One City One Story 2016 Writing Contest: “A Vivid Memory”
3rd place
Category 3: Grades 9-12
“A Vivid Memory”
by Raizel Osorio
Grade 9
Blair High School
Paris. My dream was to go to Paris. For my 8th grade promotion, my parents bought me a trip to Europe with my friends. We were going to be in Paris for four days! When I found out, I got very emotional.
I remember this trip very well because that is where I’ve wanted to go for so long. The day we arrived, I was ecstatic. The first thing I wanted to do was go see the Eiffel Tower. We went to the hotel and dropped off our stuff and took the subway to the Eiffel Tower. When we got off the subway, to my right I saw a mime. I found it funny because in almost all movies, there is always a mime in Paris and I felt like I was in a movie. Right behind the mime… there it was, the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. La Tour Eiffel. My friends, family and I took selfies. Since the trip had been booked only a few months in advance, we weren’t able to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but we were still able to have a lot of fun walking around it. There is a building in front of the Eiffel Tower that you are able to go to the top. From there, you can see the Eiffel tower perfectly, from top to bottom.
We went to Musee Du Louvre. We waited hours to go inside, but in the end it was worth it. We stuffed our mouths with crepes and ice cream and croissants. The last night, we went to Sagrado Corazon to have our faces drawn. We were there until 1 am. Then it started raining, but we all wanted to see the Eiffel Tower during the night, when it is lit up. We got on the subway at 1 am and arrived at the Eiffel Tower around 1:30ish. There was a man playing the saxophone and that is when it hit me… I was in Paris. I started to cry because that is when realization hit me, I was living my dream.
That is the most vivid memory I have and I believe that it is the most vivid memory I will always have.