How strange it must be to enter a new culture, or is it strange to live according to only one?
I have been submerged in the experience of a new city, new people, a new language and new minds. It is curious to start living a new life when you move somewhere else, in the most magical sense.
Paris is a whole world compared to France and the rest of the planet.
It can be a little annoying how I find it all beautiful and opening, I know, but the free minds of these french people and their lifestyles around the belief that living is top priority over any other BS is incredible to me. People take it easy, they hustle but they hustle both at work and at being happy. Work ends around 5:30 - 6pm and you see every business man/woman at a cafe taking over happy hour.
The culture here is slow. Slow in the best possible way. They do things in a certain type of independent and aimed way. You'll never see a French person having a hard time while they are having a drink, and you'll always see them walking on the phone headed to a certain destination.
What I've noticed the most is the difference in the use of social media. What is that here in paris!? Real Parisians don't care a toss about instagram, or pictures, or any type of thing linked to this web of obsession and braggery. It is such a developed and up to date city with an ancient old school heart. All this has made me think of what people really care for back home in Mexico and here in my new home of Paris.
It feels so liberating to be living in a society that is so open, non judgmental and creative in every sense. You become friends with the stranger sitting next to you and with the nice waiter at the bistro. There are no such things as masks here and it is because people do not care who you are. Everyone minds their business and if they meet you it's wonderful that they do or they immediately forget because there's no time to be faking around. A positive set of eyes is what they are born with.
The French get a lot of crap on being rude and sassy and I can say they sometimes are, but If you look at their manner from up close it's simply their hustle of living. They are always surrounded by people minding their own business as well, so they really don't have time to lose. The French do what they gotta do and that's it, no sugar coating or special treating. Wise.
It's been quite the experience so far and most definitely not a city I ever want to leave. I've heard that Paris can get quite boring after years of living in it (average around 5-10 years) and I totally understand why. All the touristy things visitors do is not what a Parisian does. They live and they move around and they take opportunities. They are ambitious and chill all at the same time so this brings them to a state of searching. They search for some place else. This is the beauty of it all, they already have the best and they still aim for more. Could it be a non-sustainable way of living? Je ne sais pas, but for sure they take the whole city in and enjoy it before they look for something bigger. That is the magic of this city, it sets your expectations at a high bar, and it's impossible for them to lower. The Paris effect.
I only wish the whole world could have a taste of what I'm having. It is such a selfless feeling to understand how tiny you are around millions of people. This is the fuel to the humane engine, it's the fuel of the parisian culture.
Be curiosus, get lost, and enjoy your way with an open mind.
Bisous.
Xoxo, Stella.