Paris, Mi Amor

Parlez-vous francais? Oui, je parle!

This past weekend a group of us ventured westward to Paris, the city of love, for our last free travel slot, and it was a unique cultural experience for me in particular. In countries like Ireland and Great Britain, the language barrier is delightfully nonexistent, whereas in home sweet Czech and countries like Poland and Hungary, the language puts my brain in a haze. In France, however, I had a new interaction with the linguistics of the land, as I am somewhat conversational in French. Granted, no one would mistake me for a native by any means, but I can carry on small talk for a few minutes and order in a restaurant, so it was fun for me to see how much of my French I actually retained in any sort of a coherent fashion.

Beyond just experimenting with my linguistic capacities, there were a plethora of other adventures that went down in grand ol’ Paris. For starters, I was sick prior to takeoff, so that combined with the changing air pressure of flying resulted in the super exciting conclusion of me passing out in the street outside the Paris airport shortly after we flew in. So that was an… interesting start to the weekend. I don’t think people who travel adequately understand just how exhausting it truly is. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the gratification of worldview is worth of the pain of physical and mental fatigue but I wish my domestic friends could understand the work that goes into all my artsy travel pics because it is a copious, copious amount.

Fear not though- things went up from the “hey mom I passed out in Parisian traffic last night” incident. Our dreary Saturday morning was somewhat brightened by getting to stroll through the stunning Palace and Gardens of Versailles and after a group nap to recover lost sleep from travelling through the night, we took a jaunt to a scenic overlook of the city. Even as I grow more and more accustomed to travel, it continues to strike me as absurd that we can simply fly out to Paris for the weekend simply because we have nothing better to do. That was something new about this weekend- I’m pretty sure that everyone who came to Paris was there for the exclusive reason that the tickets were relatively cheap, not specifically because it was their heart’s desire to venture there.

That didn’t stop us from having a stellar time though- I crossed seeing the Eiffel Tower at night off my bucket list! At this rate, I’m going to have to start a new bucket list because I’ll be done with the one I’ve got by the time I’m thirty. I suppose there are worse problems to have than living too adventurous of a life though. Though we didn’t actually go inside, we did get an outside view of the Louvre, as well as Notre Dame cathedral, Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe, and some other traditional Parisian sights on our walking tour Sunday morning. It was a truly French moment for me as we sat lounging in the grassy shadows of the Eiffel Tower popping champagne and munching on macaroons. I particularly enjoy snapshots such as that one because some European cities are exactly what you expect them to be while others are a complete shock.

Though most everyone we encountered spoke relatively fluent English, it was still a fun game for me to see how much French I learned was actually applicable in real life. It’s a gratifying sensation to see the relevance of your studies exploited in real life because if we’re being honest, they often feel quite pointless. I am deeply intrigued by neurolinguistic studies so every time I get the chance to see the effects of language on culture, it’s a fascinating experience.

Despite some mishaps and maladies along the way, I fell in love (with crepes and champagne) in the city of love. Until next time- au revoir, Paris!