My Paris Experience

My fascination with France grew slowly with a number of books I was required to read in high school. Every story ended, began or occurred in France. Then I had the opportunity to learn a third language and had to choose between French or Russian. My choice was motived by my desire to not learn russian rather than a sincere enthusiasm for Moliere’s language and its melodious sounds. Fascination is actually not the most perfect word to describe my feeling towards France, it was more like a deep curiosity.

When fate sent me here for the first time 3 years ago, I never thought that I would ever live in Paris, much less that I would study in here (that dream was completely detached from reality in my mind).

In the end Paris became not only the destination of many of my future trips and the location of a 4-months internship but finally a place where I studied too! Paris, with its small apartement on rue Meynadier, truly became my second home.

From Istanbul to Paris

All of this happend because of a boy that I met in Istanbul on my first exchange under the Erasmus program, strangely enough - a Frenchman. I first came to France from Istanbul, where I had been living for already 3 months. My stay lasted two weeks.

When I read what I had written on the blog that I was running during my stay in Turkey, dedicated to the impressions from my first trip to Paris, it is hard not to chuckle– the Paris I know today is completely different from the Paris described by me 3 years ago. However, I must emphasize the fact that I was only perceiving Paris through the lens of my experience of Istanbul, which was the place where I lived at the time.

"Thanks to my stay in Paris, I realized how much I was suffocating in Turkey, in the literal sense of the word (heat, terrible stifling) and as well as figuratively (adapting to local customs, behaviors, paying too much attention to the lenghts of my shorts and the pitch and volume of my laughs in public transportation) "- this was my first impression. My very distinctive hair and eye colors finally stopped to set me apart. Being different and the attention that came from it was exhilirating just at first. In Paris, again, I could blend in with the crowd.

„In Turkey, every time I was hearing my mother tongue, I could not resist the urge to start a conversation with my fellow countrymen, so I could exchange experiences on the city and Turkey in general. It was always a delightful event. In Paris, I had the same impulse at first but I quickly got rid of it. There were just too many Polish tourists in Paris and I didn’t feel that comfortable with talking to strangers in the „heart” of Europe rather that at the meeting point of Europe and Asia. The French maintained much more distance between one another than Turkey. Although both cities were densely populated, in Paris the concept of personal space was much more tangible than in Istanbul.

Cultural shock

I just love observing the facial expressions of my family members or my friends during their first trip through the parisian metro from Porte Maillot to Laumiere (usually the first underground journey for those visiting me). Here are the most common behaviour: they talk a little, watch a lot, although they try to do it discreetly, and they try to hide their culture shock behind a mask of fatigue. For most of them, the Parisian Metro was the first time they were exposed to such a cultural and ethnic melting pot. And in this train where they sit and discover the city, they can see people coming from all over the world, colorful costumes, musicians and beggars, they hear them speaking various unknown languages.

It is common knowledge that Paris is a cultural center for people of all nationalities. But I cannot sterss enough the fact that, coming from a village of 2, 000 people, where everybody is very culturally and ethnically homogenous (as most of Poland is, to be honest) you have the feeling that you just arrived in the center of the world. It is extremely interesting and truly an exotic moment for someone who comes from a small village like me.

French cuisine

I do not cook and keep a safe distance from the kitchen. Therefore, I devoted very little time throughout my stay in France to the French cusine treating food as a basic part of life instead of some sophisticated treat for your stomach. I ate snails, frogs, raclette, cassoulette, creme brule, and my absolute favorite is simply pain perdu. As for the drinks, I enjoyed the most pastis (of course wine is the greatest thing ever but It became so easily available for me and so obvious as a „french drink”). I learned that the most important thing is not actually to taste the difference between ricard and pastis 51 but to know how to pretend that you can actually taste any difference.

I will never forget my first French baguette – I ate it whole, in a flash, without anything on it. I was marveling that finally something that was called bread reminded me of Polish bread( even better! ) instead of cotton (another Istanbul memory).

Love traffic and Eiffel Tower

It seems to me that wandering in Paris is allowed only in pairs, or in groups with a guide. I do not know the causality - Paris being called the city of love because there are so many couples traveling to Paris or couples travelling to Paris, because Paris has become a city for lovers. Regardless, it is amanzing how easily noticeable this phenomenon is.

When it comes to the issue of Parisian love, it always seemed to me that the Eiffel Tower is a place too predictable and common when it comes to marriage proposal. Once I even heard that the amount of a marriage proposal on the tower is not counted within a day, but within an hour!

When I finally walked onto the top floor of the dusk, I understood why so many couples engage right there...

At the beginning the Eiffel Tower only left me the impression of being a huge pile of iron - nothing special. In the end, however, it caused me great emotional agitation. The Eiffel Tower was not only a great monument, which I wanted to see, it was not even one of the many items on my bucket lists. It was for me a symbol of determinaton and a reflection of my dreams. This feeling of making your dreams come true was amazing!

Architecture

The Parisian French architecture is something that captivated me completely. I do not mean just charming haussmannian facades, which are undoubtedly Paris’ showpiece, but also the interiors of these buildings. Characteristic doorknobs, decorated ceilings, tuned chandeliers, wooden floor creaking and my absolute favorites: out of order fireplaces and huge mirrors on top of them. In Poland, this type of interior would belong to a luxury in antique stylewhereas for many Parisians it is simply the standard for any old enough apartment (even I live in one of them).

