I’ve been in Paris for about a day now and so far it’s been a rather weird awakening. I didn’t feel foreign or emotional during my return to France, but it definitely feels like those times you spend the night at a relative’s place you haven’t seen in a long time, and you wake up the following morning and think for a second, “Where the hell am I again?”
Eight years without speaking much of the French language leaves much to be desired in your brain. Things that are hard-wired in you like saying “excuse me” when someone bumps into you instead of the French “pardon” is an example. Or going into a store and asking people stuff and trying not to come off as a complete dork when you ask them, “Uh...répétez s’il vous plaît?” You’d think that after spending 5 years of high school in France, I’d be perfect...well you’d be wrong. I definitely have some gaps in my linguistic capabilities. Gaps that embarrass me sometimes when faced in “unrehearsed” situations. In any case, I do hope this trip will help me fill in those holes.
Otherwise, France is great. The food is still amazing. The wine is delicious. The dogs are still tiny and cute. But I have to remember that I am not on vacation. I start work in a couple weeks and I still need a place to live in Lyon. Damnit. I got used to being lazy.
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