I was aimlessly wandering around FNAC one day, a couple of months into my year at uni in France, when the ticket counter caught my eye. Macy Grey, Paris, coming soon. This was just after she’d released her first album, playing a small venue in Montmartre. Asked around, but no-one fancied making the trip up from Montpellier to Paris just for a gig. So I hesitated, and I weighed it up, till my feet took me back to FNAC. One ticket, some francs lighter, off to book the TGV with the student discounts they do so well in France.

Train travel (TGV, especially) is so much more of a joy in France than back home. Huge windows in the viewing car, landscape changing from terracotta roofs to rivers, up the side of the A7, past Lyon, on to Paris. Onto the metro, stumble up the hill to the b and b, 2 star, clean, perfectly located five minutes from the venue.

My memory of the show is a little hazy…powerful voice, crazy girl, lots of students on a year abroad in the small audience. After a couple of beers, wandered back up the hill, ate alone in a cheap bouchon, headed back with a huge smile on my face. This was what I was here for…new experiences.

So music inspired my first trip alone…I didn’t want to miss out, and that inspired me to take that small leap. Never regretted it.