Cultural Assignment: Week One

Well I have been living in Paris for officially a week now, and things are starting to feel like home with each passing day. Though I will admit, at first, I felt a bit culture shocked by the whole experience, as this particular trip will have been my first time traveling to Europe, nonetheless taking up residence there too! But don’t get me wrong; I love every minute of it thus far.

For me the language barrier was the source of anxiety about this transition. I suppose choosing to live in a country where one doesn’t speak the native language wasn’t the smartest idea, but after becoming immersed within the culture things started to become much less stressful. I quickly realized that if you at least try and speak French, the Parisians are much more inclined to work with you on what you trying to communicate. And I believe this is how it should be within every foreign country: if one tries to speak in the native tongue then the natives will respond with a greater respect. So, whenever I’m about to start a conversation with a local I begin by asking, “Parlez—vous Anglais?” That way we don’t start off on the wrong foot, literally.

But, besides getting over my phobia of speaking French, I did do a lot of neat things this week; not to mention becoming very savvy with the metro. In addition to seeing all the different sites scheduled for this week, I also visited the Musee d’Art Moderne, Notre Dame, Centre Pompidou, Jardin du Luxembourg and went to a movie at the UGS George-V Theater in Champs Elysee. Everything was spectacular and had more grandeur than expected. Though I soon realized that I would need to spend at least a week at each of these places in order to experience them in their entirety… oy vey.

I especially enjoyed visiting Notre Dame. Having been raised a Catholic made this experience very meaningful to me. And up until this week I have only encountered it through pictures, but physically being in the Cathedral’s presence blew me away. Just the sheer size of the building was overwhelming and the history behind it all makes it something that will forever be imprinted in my mind. I recall walking in through the side entrance and right away seeing an individual receiving the sacrament of reconciliation from a priest. Strange I thought because there were tons of visitors that day and so interesting how this religious rite would be occurring with so much other activity surrounding it. For a moment I was compelled to go stand in line and receive it myself. Then I began to think of all the things that I would confess to the priest, but before I could secure a solid place in line my phobia kicked in and I immediately returned to the safety of the crowd.

Afterward, I felt really dumb that a language barrier was my only excuse for not going through with it. Still, I suppose once I become more confident with my French I could always go back to Notre Dame. Plus, I think it would be pretty special to say that one received the sacrament of reconciliation in the Cathedral And so, with a little more exposure this will hopefully happen by the time I leave the City of

And reflecting back upon this first week in Paris, I’ve come to the realization that many of us have accomplished quite a lot. We have moved out of our comfort zones into a foreign land, eating foods we maybe not have eaten before, seeing strange and obscene things and for some of us, living the local Parisian lifestyle for the first time. So kudos everyone and go us!