" If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
-Ernest Hemingway
[En] Hi everyone, how was your summer vacation? Are you ready for the new semester ? As for me, I just started a new life in the country of love. Yes, the little Tokyoite now became a little Parisienne. Ah, you won't know how I love this city ! I mean, FINALLY. To tell the truth, at one point I disliked French culture, language, and everything related to France for some reason. I tended to be interested in Anglo-Saxon/American culture instead, so I watched American TV series, talked English with friends, wore Abercrombie ( and even chewed gums all the time, I just thought it was cool ) lol.
But gradually I realized that what I was really looking for was not necessarily to get Americanized. I started to miss the fine taste of crispy French loaf, nostalgic sounds of accordion in the metro, impudent pigeons at Tuileries Park, and even French swearwords (which you can hear at any time and anywhere in France). But what I missed most about this country was Parisiennes' elegant styles. You know one of my biggest interests in my life was fashion, so I just wanted to live in its mecca.
Now I'm happy, maybe more than just happy, I can't describe how I'm satisfied to be where I feel I belong to. Not only to its language but the range of my interests has been enlarged to literature, cinéma, arts, chansons and many other things about France. Finally I feel at home here, which is quite important to me because I've felt sometimes uncomfortable in Japan even though it's my mother country. Maybe I grew my critical sight too much that I couldn't help but just observe Japan and its culture from a point of view of a stranger, and found lots of weird things about it, which I couldn't stand.
Compared to life in Tokyo, I feel much less stressed here because I don't need to worry too much about little things. Some linguistic hypothesis (Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) says that the language you speak affects the ways in which you conceptualize the world, and I think that this is so true. When I speak French I feel less pessimistic. The French always say "C'est pas grave"or "Ce n'est pas la fin du monde", which mean "Don't take it so seriously, it's not the end of the world". I appreciate this way of thinking.
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| A sunset view from the rooftop at my place. What else can you ask for ? |
