“The chief danger about Paris is that it is such a strong stimulant.” – T.S. Eliot

One of the first rules to being a modern jetsetter: Allow the magic of travel to change you.

Paris does that.

When I first visited Paris, I was quite the different girl. It was the summer before my senior year in journalism school and I spent a week and a half ahead of an internship in London soaking up the City of Lights…which for me at the time, was more so the city of baguettes, croissants and Pain au Chocolat than lights – I was 30 pounds heavier with an endless wanderlust for the world of European baking. A gloriously tasty time in my life never to be repeated.

It was also a time where I was on the cusp of my future. Inebriated with about a dozen or so fiery passions, mingling and conflicting with each other daily as they tried to decide the path worth taking upon graduation. It was the city that gently opened by eyes to the wild post-grad possibility of more than the almighty byline in New York City. It opened my eyes to the world. Paris, and all her inspiring glory, is the city that ignited my lifelong affair with Europe and travel, one I’m still consumed by to this very minute…though I never predicted it would be as rich and dominating factor in my life as it is today.

My trip to Paris last week was like looking into a mirror and served as the greatest reflection of how my life and character has developed since graduation three years ago. I sat down on a park bench in the Tuileries Garden after an afternoon in the Louvre doing novel research to reflect on those changes the great city of Paris delivered me with…to thank her for the strange but significant influences she left on me since I stumbled off that red eye from Atlanta, unable to speak a word of another language and completely clueless to the fact that Europe was about to completely steal my heart, overhaul mind and take possession of my future.

Here are a few of those changes that started brewing upon my first walk in Paris…

I was: The girl who daydreamed of walking with someone, one day, hand-in-hand along the Seine.

I am: The woman who finally has her hand-in-hand walks along the Seine with her soulmate, but also finds a tremendous pleasure in her own company and taking that walk alone (important).

I was: An intern, and a girl who dreamed of writing for the world’s leading publications.

I am: The woman who decided that wasn’t enough, started her own publication and works ceaselessly to take that brand to the top. Paris as a city is also playing a huge part in the novel I’m currently writing, something I never anticipated tackling so early in life.

I was: A complete novice to the world of European art and history.

I am: The one who stops at every corner, painting and sculpture and Googles its significance, and usually posts about it on Instagram and watches a follow-up documentary about it later.

I was: Unhealthy and stressed with college

I am: Balanced and mindful. I know when times call for a Pain au Chocolat or Paris-Brest (or both with the case of an upcoming election), but I balance it all with early morning sweat session. I learned from the French that you can eat absolutely anything, as long as its in moderation and you enjoy every last spectacular bite of it.

I was: A slave to fashion.

I am: A slave to personal style.

I was: An American girl with many dreams and many doors to open.

I am: An American woman who has opened many doors, visited many countries and continues to  follow her dreams – new and old. An entrepreneur, a trilinguist, and a someone who finds her heart becoming a bit more European with every passing day. A women who never stops dreaming, and never stops reaching and letting spectacular European cities inspire her.

As I sat on that park bench in Paris on that gloriously sunny and crisp autumn afternoon, I took a deep breath in, looked at the golden skyline ahead and remembered the girl I used to be. The girl who clumsily dragged a broken giant suitcase across the cobblestone streets (packing light was a foreign concept to me) with no real idea of what her future holds. As I exhaled, I realized for the first time in my life I know who I am, the values I stand for, the passions I am to pursue and where I’m going. Thank you Paris, for being the first stop of that journey.

To have the truest travel experience, once must leave the layers of their own cultures and customs behind. They must arrive vulnerable…it is only then the world will look at you and say “Ah, you’re ready for my magic to seep into your bones and transform you into the person you’re meant to be.”

How has travel changed you?