That’s a wrap

~ MaryG
Daily writing prompt
What’s a moment in your life that felt like it was straight out of a movie?
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I remember walking around in the airport in Paris—Charles De Gaulle—in December 1985. I was waiting for my flight back to Boston after my semester abroad in Rome. I was listening to my Sony Walkman, which had the songs that had been the soundtrack for the entire semester—Take on Me by A-Ha, Money for Nothing by Dire Straits, 99 Luftballons by the German band Nena.

I was hungover. I was sad. It was the end. Back to America. I knew it was going to be culture shock. So many things had happened that semester—some good, some bad—but all of it was new and exciting. I had traveled through Europe with friends, had a fling with a fellow student who was studying in France, been semi-stalked by an Italian guy, smoked hash and saw Sting perform live, been chased down the street by a very angry nun who was mad I’d let my friend use my roommate’s bed in the convent, been subjected to my first public masturbator (aka “The Jerk”), ordered entire meals in Italian, been awakened on a train by a French security guard who didn’t like my friend’s Filipino passport, got all my clothes destroyed by an Italian laundromat, and seen the most magnificent art and wonders of western civilization from the Mona Lisa to the Colosseum to Pompeii to the Vatican.

Walking through that airport felt like the last scene in a movie—a very 80s movie.

Here I am in Rome in 1985 with my short 80s hair and my friend Scott who was in my program with me. Scott was my close friend Carla’s boyfriend, but she was studying in cold old England for some reason. Girl Code obviously eliminated any chance of a fling with Scott, but he was so cute, right? Look at those legs.

12 thoughts on “That’s a wrap”

  4. Ughhh I felt this Mary 💔
    Returning back to reality after time away doing cool things, I sort of remember that feeling! Except mine wasn’t abroad, it was merely a couple of provinces away but that bummed out feeling I recall so clearly!

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  7. What a marvelous experience, the bad as well as the good. Yes, just like a movie.

    Scot certainly was good looking, but three cheers for the girl code.

    Like your friend, my choice would have been cold old England, the land of Shakespeare, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Tolkien, theater, tea, wonderful countryside, and dogs. All things I love. Went there once and discovered it was my heart’s home.

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