I Survived Day One

(Note: I really did write this on my first day, but I didn't have any connection to upload it. Excuse the delay!)

I haven’t seen the sun in twenty-four hours. When they say Paris is cloudy, they aren’t lying. I think I’m going to have to relearn where everything is in the city once the sun makes her first appearance.

Beyond that, I am absolutely in love with Paris. I’m glad that I’ve been here once already because if I’d gotten off the plane yesterday and been exposed to the beauty of the city for the first time, I think I would have passed out. My luck is not lost on me- not only do I get to live in one of the most impressive cities in the world, but I live in the best location. My dorm is just down the street from Notre Dame, my favorite building in Paris (pause here so you can go look it up), and the Jewish area, le Marais, is across the Seine. I went there for lunch today with my cousins, and it was strangely familiar from the signs in Hebrew.

While I do feel like a foreigner (I haven’t mastered trying my scarf like everyone else does and I keep stopping to take pictures), I don’t feel uneasy or nervous. Yes, it helps that I can get home by finding the massive cathedral that dominates the skyline, and I haven’t really ventured out of my arrondissement, but it doesn’t feel overwhelming. And I know I’m not supposed to buy into stereotypes, and in no way do I think that we should rely on stereotypes to understand other cultures and peoples… but, in a way, it is kind of comical to see them in real life (but only the positive ones). For example, I actually saw someone wearing a beret, and I heard someone on the Metro use the phrase “comme ci comme ça,” and I couldn’t help but smile to myself. (I wonder what positive stereotypes about America people see and are amused by.)

So far, study abroad is more than my dream- this is my wildest dream’s wildest dream. And yes, I am aware I’m in the honeymoon period before classes start, but not even the weather can bring me down. Well, that’s a lie. There is one thing that’s bothering me. It’s happened a few times- I gather up the courage to speak to someone in French and they RESPOND IN ENGLISH. You obviously understood what I said because you answered my question, so why are you killing my confidence like that?? (That question deserves 100 more questions marks, but I’m sparing y’all.) Not only is it completely embarrassing, but it also throws me off because I either have to switch back to English or keep going in French LIKE THE IMPOSTER I AM but now everyone around me knows that I don’t speak French (Ha! As if it was some secret- you can detect my American accent from my breathing alone). It’s AWFUL. If you’re French and reading this, I am begging you to take pity on us fake francophones. We’re trying really hard!! We just want to suppress the burden of American monolingual culture by speaking to you in your language and blend in, which is kind of hard considering everyone here either seems to be born with the superpower to determine who isn’t French from one look or can see the blinking sign over my head that screams “I AM NOT FROM HERE.”

(UPDATE) Okay, I’ve talked with some actual French people and they told me this: when they’re responding in English, it’s because they want to be more welcoming or more helpful (or to impress their co-workers). I just thought everyone should know.

I’ll leave you on a happier note: On the way to a concert yesterday (alt-J is the best jetlag cure), and I decided to walk past Notre Dame and use my one and only admissible tourist moment to stand on Point Zéro instead of taking the Metro to the main station. I was looking for the little bronze marker when I saw a group of people taking pictures of what I assumed to be kittens, based on their size (I thought Paris was known for having a lot of cats). I edged closer to take a look, and that’s when I saw the long, skinny tail and realized… THEY WERE NOT KITTENS. It turns out that rats are also abundant in Paris and not afraid of people getting near them. Good thing I got that out of the way on day one.

#january #paris