Je voudrais...

That's how my friend Adam from undergrad taught me to order dinner in french. At least I think that's how it spelled. This crash course in french was courtesy of my whirlwind weekend in Paris. It was amazing. Great food, great friends, great city. The highlight of my weekend was seeing aforementioned friend Adam. We had been great friends in undergrad back at Butler University in Indianapolis, and I was so excited about that chance to spend the day with him and catch up. The internet is a wonderful invention but nothing beats chatting in a plaza about the present, the future, the past, and wondering why, oh why, won't American men be convinced to dress like French men?! It was a fabulous day since we didn't really don anything very intense or touristy. We sat in a plaza, we walked among the shops, we stopped by Notre Dame and he took me to the Jardine du Luxeburg which were so pretty. They were very relaxing and I really wished I could've gone back with a book but it just didn't work out that way. It was wonderful to have that peaceful day since we had done most of the major sightseeing the day as the FSU group. Saturday was complete relaxation and meandering day.

Dinner that evening was very illuminating. First of all the drinks before dinner/lunch that have wine and syrup are called Kirs. They're delicious; I got mine with raspberry but Adam's peach one was very delicious as well. Second, the french version of a salad includes lots of meat and/or an open faced sandwhich. But its the most delicious salad you've ever had. Third, you must get desert. Preferably something with lots and lots of chocolate!

For dinner, Adam and I were joined by a mutual friend Ben. He was an exchange student to Butler a few years ago and he and Adam hang out lot since Adam has arrived in France, not surprisingly. Ben made it some type of random mission to show all the famous and slightly touristy spots I didn't see yet. He dragged Adam and I up to the Basilica, which was absolutely beautiful at night... but was surrounded by super drunk and rambunctious college students. That was not so fun.

Then Ben dragged me down to the Moulin Rouge.. I think he thought it was funny. I've never seen the movie and I don't really understand what the big deal was, so it was anti-climatic to say the least. However, he did make up for by showing me the Opera house. And it an amazingly beautiful building, truly it is. Its not very large but it just feels so grand and brimming with creativity. It was splendid.
I really couldn't ask for a better weekend. I loved seeing my friends and seeing the city that they called home. I loved being able to feel part of the city instead of just a tourist. And I loved being able to reconnect and feel at home with my old friends again.. home is anywhere you feel comfortable, really. And of course, I loved the food. :)

These wonderful experiences did not make the weekend easy. Traveling in any country that's not your own is a struggle to adapt the culture, food and language if its not your own. Language was a particularly difficult one for me. I can read a good portion of french because I'm pretty fluent in Spanish but speaking always trips me up. I've also traveled enough to realize that you have to at least try to speak their language, even if its just "hello." Adam and I discussed this over lunch; Parisians are, on the whole, more than willing to speak English with Americans/British/Candians/etc as long as we try at the French language. I spent the entire weekend wandering saying "bonjour" and "merci" in my horrible french accent and trying desperately to learn the sounds of french. I'm happy I did; I've come back with a better of understanding of French and a feeling of satisfaction since I extended a proverbial olive branch. It's very difficult because its exhausting to think about saying something correctly all the time.

But the Parisians are not nearly as haughty as they are rumored to be. If you try, they will do their best to meet you halfway. Language gaps is one of the most difficult things about traveling because we're all so used to being able to communicate. Its difficult to realize that you are the disadvantaged in a place like Paris because more French people learn at least one other language while Americans often do not learn anything. But the communication goes both way; you can't be expected to fluently speak every language of every country you visit. But they can expect you to try and know the niceities. We do expect something similar from our visitors and even the immigrants who come to live in our country. France was difficult for me because I was embarrassed that I was stumbled over my words and I couldn't communicate. But possibly it was that embarrassment that helped me get along.