Interactions

I think it is safe to say that I have adjusted to the Parisian time in that I don’t get hungry for dinner until about 9pm, given that this is when the happy hours end and it is still very light outside. When we go out to restaurants and I go up to the bar to ask for a drink or the check, men have a tendency to approach me and start speaking in French. I have only taken one months worth of classes and bought CD’s to try and teach myself. However, I have been able to say, “comment tu allez vous?” and get through basic introductions and such, shortly there after they will just switch to English. Without me even asking they can tell that I have reached the limit of my language capabilities. I will not take that for an answer though and immediately start talking to them about my difficulties with the language, more specifically with saying the letter “R” correctly. No CD’s could prepare me for the speed and the graceful manner with which the French connect their words into a seamless flowing song. I ask about the letter “R” because I feel like this is the easiest way that I am given away as an American although I’m sure that my accent in general is awful. After talking with these gentlemen and Val’s friend Meg, an American who has been living here for three years and speaks beautiful French, I have realized that there are many other subtleties that give me away long before then. Even the shape of our mouths when we open them to speak is different, I have also been told that we walk more aggressive. This reminds me of Manet and his fellow flanuer’s and the way that they stroll the Parisian streets observing every person right down to the details of the way the neckline falls on a woman’s dress.

Fortunately, those who I have tried to talk to spoke very good English and were more than happy to talk to me in my own language. Their English is so good they are surprised and confused when I ask them where they are from because a lot of them hast very British accents and can’t always tell that they are Parisian. Conversations typically start nice but end with a man upset that I am leaving, even though I haven’t accepted their drinks or any other offers. They have all said that I am so kind, telling me that French women won’t give them the time of day and to myself I think that I know why. Soon enough it becomes clear that they have no other interest in me then the possibility of hooking up with an American girl. The piano player at a restaurant was so upset I was leaving after our brief conversation that he offered to pay for my taxi home multiple times, but I am smarter than that and have no intentions of leaving without the people I came with. Another man went out of his way to track me down on faebook after the Deadmau5 concert I went to. I want to interact with people but it’s so hard for me when I feel these ulterior motives are present. It is like there is no common ground between acquaintance and possible conquest. Even back home, I have a hard time making friends with girls and hang out with mostly guys so it’s extremely difficult for me to go out of my comfort zone and try to speak to these beautiful and blasé women who inhabit this city. I haven’t been able to muster the courage to do so yet. When we see the groups of young children in the museums doing school work, I envy them and the fact that they learn about things I wouldn’t have ever heard of until college at ages younger than 12! I sometimes just feel that people from here are so much more knowledgeable, especially in the subject that we have all come here to study. The only woman I have actually gotten to speak to was in the line for the concert I spoke of earlier, we talked about our apartments and how nice it was to be in the area we and briefly about music and the show we were all about to see in comparison with the very old crowd waiting to see the Moulin Rouge show next door. When we got to talking about studying French art history she said “that’s so boring!” and it made me laugh, but she was a very sweet girl for talking with us translating certain things she had trouble remembering or understanding back and forth with her friend. Lastly, we talked about Colorado and she had said she wanted to come out and learn to ski and see the mountains, then we parted ways as the line began to move and on into the large crowded dance hall.