Sadly, I don't live in Paris anymore. Almost a year ago I left behind my life filled with eating crepes at least once a week, hanging out in cemeteries, and having a resting bitch face in the line 9 of the Parisian metro to living in another exciting--or so everyone said--city. New York City.
Nine months ago--the same time it takes to have a child--I moved to New York City. Filled with hopes and a fascination for the city that people claim is the greatest city and the capital of the world. Capital, maybe, greatest, not so much. I don't think I can correctly articulate why I dislike the city so much.
I love all the songs about it, I love Sinatra and for some reason when I'm walking down Park Avenue at three am I feel like Petula Clark and singing Downtown at the top of my lungs.
Maybe I'm too idealistic. I came here thinking my life would be something out of Sex and the City, or Gossip Girl--I have sat on the steps on the MET, so 1 point to me--or How I Met Your Mother. But it really resembles My So Called Life or Freaks and Geeks in regards to the excitement I feel.
I don't know, maybe I expected too much from New York.
Or maybe it's true--living in Paris ruins you for any other city. My time is now measured out in how long ago I was in Paris and in how much time I'll be back in Paris. but, alas, C'est la Vie.
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
I guess I should change the name of this blog to Invierno en el Mundo.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Saturday, September 14, 2013
The first week of living in Paris is officially over and it feels so surreal to know that I live here; it is cemented, I changed my 'currently lives in' from San Diego to Paris on Facebook.
The flight was long, too long for my liking and after about fourteen hours of plane flight along with three hours of layovers I arrive at Charles De Gaulle on September third and made my way to my new home in a sketchy cab whose driver didn't really spoke any English.
As soon as I got here I was given the keys to my apartment and started unpacking my clothes and arranging my room. Which still is a dull white color but I now have a stocked fridge and am officially living alone. That night I went out with some other students and ate some pizza margherita in a nice restaurant near my apartment. On a side note it seems like I've eaten more Italian food than I have French food.
The week was full of trying to figure out the neighborhood I live in and the area around campus. The area around my apartment is full of good small restaurants, creperies, bars, bakeries, and cute thrift shops. It's full of street arts and young people mulling around all day. The area around my school is the opposite, full of high end boutiques, fancy restaurants and malls. It's nice and it has by far my favorite bakery where I seem to stop daily for a croque monsieur or croissant. The great thing about my commute to school is walking from the metro towards campus and seeing the Eiffel Tower over the tops of buildings.
The first week was full of cliches. The first day I saw the Eiffel Tower, which I was never too fascinated by but seeing it in person (across from the Seine) cemented the fact that I'm in Paris. It's like how you can't really say you've been to London and didn't see the Big Ben or went to Rome and didn't make a wish in the Trevi Fountain. It was amazing seeing it in person and also seeing the light show late at night. That day I also ate my first crepe which was excellent, a crepe with bananas, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, and a lot of chantilly cream. The second day also marks the first time I got lost in Paris, around the Place de la Bastille. Which is a beautiful place to get lost by but it was horrible to try to find my way back when I do not know the city and can't speak French well. Luckily I was able to get home fine and before it got dark.
I was also able to climb up the Arc de Triomphe. The stairs were a pain and I was incredibly winded by the time I reached the top but once I was up there it was worth it, the view is breathtaking. 360 view of Paris, from the Eiffel Tower to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur it was amazing to see from all angles the city I will call home for the next nine months. Of course seeing the Champs-Elysées was also great, from the tree lined streets to all the great shops.
During the weekend we stayed in a château in Chantilly and ate great French food and got to enjoy the country side for a few hours after going through some logistics. We also toured the Musée Condé and saw some original Raphael pieces, most notably the Three Graces.
That first weekend also saw my first adventure alone(well, not completely alone since I was with a friend but a friend who isn't too familiar with the city of Paris either). We traveled by train to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the birthplace of many notable figures like Louis XIV, Claude Debussy, and Henry II. We napped a bit in the beautiful gardens and saw a magnificent view of all of Paris of these suburbs. We also had ice cream, which to me it seems like the Europeans really make their pistachio flavored ice cream a whole lot better than ice cream makers back in the states do.
