Tag: Europe

By unprofoundobservations

While Paris has decided it's not quite ready for the spring and would like to throw the entire populace off by once again snowing 2cm, I am determined to begin spending time outdoors and sightseeing as though the Champs Elysee weren't covered with slush. While I am determined to fully experiences Paris' greatest gardens and monuments in the spring when they're slightly more impressive and slightly less grey, it seems that this won't be for some time so I have to get a head start. Thanks to time spent with my fabulous aunts who happened to visit the city this week (yes I do mean Paris, not New York) I thoroughly explored L'Orangerie, the catacombs, and some of the less-touristy and more-delicious arrondissements. With my program, I was able to visit Chateau Fontainbleue - one of the oldest in France - and take a walk through the surrounding village. Aside from the food which was quite fresh, this week has been an exploration of Paris' past. I'm a bit saddened to see what has changed in the city over the years, but more impressed to learn what has stayed the same. I love living in a city with entire blocks that were built around the time of America's founding, and have a deeper appreciation (literally) for what it takes to keep such an urban center thriving for hundreds of years. ...continue reading "Civilization has a natural resistance to improving itself"

By unprofoundobservations

While last Sunday marked the beginning of the Chinese New Year, celebrations have been taking place throughout Paris all week and finally culminated today with the grand parade in le Quartier Chinois in the south of Paris, the 13th arrondissement. I was able to watch the kick-off parade in the center of the city last Saturday, and then spent this weekend exploring the French Chinatown and everything delicious it had to offer. Like all major metropolises Paris has an incredibly thriving and diverse immigrant population that has made its mark on the city and introduced festivals, foods, languages, and some controversy. The 13th arrondissement was not always the Chinatown of Paris but has always been known for its architecture and urban development. That is to say, it was known as a massive architectural failing on the part of the French government when they built some of the cities first high-rise apartment buildings in the south of the 13th. These structures were considered such an affront to Baron Haussman's wrought-iron vision of Paris that it was nearly impossible to fill them, until the 1970s and 1980s saw a rise in immigration from Africa and Asia.

Now the buildings and streets of the 13th are decorated with brightly colored curtains and flags advertising Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Algerian, and North African supermarkets and restaurants. The parade today marched through streets clogged with Parisians enjoying the festivities where spectators were able to buy bean paste cakes, pain au chocolat, and barb a papa (cotton candy) side-by-side. Massive strings of firecrackers hung from every apartment window and building facade, and the dragons danced throughout the streets and sidewalks regardless of spectators (much like Parisian moped drivers). Le Quartier Chinois has quickly become one of my favorite spots in the city; it's bearably priced, has the only grocery stores where I can actually buy tofu, and feels much more lived in that any other part of Paris. When walking to a Pho restuarant for lunch, we passed a sign reading "End of Tourist Zone" clearly meant as a joke, but there was a certain truth to it. Paris will always be a city for tourists and locals alike - I don't believe that one has to live here to appreciate its beauty - but it was refreshing to see a part of the city that is so rarely traversed by tourists. Children played in the streets, school yards, and the park next to Notre-Dame-de-Chine (Our Lady of China church). Parents had no qualms about carrying groceries and laundry through the streets in comfortable weekend clothes. While my host family and everyone around us also performs these daily and necessary tasks, it is always with an iconic Parisian backdrop and that certain je ne sais quoi that makes this city so irresistibly elegant and lovely. However, the 13th has reached a certain level of beautiful contentedness and comfort that makes a neighborhood feel like a community.

It was bizarrely meta to watch another cultural celebration taking place in a culture I am still working to understand, but was one of the most festive weekends I've spent here. Whether assembling for a manifestation or a fête the Parisians love to gather and party, and they're willing to welcome anyone to such celebrations. Residents hung out their apartment windows to watch the parades, children climbed bus stops and scaffolding to get a better view (and then nearly jumped off when a string of fireworks exploded next to them), and everywhere gorgeous floats and costumes paraded about. Even in a city with such a distinct and proud culture I was able to find some variety and melding. Though some of the French may not consider bahn mi followed with an eclair and bubble tea an ideal lunch, it made my weekend.

By unprofoundobservations

While there are certain English words and phrases that I deeply miss (and that absolutely do not translate well into French) I am able to comfort myself through my constant discovery of delightful new French words. I have quickly become comfortable pointing and miming in public to convey a message, and my day planner is filled with small notes of words to memorize or look up later. However I am often surprised at how many words French and English have in common; when in doubt soften your "c" sounds and add some sort of "ie" to the end of anything, and there's a decent chance that you'll land within some sphere of French comprehension. Such nouns only become tricky when translating more modern notions and devices. Some may lament the profusion of English words into the French language - snack was recently accepted by the Académie Français as a word in the French language - but I prefer to focus on those words that have been translated in a much more literal sense.

Despite all of the poetic, literary, and artistic creativity that has occurred in France, the country itself is very literal. There's a certain frankness to all of the roads and metro stops. Roads will be named after statesmen, authors, and historic figures because they actually once lived or worked in the area. Each metro stop is defined by the fabulous building or monument that is physically closest. Parisians fondly talk about their Île de la Cité because the natural island in the middle of the Seine serves as the historic and spiritual center of the city, and also because Paris itself exists so much as an island in the middle of France. I have learned that in Harry Potter wizards use baguettes magique as opposed to wands, and that at Carnival one can order delicious barb à Papa, not Cotton Candy. After rain storms you can see an arc en ciel (arc in the sky: rainbow) over the Eiffel Tower, and every time I unsuccessfully tell a funny story I finish with an imploring laissé tomber (let it fall: nevermind). I particularly recommend that anyone studying abroad learn this phrase in their host language as sometimes all the pointing and miming in the world won't help explain something.

At the end of the day each language will have its own bizarre quirks and idioms, but these generally offer some sort of insight to the culture (as a final example, the concept of "cheap" does not exist in France as everything is simply plus ou moins chère: more or less expensive). The trick is to spend your days in class beefing up grammar, vocabulary, and general sentence construction, while spending free time exploring and practicing all of the fantastic idiomatic slang that gives a certain area its sense of identity. I have dropped my eaves all over the city of Paris and though I may never be able to use many of the words I have learned in an academic paper, I am beginning to understand the rhythm of the city and French life. The more I learn the more I realize I can never hope to be fluent in the way I would like within four month's time, but I like to think I become slightly more French every day. At the end of the day I think it all sounds much prettier in French than it ever will in English, and should I make mistakes ce n'est pas grave (it's not a big deal).