The first time I realized that I liked London better than Paris was when I was on the Tube in London for the first time since I'd moved to Paris. I hadn't talked to anyone since I landed in London, so it wasn't the simplicity of using English to communicate, but something else that made me feel more comfortable in London. I realized much later that the reason I had this thought in the Tube was because my experiences in the Paris Metro are a good telling of my experiences in Paris as a whole.
I had always noticed that people looked at me in the Metro, but it never really bothered me. This was probably because I was initially looking at people too, being in a new city with new fashions to digest :-). But after a while, it's just odd that everyone is staring at me. Today, I was sitting in the train and a girl was staring at me throughout all 8 stops we were on the train together. Every time I looked in her direction, I'd catch her looking at me. And when I did, she wouldn't even smile to acknowledge my presence. Which brings me to point number 2. Oh before I get to that, Parisians don't like their gym clothes. They also don't like working out. I get stared at even more (if that was even possible) in the Metro in my gym clothes. Even when jogging on the street in them, people stop to see the girl running in Paris. Apparently, skinny French girls don't go running to keep their figures.
Although I sit here complaining about people staring at me, I've done a decent amount of people watching myself. Other than the fact that every French girl is skinny, they also never smile. As in, I really don't think I've ever seen a French girl smile. Maybe it's justified to not smile alone in the train (although I definitely do smile to myself), but even when they're with their significant other, being unnecessarily romantic, I still haven't caught them smiling!
I think this bit about not smiling somewhat explains the overall feeling I've been having about Paris. Although the city is gorgeous without a doubt, and I've never had anyone be blatantly rude to me (something many people have told me they've experienced in Paris), I don't feel any warmth from the people. It's really hard to explain but it's the overall feel of the city that makes me realize that I cannot assimilate into this society not because of my decision, but out of their decision.
I'm starting to think that Paris' only worthwhile contribution to my life is Daft Punk. Actually, Paris' only contribution to the world -- Daft Punk.
2 comments:
Wow, that girl just staring at you like that? Super weird. And that's a common thing? That would make me really uncomfortable, too. I would always keep my head down when I was walking around in Japan, because people would literally POINT and say the Japanese word for "foreigner," and I would be embarrassed. I always tried really hard to be polite and not screw up socially all the time, so that people wouldn't think Americans were rude. It was a lot of pressure! But at least people there smiled...I don't think I could handle Paris as well as you are handling it!
As long as we're talking about good things from France, what about CHEESE?! There's a fancy sandwich shop down the street from CfA, and I always help myself to like, five samples of all the cheeses. Clearly I'm not concerned about embarrassing myself in my own country!
Ok, I disagree that Paris' only contribution has been Daft Punk. How about Le Cordon Bleu???
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