One year ago today, a friend met me in Paris for his first trip to the City of Lights. In giving him the grand tour and my verbal overview about navigating the city both literally and figuratively, I realized that other first-time voyagers to Paris or France might enjoy benefiting from the cultural observations of someone who lived there for three years.
Every time I visit Paris, I am struck speechless by its architectural splendor, bemused by its cultural quirkiness, and impressed by the inimitable flair with which Parisians do just about everything. Whether it is a confident French girl sashaying down the street in fitted jeans and a simple white tank top with a scarf that seems to float suspended in the air around her, the way a fruit vendor splits a peach in half to show you the bright juicy pulp within, the feeling of lightness you get the first time you see the Eiffel Tower twinkle at night, or the olfactory overload experienced when entering a smelly cheese shop, there's no place like Paris in the world.
When you visit Paris, I hope you will fall in love with Paris the way that I have. You will, of course, experience very annoying moments having to do with cultural misunderstandings or bureaucracy, but I hope you won't let it get you down. You may occasionally think you are being treated rudely, but you are not - I challenge you to put yourself in the stylish, polished shoes of French society at large who have to withstand the incessant onslaught of non-French-speaking Americans who don't understand nor respect the French language or cultural norms. Patience runs thin in these situations, especially for the many service professionals who keep the Paris tourism industry in business and the millions of visitors per year happy on their holidays.
So if you are treated with a welcoming smile, a kind look, and assistance when in need, reward it with politeness and your best smile back and take it like the cultural gift that it is. If you are treated with a gruff attitude, ask yourself – what would I do if dozens of people from Romania barreled into my life every week, not speaking my language and not understanding my customs, foregoing on the polite small talk that Americans customarily use to oil interactions before asking you to give them or tell them something? Your patience might wear thin, too.
If you regularly remind yourself that you are in their country and that you are the one who doesn't always understand what is happening, you will get more pleasure out of your visit. I started a little game with myself several years ago – the more I believe I'm being perceived as just another annoying tourist, the more I try to be accommodating and see if I can get a smile out of him or her. It's especially fun going through Customs. Just don't get yourself arrested!
Originally posted July 2008 and modified from its original form.
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