have a very important update for you. The fork in my road has taken a very interesting turn. Last week while I was in London, I was notified that some things about my full-time position at Google have changed: I start work April 15 in San Francisco.
That's correct. That's approximately 15 days from right now... and I'm in Paris. I haven't even been to Spain yet. The past couple days have been a whirlwind of confusion and excitement: I had to cancel my Spain wine internship, one of my friends volunteered to drive me to California, and my dad had to call the airlines (again) and get me a flight back to America ASAP.
So earlier today while on the metro somewhere in Paris, I've been trying to process some of the things that have happened to me lately or what's in store for me in the future, and it occurred to me that none of the plans I've ever made for myself have actually ever happened. I always planned to be a doctor when I younger, but I majored in business. The college I went to surprised me and my family. I never got into advertising even though I desperately tried. Finally, I would never had imagined I'd work and live in New York and San Francisco within the same year. Next week, I won't be in Spain as anticipated but on an epic road trip from Chicago to California. I suppose the only thing that actually worked out the way I had planned was graduating college in 3.5 years.
It's easy to become overwhelmed when we begin to realize the little control we may have in the plans we have for ourselves, but Life is an adventure... and it can be beautiful. We may not have control in exactly how life unfolds itself, but we do have the control on how we see and react to the things that happen to us. Also, I think that the ambiguity and possibilities of what can happen are all part of the beauty in life. Life can be an adventure and it can be absolutely beautiful, but only if we choose it to be.
I know this post isn't quite about Paris or London... stay tuned for more specifics about British or French food and sights, but I hope this helped you with whatever life has thrown at you recently.
Stay hungry, Louella