This week was great, between making new friends, trying to find out more about the City of Light and eating amazing food all around. I'm looking forward to starting classes, well more classes than just French like I had been doing for the two days.
Paris is proving to be a lovely place and I'm excited to find out more about this city I now live in.
The flight was long, too long for my liking and after about fourteen hours of plane flight along with three hours of layovers I arrive at Charles De Gaulle on September third and made my way to my new home in a sketchy cab whose driver didn't really spoke any English.
As soon as I got here I was given the keys to my apartment and started unpacking my clothes and arranging my room. Which still is a dull white color but I now have a stocked fridge and am officially living alone. That night I went out with some other students and ate some pizza margherita in a nice restaurant near my apartment. On a side note it seems like I've eaten more Italian food than I have French food.
The week was full of trying to figure out the neighborhood I live in and the area around campus. The area around my apartment is full of good small restaurants, creperies, bars, bakeries, and cute thrift shops. It's full of street arts and young people mulling around all day. The area around my school is the opposite, full of high end boutiques, fancy restaurants and malls. It's nice and it has by far my favorite bakery where I seem to stop daily for a croque monsieur or croissant. The great thing about my commute to school is walking from the metro towards campus and seeing the Eiffel Tower over the tops of buildings.
The first week was full of cliches. The first day I saw the Eiffel Tower, which I was never too fascinated by but seeing it in person (across from the Seine) cemented the fact that I'm in Paris. It's like how you can't really say you've been to London and didn't see the Big Ben or went to Rome and didn't make a wish in the Trevi Fountain. It was amazing seeing it in person and also seeing the light show late at night. That day I also ate my first crepe which was excellent, a crepe with bananas, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, and a lot of chantilly cream. The second day also marks the first time I got lost in Paris, around the Place de la Bastille. Which is a beautiful place to get lost by but it was horrible to try to find my way back when I do not know the city and can't speak French well. Luckily I was able to get home fine and before it got dark.
I was also able to climb up the Arc de Triomphe. The stairs were a pain and I was incredibly winded by the time I reached the top but once I was up there it was worth it, the view is breathtaking. 360 view of Paris, from the Eiffel Tower to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur it was amazing to see from all angles the city I will call home for the next nine months. Of course seeing the Champs-Elysées was also great, from the tree lined streets to all the great shops.
During the weekend we stayed in a château in Chantilly and ate great French food and got to enjoy the country side for a few hours after going through some logistics. We also toured the Musée Condé and saw some original Raphael pieces, most notably the Three Graces.
That first weekend also saw my first adventure alone(well, not completely alone since I was with a friend but a friend who isn't too familiar with the city of Paris either). We traveled by train to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the birthplace of many notable figures like Louis XIV, Claude Debussy, and Henry II. We napped a bit in the beautiful gardens and saw a magnificent view of all of Paris of these suburbs. We also had ice cream, which to me it seems like the Europeans really make their pistachio flavored ice cream a whole lot better than ice cream makers back in the states do.
This week was great, between making new friends, trying to find out more about the City of Light and eating amazing food all around. I'm looking forward to starting classes, well more classes than just French like I had been doing for the two days.
Paris is proving to be a lovely place and I'm excited to find out more about this city I now live in.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Countdown
Since late June I've had a countdown to the day I'll depart to Paris. At first it was about seventy days, now it's only fifteen.
To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I had never thought that at eighteen I would be living on my own in a another country--maybe in Canada or Mexico, but never in another continent. Now, in two weeks I'll make the move to a city more than 5,000 miles away from my hometown.
A frightening thing--besides the obvious distance and figuring out how to live on my own--is the language barrier. I once took French lessons when I was in eight grade (more than five years ago!) and all I really remember is how to say hello, how are you? and for some odd reason the kid's song Alouette--I partly blame the catchy target commercial for this. I'm hoping these next couple of weeks studying with Rosetta stone might be of some help.
