I first went to Europe when I was 13. When I returned 14 days later, I was not the same as I had left. I didn’t know yet that those two weeks spent touring France and Germany would mark me for life. I certainly didn’t expect I’d spend several years of my life living and working there. But how could it have been otherwise? I was addicted to the lifestyle I experienced there from the moment I met it. What words can describe what an American girl used to block streets, mini malls and Safeway feels when she sees life can be so totally and completely different than she ever thought. I’ll try to find the words to express that je-ne-sais-quoi that many of us have felt in Europe. It’s not necessarily that they do everything better. But there is a sense of magic and beauty that often escapes life in the United States. Maybe it’s because we work too much here, maybe because they’ve been at it longer, maybe it’s nothing but nostalgia for the old ways. Whatever it is, I want it and need it in my life. This blog is my attempt to reconnect from a 3rd-story condo in Los Angeles to a world I miss like a limb.