Back during my final semester of college, I was living in Paris with a host family. Within the first month of being there, one of their daughters, Mathilde, asked me if I’d join her and her friends for dinner. Elated that I’d be included in a real French gathering, I accepted.

She said everyone would be coming from work, so I shouldn’t dress up too much.  But there would be about 15 people at dinner.  I thought, “where could you go with 15 people for dinner?” In any case, I figured it would be fun and I’d make a bunch of new friends.

Little did I know, that dinner would initiate a chain of unexpected events and subsequently change the course of my life. (Continue reading…)