Reflections and Lessons Learned
With one week left in this beautiful city I've come to call home, I'm scrambling to do everything I possibly can. Thus, in the past week, I've climbed both the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, had various bottles of wine in various Parisian public places, and have been living off of spaghetti and baguettes - the Parisian college diet. I am dumbfounded that I've been in this city for four and a half months and haven't even discovered it all. They say you can walk Paris in a day, but I promise that's a complete lie. I have yet to see it all, and perhaps I never will, but from what I have seen, I've learned the following:
1. Getting lost is totally normal. Actually, if you've been in Paris and haven't gotten lost, you haven't tried hard enough. I am already terrible at all things maps-related - from plain old geography to Google maps to iPhone's compass - so coming to an entirely different country very much disoriented me. I think I can safely say my sense of direction has gotten better, yet that has not stopped me from getting lost on a weekly basis here. While I might not want to be lost in my hometown of Pottstown, PA, or even New York City, getting lost in Paris is so pleasant, you forget where you were headed to begin with.
2. Be late. Parisians invented the phrase "fashionably late." I am a very prompt person, which for the first time, has not worked to my advantage here. Even when I'm just meeting friends, I arrive at least 5 minutes early. And when I'm late? Stress. Sweat. Heavy breathing. I take comfort in being the first to arrive. no matter what the occasion. But in Paris, everyone is late all the time. And if you think you're late, you're probably not. Because someone is always later than you are. But be late. Soak up your surroundings, walk slow, et ne stressez pas.
3. Parisian pessimism is a form of social conformity. The day of my last French language exam, our class read an article which talked about French pessimism vs. American optimism, and how être pessimiste is a way of social conformity in Franceland. And it makes sense. The Parisian pout, the loner smoking a cig with a leg bent against a wall, the old man in a business suit drinking by himself at a bar. Brooding is fashionable. As is looking as though you are suffering the most painful aspects of life at all times. The secret is: it's all a front. Parisians aren't actually pessimistic. In fact, the insane amount of babies and pregnant women that I have seen lately proves that the French are optimists. Le pessimisme, c'est chic.
4. Eat bread and don't drink water. Who drinks water anymore anyways... Amirite? And all that American anxiety about carbs? Gone. Bread here is completely different than in the U.S. (probably because it's real, fresh bread, and not fabricated from chemicals) and it's also essential to every meal. On the contrary, water is not. Wine is, however, so the whole Parisian alcoholic thing makes so much more sense. It's a cycle: sleep till noon, have a glass of wine with your meal, go out to a bar, smoke when you're hungover. I broke both a drinking glass and a wine opener within a week in my homestay (worst host student ever), and my host mom told me: "A glass? That's not necessary. But a wine opener? That is."
5. Walk more, eat less. (Smoke more? No...) While you certainly cannot walk Paris in a single day, you can walk mostly wherever you need to go, even if it takes a couple hours. And as a college student who doesn't want to buy a metro pass, this is the way to go. Since you're clearly not joining a gym while you're here (I think the cheapest one is something like 500 euros for 4 months) you've got to do something, and walking the city or dancing at a night club are the only two ways to get any sort of physical exercise. Climb those metro stairs, walk up Montmartre to Sacre Coeur, take the 1000 stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You will never be alone, and you will always have something beautiful to look at.
6. Don't be afraid to go places alone. One of the things about being abroad is that you've got to be independent. Especially if you want to see things. I've never been the type who gets anxiety about eating lunch alone in the cafeteria, but that seems completely different than exploring a foreign country toute seule. But the thing is, it's not abnormal to go places by yourself. Especially when there's something you're dying to see and you can't get ahold of anyone to go with. And if you look around, there are loads of people doing the same thing you're doing... So are you ever really alone?
Lessons learned, memories made, I'm reveling in my last few days here. The truth is, I forget what life in America is like. Maybe it's because I've never been put so out of context before to actually acknowledge it. As much as I love it here, and as beautiful as it is, I'm feeling like I'm ready to come home.