Paris Stats
Here are my stats
Days spent in Paris: 2
Hours slept: 4
Euros spent: €585
Metros boarded: 8
Steps: 41,000
Entire baguettes eaten: 1
Poops taken: 0
Let me elaborate. I decided to make this trip my own personal social experiment. A lot of the kids I have taught have written, “thank you for being so patient” in their goodbye cards (along with many, many other compliments, might I humbly add). This has always shocked me because every other time I have been called patient, barring none, it has been abundantly sarcastic. That being said, perhaps I’m maturing because I do think I’ve demonstrated a great deal of patience recently. I am a very anxious person, and I knew that this first solo-abroad trip would be a lot, so I’m consciously forcing myself to be zen and stoic through it all, especially the travel days. I was the last to board the plane, I checked my luggage when they were asking for volunteers to free up space (lowkey it wouldn’t have fit in the overhead bins anyways. A lady told me I had to check my bag before I even went through security and I completely ignored her.. patience doubles as a life hack to get free oversized bag check?). I was definitely challenged, I had all the typical airplane characters: crying baby, coughing old person, angry seat-kicking woman behind me, dude with rancid B.O. in front of me.. no pukers though! Economy tickets have also climbed up in rank, I got dinner, champagne, and wine! Beware, that exclamation mark is one of fear, not of excitement. It was horrendous. I boast about the fact that I will eat anything, and today I met my match.. and it is airplane curry. I entered this self-deprecating cycle of needing to wash down the wine with curry, and then needing to free my mouth from curry jail by rinsing it with wine, and so on. What happened to pretzels and gingerale? Ah well, I survived, my mouth survived, all is well that ends well.
Onto a bigger “zen and stoic” challenge: Paris’ metro lines. They are confusing in and of themselves, but the kicker today was (1) the first metro broke down, and (2) some disruption on the line delayed or altogether cancelled most of the metro lines I needed. At one point, I was just haphazardly squishing into the first metro I saw just to get off at the next station to see if any of these new stops or numbers lined up with the itinerary screenshot I had from my excellent, foolproof planning. Most didn’t, so I hopped on and off quite a few before recognizing a station and finding my way. It took me three hours. This is how I showed up at the door of the lady I’m staying with. I had been awake for 20 hours at this point.
The lady I am staying with is a lot. She seems to embody the most annoying traits my parents exhibit individually but combined into one singular french woman. That, I can delve into upon request. She doesn’t know English. Not a single word. No effort to even replicate an english word.. which I am honestly grateful for for two reasons. One, my french is getting much better, and two, I can talk about her (or anything, for that matter) on FaceTime in the next room without fear of judgement. I’m also unsure of her name. It is either Francine, Francis, Francois, or Elaine. I’m being serious, there’s an equal 25% chance it’s any of those.
My room is beautiful! This is the view from my balcony! I’m staying just outside of the downtown core (about a 20 minute walk), which is very convenient. The streets are beautiful. I haven’t seen a single house, nor do I expect to over the next 3 weeks, the city is lined with tall apartments. There are stores, cafés, and restaurants lining the first level and apartments above. All the cafés and restaurants have seating outside along the sidewalk, and everybody sits on the same side of the table and looks out onto the street. Personal space does not exist, you are seated elbow to elbow, and I haven’t passed any eatery that hasn’t been packed at all hours of the day. I walked by “Le Grizzli” which made my Grizzly Grill heart happy. It is a pedestrian-oriented city, where the stop lines for cars under red lights is literally the crosswalk. This took a bit of adjusting to as I constantly walked in fear of being run over until I realized this symbiotic system. The streets are very zig-zaggy, meaning so many rounded corner buildings! The Eiffel Tower is also HUMONGOUS. Look at it in comparison to a 6-story building, and farther in the background, mind you!
I do hold a personal grudge against the metro so in protest I have been walking everywhere, hence the high step count. I feel no more confident in my directional skills, but I do feel skinnier. I’ll take that win.
Despite its suspicious brown-ness, La Seine is beautiful (reminds me of the Ottawa Canal but oh so much better). The entire downtown is decorated with kilometres of old stone buildings. There is no shortage of awe in this city. Francis-Francine-Elaine insisted a tour of the neighbourhood take priority over any sleep post-travel day, granted I did arrive at 11am so in hindsight I am glad I was forced to take advantage of the day. Going on too many hours of no sleep, I eventually crashed around 4pm, woke up at 7pm, and stayed awake until 3am. Jet lag may have won the battle.. but I will win.. the next battle (office reference). Unclear if this is a result of the airplane food or a being alone in new city across the world, but all I have consumed is an entire baguette and I have yet to see it out the other end. I do hope sleep, food.. and other necessities.. become easier in the near future, but I am having a really great time regardless.
Thanks for reading. Talk soon,
Beda
