The things I will miss about Paris... and those that I won’t.

A week after coming home from the City of Lights it's finally sinking in. The Parisian living has come to a bitter-sweet end. I am glad to be back in Slovakia for a rare two months, to breathe the familiar air and enjoy the beautiful Central European spring. On the other hand, our tiny half-a-million metropolis lacks the variety of cultures and experiences that I got to soak in the ten-million Paris. Here is a little run-down of the things that I've already been missing from Paris, and some of those that I'm glad to have left behind. I will upload more pictures once I get a better connection :)

Stuff that I'll miss:

·      The ultimate afternoon snack when getting home from school- a Nutella crêpe or a piece of fresh, crispy, warm baguette with French cheese.

·      Little local shops which have not yet been destroyed by the supermarket chains- patisseries (with pastries), boulangeries (with bread), fromageries (with cheese), confiseries (with candy)... and the neighborhood markets.

·      Free cultural events for EU students/people under 26 (Go check out Kiosque Jeunes with your ID)- thanks to these I saved up dozens of euros going to galleries, museums, historical sites etc. for free or at a discounted rate.

·      “African mamas” and the spontaneous diversity of dress codes (from long Gipsy skirts through Orthodox Jewish hats to Indian saris and African boubous).

·      Multiculturalism and no overload of “political correctness”- talking about race for the French of all colors is natural and not a touchy topic as it is in the States (and especially in the US South).

·      Macaroons and all types of French/German/Lebanese/international pastries.

·      Studying, functioning, dreaming in French.

·      Public transport, Velib bikes, motorbikes, vesnas, and the fact that having a huge car is discouraged in the city. 

·      Interracial couples and mixed babies.

·      Meeting with friends at Place de Chatêlet, St Eustach’s or at 27 Rue St Guillaume.

·      Old elaborate architecture of the pre-1900 apartment buildings and peeking through their windows at night to admire the beautiful ceilings.

·      Availability of newspapers (I have read more printed press than ever before).

·     “Livres d’occasion”/second-hand bookstores where you can buy a good book for 20c.

·      Taking random courses just because I need some credits, e.g. Sociology of Arab states, Russia and its peripheries or Southeast Asia crossroads. 

·      People knowing where Slovakia is on the map.

·      The abundance of art- concerts, expositions, metro musicians, creative graffiti…

·      International students at every corner.

·      Studying for finals in a one of the parks in the historical downtown.

·      Hillsong church and every single amazing person I met there.

·      Hillsong choir and getting up at 6am every Sunday before choir to see the city wake up.

·      Easy and cheap travel from Paris to most of Europe (a bus ticket home cost me 35 euros as compared to a flight ticket for 800 euros home from the States).

 

Stuff that I'll NOT miss...                                                                                              

·      Joined female+male bathrooms.

·      The absence of toilet seats in the public toilets because of such joined bathrooms.

·      The ever present cigarette smoke.

·      Waiters chasing you away because it’s the end of their shift or because you’ve stayed for more than an hour without ordering something else.

·      Strangers on the metro reading your texts, your book or your magazine along with you and not even trying to hide it.

·      Metro stares/street stares/stares everywhere and people not quite getting the signal when you stare back at them.

·      The cockroaches in our kitchen.

·      Dog poop on the side walks and especially in the posh quarters where the rich inhabitants subconsciously think they have people even to pick their dog's mess after them.

·      Terrible weather for most of the fall, winter and spring. I think there are stronger ties to London than many people think.

·      Polluted air (visible especially on a sunny day from Belleville, the top of Montparnasse or Montmartre) and the heat island it creates, melting the snow into a slush or burning you up in the summer.

·      My landlord’s girlfriend who said hello to me only once in the seven months that I lived there.

·      High prices of everything necessary for a dignified student life, from food through transport to stationery.

·     Feeling like I am always supposed to be stressed out (a sense that the exchange school, Sciences Po, promoted quite vehemently). I think this is something about the big capital cities in general- too many people in too little space with too little time on their hands.

Looking back at this year, I don't know if I am made for big city living. I guess the experience would have been different if my housing situation was a bit better (e.g. living with someone I know instead of renting a room in an infested high-riser from a family where the landlady despised my presence). On the other hand, I am glad that I got to live the real life a lot of people in Paris live and one which doesn't get shown in the tourist guides- often struggling to make ends meet, living in a tiny apartment, changing housing because of the high rent, living in the suburbs and taking the night train home. I also left so much unexplored in Paris that I would be willing to come back and give it a try the second time around, yet again not as a mere tourist but as an inhabitant. I am grateful for the opportunity to live "Parisian style" (whatever that means!) and it would be exciting to write a chapter #2. But we'll see what the time will bring :)