Arghh. So, predictably, I’ve been in Paris for just
over a week and I haven’t updated my facebook status, let alone this blog, for
almost a month. Which is really a shame,
because this has been one of the busiest and most amazing weeks of my
life. I have been jotting things down to
write about continuously, but as each day passes and more things happen to
write about, the task just seems more and more overwhelming and I have to go
find some chocolate to calm myself. I finally decided last night that I couldn’t
possibly write one post with everything I’ve been doing, but would instead
break them down into smaller chunks. I
will get better at this, I promise.
The number of “So how’s Paris?”
questions I’ve gotten over the last week have made me become increasingly
frustrated with the limitations of the English language. There’s only so many times that I can say “amazing”,
“perfect” and “incredible” without losing their meaning. Paris is wonderful, really. I had the most ridiculous attack of the
giggles late last night thinking about it- after emerging from the internet and
general American-ness of Facebook and email, I shut down my computer and lay
down, in Paris. In my Paris bed in
this adorable Paris apartment ten minutes from the Eiffel Tower in one of the
most magical cities in the world, and I could barely contain myself enough not
to wake my roommate. I have been praying
and wishing so hard for months to have an amazing experience, to get a good
host family, for Paris to be all I imagined.
And I got SO lucky. But I’m
getting ahead of myself in explanations- there must be order here, somewhere.
Let’s start with the journey here-
not having much else to occupy myself with during the waits to board in various
airports, I bought a small notepad and a pen and started to write things down,
not wanting to forget the way I was feeling.
At each stage of the journey, I wondered what the next stage would
bring. I could either antagonize myself over the wait or enjoy it, so I chose
to relish in not knowing where I would be in the next hour. The next few paragraphs are transcribed from
my notepad, little thoughts that I jotted down as I moved across the
world. There’s something very romantic
about sitting alone in a foreign airport, writing down your poetic thoughts like
an intrepid explorer. I sort of pushed
away the feeling of being very hipster and pretentious and wrote down what I
was thinking as I was thinking it.
This first one was in D.C. I had just left my parents and sister, and
for the first time I was about to embark on a Serious Journey all by
myself. I was feeling rather alone- that
feeling has thankfully assuaged by now, but the sentiment still stands.
“I must get used to silence, to being on my own- there’s lots of hurry
up and wait in my future. As much as
there will always be people near me and around me to help, for the first time I
am doing something on my own, as an adult in the world. Going off to school was like as a student,
and all of the challenges in my life have been surrounded by friends and
family. But not Paris. Not the foreign city that right now feels as
fearsome as it is awesome, and I mean that in the most literal way, full of
awe. (I think there is a high likelihood that there will be at least one crying
baby on this flight.) One thing that I
hope to learn on this trip is how to travel alone and spend days alone without
being lonely. I’ve never minded having
time by myself, but it’s different when I can walk out the door of my bed room
and be instantly surrounded. I’m going to
have quite a lot of time in my own head.”
Waiting at Heathrow-
“So it’s morning in London and Heathrow is bustling at 7:30am, whereas
my iPOD reports that it’s actually 2:30 am and I have downed a large venti
coffee in record time. (I think the
prospect of paying in dollars and getting back pounds in change flustered me to
the point where I couldn’t remember what Starbucks called a medium anymore, so
I said the first thing that came to mind.
It’s been a long day.) My gate
doesn’t open until 8:15, so I’m entertaining myself by trying to guess if my
fellow traveler’s yawns are from being up too late, like mine, or getting up
too early. I’ve tried to find Frenchmen
to eavesdrop on, but I’ve had to settle for deciphering the announcements over
the loudspeaker. So here I sit,
listening to my English boy bands and contemplating that for the first time in
nearly four years I’m a minority nationality, and that I now have a change
purse full of coins.”
PLACES
ON THE DEPARTURE LIST THAT I WOULD GO IF I WASN’T ALREADY GOING TO PARIS
- Edinburgh -Nice -Berlin -Glasgow -Geneva
- Amsterdam -Venice -Rome
o
….where I wouldn’t go would be a shorter
list. Or maybe….
PLACES THAT I COULDN’T
LOCATE ON A MAP OR EVEN KNOW WHAT COUNTRY THEY’RE IN WHICH MAKES ME FEEL LIKE
AN IGNORANT AMERICAN
(with accompanying
information for your education)
- Basel (Switzerland) -Chennai (India) -Lagos (Nigeria) -Doha
(Qatar)
-Entrebbe
(Uganda) -Stuttgart
(Germany)
This bit I wrote for Valentine’s
Day, as it was my second full day in Paris and I was already smitten.
“I
want to understand the French like I understand my friends. I want to know Paris like my own town, or
better, I want to blend in. I love reading books about people who can assimilate
into any culture, who talk about their wayward youth in one fabulous city or
another like they’re talking about an old friend. Iwant to fall in love with this city. Isn’t it strange how eager I am to form a
relationship that I know will end in four months, when I would never do that
with a person? I want to feel
heartbroken when I leave here, to know that I put everything I had into the
experience and come out the other side a different person. I’ve heard some people say that all
relationships end in either break-ups, divorce, or death, but I always think
that they forget the part in the middle, which is usually quite a lot of
fun. I couldn’t not go to Paris because
it will end. I think you gain so much
from each experience that you have, that it’s a shame to negate what you’ve
learned by how or if it ends.”
Well,of course I have much more to
tell you, but I cannot laze in bed all day- I have my last first class this
afternoon and the city beckons! Perhaps
tonight I will write about Versailles, which was our first excursion out of the
city, or my host family or maybe the food! Stay
tuned!
A tout a l’heure!
