“They weren't tears of sadness or even tears of joy. I was just overflowing. Like so many things since I'd been here, I didn't yet understand it, but I felt it.”

“I live three thousand miles away from my mother. But no matter how far away, I'm still hers. I'm brave in the ways she's made me brave and scared in the ways she's made me scared. I'll never belong to anyone the way I belong to her.”

“People grow, but they don't change.”

“They weren't tears of sadness or even tears of joy. I was just overflowing. Like so many things since I'd been here, I didn't yet understand it, but I felt it.”

“I was living "every girl's" dream. But I had yet to find my own passion, my personal project, the thing that would help make Paris mine.”

“For the record, I'm not an indecisive person, and I'm not a coward. I just have a very detailed imaginary life, and it sometimes takes precedence over what's actually happening around me.”