Another fear of course, is my lack of television and Netflix service--how am I supposed to live without an infinite amount of movies and television series at my disposal? What will I do without watching Weeds or The Catherine Tate Show?
I'm taking the advice everyone I've shared these "fears" with have had for me: it's not as big as you're making it out to be. Of course the language barrier will be difficult and at times you'll feel helpless but there's no better place to learn a language than the country where it originated. The distance? Well there's telephones, there's Skype, there's Facetime. The distance now is really determined by you and how much you place between yourself and those you love.
All the conversations I've had regarding the move always end with the same idea: make the best out of it. Just like those lines of dialogue Yoga Jones had in Orange is the New Black: Try to look at your experience here as a mandala. Work hard to make something as meaningful and beautiful as you can and when you're done, pack it in and know it was all temporary. That's all it is, temporary. With the fears and hopes I will take with me I have to make something beautiful.
This ongoing countdown has lend itself to hours of thinking of all I want to accomplish while in Paris.
I've made a list of seven things I want to do while in France--some are so cliche but all I've seen people do in movies and television shows while being in Paris I also want to do:
To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I had never thought that at eighteen I would be living on my own in a another country--maybe in Canada or Mexico, but never in another continent. Now, in two weeks I'll make the move to a city more than 5,000 miles away from my hometown.
A frightening thing--besides the obvious distance and figuring out how to live on my own--is the language barrier. I once took French lessons when I was in eight grade (more than five years ago!) and all I really remember is how to say hello, how are you? and for some odd reason the kid's song Alouette--I partly blame the catchy target commercial for this. I'm hoping these next couple of weeks studying with Rosetta stone might be of some help.
Another fear of course, is my lack of television and Netflix service--how am I supposed to live without an infinite amount of movies and television series at my disposal? What will I do without watching Weeds or The Catherine Tate Show?
I'm taking the advice everyone I've shared these "fears" with have had for me: it's not as big as you're making it out to be. Of course the language barrier will be difficult and at times you'll feel helpless but there's no better place to learn a language than the country where it originated. The distance? Well there's telephones, there's Skype, there's Facetime. The distance now is really determined by you and how much you place between yourself and those you love.
All the conversations I've had regarding the move always end with the same idea: make the best out of it. Just like those lines of dialogue Yoga Jones had in Orange is the New Black: Try to look at your experience here as a mandala. Work hard to make something as meaningful and beautiful as you can and when you're done, pack it in and know it was all temporary. That's all it is, temporary. With the fears and hopes I will take with me I have to make something beautiful.
This ongoing countdown has lend itself to hours of thinking of all I want to accomplish while in Paris.
I've made a list of seven things I want to do while in France--some are so cliche but all I've seen people do in movies and television shows while being in Paris I also want to do:
- eat some Ladurée macarons--I've never had macarons and since deciding to move to Paris I vowed to not eat any unless I get them from Ladurée
- visit Les Deux Magots--Sartre, Camus, Picasso, Joyce all were known to frequent the cafe, and of course my favorite actress Anna Karina was discovered there
- visit the Eiffel Tower--this really goes without an explanation
- get lost. As strange as it might sound I want to get lost in Paris, wander the streets, visit tiny cafes, have conversations with strangers I might never see again, visit parks, ride the metro as far as my money'll take me. I just want to really breathe in the city.
- walk all along the Champs-Élysées--of course I might cry a bit from not being able to afford anything from Louis Vuitton or Gerlain but it'll be worth it.
- go to a local show-- I'm a sucker for live music and for French music. Despite not speaking the language I can't count all the hours I've spent listening to the likes of Francoise Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg. I want to go see a performance and spend hours with songs which I don't know the lyrics to stuck in my head
- Explore and learn--as one of my high school advisors said, always continue learning because the moment you stop learning is also the moment you stop growing.
I've thought a lot about what this move will mean these past few months--no school and no job really lends itself to thinking--and I've come to one conclusion. Whether I have fears or not, these will all gradually fade and in time I'll become accustomed to living in Paris.
My head's already there. It's only fifteen more days until all of me arrives.
My head's already there. It's only fifteen more days until all of me arrives.
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