Between heaven and earth

The sky over Paris is unique, completely different from all the other heavens. I do not wish at this point to use shallow epithets - the best way to summarize my feelings is to mention that my photo albums with pictures of Paris are filled with images of its sky.

I love Paris in the rain. Only then does the city of lights deserve its name as all fragments are reflected on the wet ground or the occasional puddles, and every place looks like a scene from a movie. It gets even better with the typically parisian cobblestones.

Parisian parks are impossible to forget. But I had to learn to appreciate them. In the beginning, when my boyfriend proposed visiting yet another park, my reaction was often: "Park again?! ". As I said earlier, I come from the countryside, surrounded by forests and meadows on all sides. As a child I spent the whole summer on the river bank or on the grass. I could not imagine another environement. For my boyfriend however – city-dweller from birth, parks were his only contact with nature.

Today I consider myself as a city-dweller as well, which is why I started to appreciate parks more. It is actually hard to not admire them. In poland parks consist of open space, trees, banches, places to play for the kids – this is it. In Paris, they very often look like pieces of art. Lakes, monuments, diverse and perfectly cut trees – I have never seen any parks like these anywhere.

Existencial Paris

Notre Dame is a great monument which is breathtakingly beautiful, but, being so often visited by tourists, the place lacks this magic aura that you can feel, for example, in Saint Sulpice. The pious atmosphere preserved between thick walls and the heavy, raw smell of incense and old wood not only pushes you to sit back and enjoy, but also to delve into your own spirituality.

Another such place detached from everyday life is Pere Lachaise cemetery. Surprisingly, this place has never caused me existential feelings and thoughts of death, but has made me filled with peace and happiness regarding my own life.

Very existential were the Catacombs however. 5 hours of waiting in dreadful heat just to have the priviledge a taking a walk surrounded by death. After leaving the underground and for a long time, I could not shake off all the thoughts that had surged in my mind. The most dominant thought of all was my own appreciation of the latin locution memento mori. Indeed, we all have limited time, and however we may use it, in the end only bones will remain of us. That simple fact felt incredibly hard and real to me. It was rather depressing but still a very cathartic experience.

One of the most memorable experiences of my life was a July 14th 2013, which I celebrated on the Champs de Mars, right under the Eiffel Tower. Together with a group of friends, some of which I had just met, we ate, drunk wine, sung and played the guitar waiting for the show. In the evening the most beautiful display of fireworks I have ever seen in my life took place over the Eiffel tower. The whole thing lasted a good 30 minutes. All of it was backed by beautiful music and speaches in french. The motto "liberté, égalité, fraternité" echoed through my mind. It was one of my most emotional experience in Paris, and I really felt proud of France even though I was so far away from being french.

Journey through another life

As a tribute to my highschool self that used to be obsessed by the story of Marie Antoinette, and then by her biography written by Antonia Fraser, I made a trip in the footsteps of the controversial queen. There was, of course Versailles, to which I came back often, (to the point that I feel like I know the audioguide by heart). I was also at La Conciergerie, and even at the famous patisserie Ladurée which prepared all the sweets that are seen in the movie. The last point of my journey was the grave of Marie Antoinette in the Basilica of Saint-Denis. This is another moment of my stay in Paris that I will not forget. While I remained in the same place in my life, it felt like I had completed a journey.

Bonjour Paris

A very positive habit, which I brought from to Poland from France was the gentleness and care that the french display through their manners, most of the time to the benefit of complete strangers (holding the door, bonjour and au-revoir) with a smile on their face and of course merci). Not that we in Poland are uncultured and boorish, but that kindness and smile on faces of strangers in these situations is rare in Poland. Many of my guests from my home country had noticed the difference, but I wish they knew with what sort of consideration a japanese woman packs your groceries into a plastic and what kind of cultural shock I had to face coming back from there to everyday polish life.

Paris for facebook vs. Paris to make dreams come true

Some of the guests that came to visit me treat Paris as a place to breeze through. Instead of soaking up the views and enjoying the Parisian atmoshper, they only take photos. Few of my friends really "lived" in Paris during their stay. However, there was one person whose arrival in Paris I waited impatiently for. I really wanted to show this person Paris and its best features - It was my godmother. I will never forget visiting the Louvre with her. It was a magical experience each time when I was with her. The first time we got there after dark, and we entered there from the side of the Pont des Arts. I will never forget that moment when from a busy street, roaring from cars and lights, we entered in the middle of the castle court walls and suddenly the buzz and street cries disappeared. This stark contrast was so clear and incredible that for a lenghty amount of time, sitting in the middle of the square surrounded by the art of dome of the worlds’ best artists, we analized what had just happened to us - almost a journey through time.

Then, we proceeded towards the Pyramid. We met almost no people – another magical moment in just about 20 minutes. When two days later we finaly went inside of the Louvre. It caused the same feeling to my godmother as the Eiffel Tower had given me. My aunt sat down on a bench and began to cry – this museum was the symbol of her fulfilled dreams, which had to wait much longer than mine.

To conclude I do not want to say how beautiful and an amazing city Paris is again.

For my whole teenage life, I had the feeling of missing some kind of opportunity. I felt that my village was not the right place for me.

I never had this feeling living in Paris. I have been living in the center of the world, where everything is possible.