Life Lesson #1

Some people are meant to stay, and others go, even if you don't want them to.

The hardest thing I've experienced during my travels so far is leaving people behind. I don't like goodbyes in the first place, but they're okay when there's a "see you again" or "keep in contact" involved. However I've met the most amazing people that I've left behind without saying goodbye, without any form of contact, without a single photo to remember them by, and I dread the day that their faces fade from my memory altogether.

I'm simply not used to having a relationship end against my will. I'd never had a bad fall out with a friend until last year, and it plagued me for months. I've never lost a family member. When I moved schools, friendships dissipated over time while I was building new, stronger ones.

It's been hard. Hard to remember them for the time that we had together and the experiences we shared without getting down about the fact that I'll never see them again, never talk to them again. Hard to not let it cloud over the most incredible memories that I now have and even harder to not be scared that those memories will fade over time. It's hard to let go.

But I'm learning.

Australians in Paris

Meeting up with fellow Aussies during our last two days in Paris was a great breath of fresh air. I'd realised over the month I'd been in Paris that Aussie humour involves a unique mix of sarcasm, self-deprecation and paying out others involved. And only realised I missed it when I lived without it for a couple of weeks.

1. At Milord around the corner from our apartment.
2. The best falafel I have ever eaten. Forever ever? Ever ever? (Le Marais)
3. Salted butter caramel nougat.
4. 5. 6. Last day in Paris. Crêpes on Rue Lepic.
7. Tour De France.
8. Struggle street.

Some things I miss about Paris

• Running down to the boulangerie in the morning to buy baguettes, the smell of a french baguette and the way they crumble when you squeeze the crust.

• Cheese.

• Buying a glass of wine for 3 euros, or a bottle for 4 in an epicerie... the fact that it's legal to drink in public.

• Sitting down in a bar, cafe or restaurant and having a drink; no restaurant licences that make it obligatory to buy something to eat.

• How every Parisian quartier has a different feel, something different to offer.

• Knowing the language.

• Knowing my way around.

I think I fell in love with Paris.

Paris-dise

1. Salted Caramel and Pistachio macarons from Ladurée

2. Chels, Marine and Inez

3. Gettin' frisky

1. Antique markets at Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen.
2. Wood-paved floors.
3. Corsets. Imagine having your stomach in your chest.
4. Crèpe au nutella et à la chantilly (the best cream in the world).

Dinner at Le Relais Gascon. 12EUR Salades GEANTES. Inez, Claire-Ellen and Marine. Chels asked for her face to be removed.

CHATEAU DE VERSAILLES

1. 2. 5. 6. The Gardens

3. 4. The best part of the day. The back part of the gardens; which turned out to be free....

7. Le Chateau

8. In front of the of the Golden gates of the Chateau

9. Map of the Palace. It's huge.

Turned out that every Tuesday (the day we decided to go) it is obligatory to pay to access the gardens because there's a muscial water show. This is what we paid 7.5 Euros for. I've saved you the trouble of paying to go see it for yourself and uploaded it here. You tell me if it was worth it.

This is the view from our apartment. Jealous? Yeah.

Sitting on the Seine eating dinner after a day wandering through the 6ième

Paris je t'aime

1. 3. Jud
2. Not exactly sure what was going on
4. 5. Bal des Pompiers a la caserne Blanche
6. 7. Views from Pont Alexandre III
8. Garden along the Seine

After 2 and a half weeks in here and living like a local, I finally feel like I've begun to settle in.

• I get verlan and I can sometimes talk fast and actually contribute to conversations. 
• It's become impulse to say "non merci" to vendors who wander the streets and into restaurants/cafes/bars selling roses. 
• I'm getting to know the 9ieme and 18ieme pretty damn well and
• I've been able to hold my hunger off to about 9pm every night.

Also,

• I haven't gone a day without drinking.

I love it. I've already moved out into an amazing apartment in Montmartre with friends and it's amazing. But I know I can have this anytime. Being completely immersed in a different culture is the most rewarding experience in the world and I know I'll do this again; spend six months, a year, more in Paris. Soon. I've fallen deeply, madly in love with Paris, its culture and its people. Being told that I have a good accent, that I speak French really well....best feeling in the world. I still have 6 days left but every now and then I feel like I've left already. Oh dear getting all nostalgic in here.

La vie parisienne

 

1. 2. 3. Sacre Coeur

4. Judith

5. View from the Musée de Montmartre

6. Au Lapin Agile

7. .... don't remember what this place was called.. shame on me...

8. Place Des Vosges

9. Super old house

10. 11. 12. Friday night I watched the sun rise

Some observations

All Parisians smoke. It's not a stereotype, it's a fact. I've met one person who doesn't smoke and I can't imagine how they don't, I even believe, if I lived here for long enough; I would start somehow. It doesn't help that a packet is 6 euros compared to 20 australian dollars at home and that's still expensive apparently.

Parisians are very passionate about politics and philosophy and often talk about deep and meanginful things. When I think about what it takes for me and the people I know to talk about stuff like that you really begin to see the cultural differences. I've witnessed heated discussion about who voted for who at this years french election and when I was asked about how politics works in Australia my thoughts went to our ranga bogan prime minister and our double-y bogan opposition leader and I managed to establish that the main two political parties are labour and liberal but liberal is actually conserative and not liberal and they're more or less the same thing at the moment. 

The french people have revolted against the residing power, there has been much war even within the city of Paris. They're very persistent and passionate people that know how to argue and I think it stems from their history and the amount of conflict that their country has experienced. And it makes me a little jealous that we don't have that at home. Except at the end of the day I still love how easygoing life is in Australia and wouldn't change it for the world.

The streets in Australia are all straight. Streets in Paris wind and twist without end and I love it. there's always something around the corner. There is no such thing as a purely residential street; there is always a cafe, a gallery, a little store, or something.

Eating: Breakfast is small and sweet. A baguette with jam/marmalade/some sweet spread, or a croissant, or cereal that somehow contains chocolate. Kind of miss bacon and eggs with avocado and bread, wholemeal bread, or mulitgrain, rye. Lunch is normal. And then I have to wait a minimum of 9 hours for dinner.

I've been here for 2 weeks but I still feel like I'm dying by the time it comes to having dinner. I've accepted that I have to be a weirdo and announce at around 6:30/7 that I am hungry and have to buy something small so that I don't pass out when it comes to 9, 10, 11pm, even midnight. I'm used to eating small amounts, constantly. I'm pretty sure I look like a gluttonous pig.

Alcohol is the same price as water.

Normandie

Spent the weekend in Normandy in the north of France for a 20th birthday. Needless to say.... it was amazing.. Not meaning to brag or anything. Never having experienced a 3 day party in the country I didn't know what to expect but it more or less involved not sleeping for 2 nights. I didn't manage to take many photos but here are the best of what I have:

1. Les beaus mecs francais!!! hahah Xavier, Bricky, Nath and Judith. Not sure about some of the spelling sorry.
2. ""
3. Spinach
4. The beautiful creature that I'm staying with and who has welcomed me into her home and into her life.
5. Horsie.
6. Pitched tents in a backyard scattered with apple trees. I really wish I'd taken more photos now.
7. Kitty.

Ran out of supplies after the first night so went to faire les courses for everyone.