Perfectly French

Paris is just absolutely beautiful. Though the weather hasn't yet been ideal, the intricacies of the architecture and the detail paid to every structure creates a feeling of well-cared for beauty. Even amidst confused crossing streets that intersect round-a-bouts the city holds its image of beauty.

The thing is though that Parisians are not particularly nice. Or nice at all in a majority of cases. Having been here before I knew to brace myself for slow service and when it did come to not expect it to be very nice. What is it about Paris that has trained the people to be so off-handedly rude? Now, I have some very good friends from this city who are absolutely wonderful and kind and friendly, so I presume the unkindness is only to those people who the Parisians see as not belonging. Particularly Americans. So be sure when you come to Paris to be patient but assertive when attention is paid. And if they're rude it's not you, it's them.

Getting into Paris in the evening, we found our way to the house of Sebastian, our host through Couchsurfing. He hosts loads of people at a time (5 total when we arrived and 7 now) on an array of pull-out couches and mattresses. After settling in his roommate made us a perfect French meal; crepes with ham and cheese, followed by desert of crepes and nutella. Yum!

The first day in Paris we made our way from the house into the city where I met with another UCSD alumni, Martin. He graduated in 1993 with a degree in German Literature, and after a number of years working in investment banking his company moved him to their Paris branch where he has now worked for five years. Over a delicious lunch including a goat-cheese sandwich, salad and ___ I got to hear about his time in a fraternity and his love for the beauty of the campus.

I had about an hour before I met up with Jackie so I wandered the streets, peaking into deli's and shops and admiring the quiet of the sidestreets. Meeting with Jackie, we found a bottle of wine and some nice French cheese (its very hard to choose cheese here because most types are ones we've never heard of and the labels are all in French!). Then we sat on the lawn of Trocadero by the fountain and enjoyed our snack with a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower.

A perfect first day in Paris!