Parisian arrogance

This weekend was my last weekend in Paris.

In my blog I haven’t hidden the fact that sometimes over the past months I have been very annoyed with the Parisian arrogance. But this weekend, I was all zen. It was my last weekend in wonderful Paris. Because for all my complaints, I still love this city, the amazing buildings, the unique sky, the light…

So this weekend I decided not to get annoyed or frustrated, I was just going to enjoy it. Until… 2 Parisians just couldn’t help it and gave me 2 perfect examples of exactly that what had annoyed me so much in the previous months... A bit like when you would ask to see the fish you want to order in a restaurant and they bring it to you on a platter. That kind of examples.

The first one was on the tube. I should have known that taking the tube in my last weekend was a risk but I had become overconfident in my positive vibe. A very thin lady thought she didn’t have enough space because of the not so thin guy next to her and rather than an “excuse me sir, would you mind giving me a little bit more space” she shouted at him as if he had personally caused the hunger in Somalia. Poor guy. And poor lady, for actually being that aggressive for something that insignificant. To a simple soul like me that just means that she must be truly unhappy.

Then I went into the Fnac. I wanted to check if they had the first book of “Game of Thrones” (loved the DVD!) series in English. 2 ladies in front of me. The second one doesn’t wait for her turn and just asks the Fnac lady a question, but really quickly (“doyouhavethisbookinpaperback?” “No”). You would think that losing 30 seconds doesn’t really matter, but apparently it does, because the first lady then spent at least 2 full minutes shouting at the other lady. I just stood there smiling, keeping calm and waiting until lady 1 would finally ask her question. It goes without saying I didn’t try to ask the Fnac lady my question during their rant ;) (and btw, when I asked later there wasn’t an English version, you need to order it – bugger).

These 2 examples made me realise that when in a big crowd in Paris, I had started to adopt a “Paris-face”. Whenever I’d be in a public place, especially on the tube, or queuing in a shop, I’d look very serious, slightly annoyed with a pfffffffffffffff attitude – the thing I breathed was: “do not dare to shout at me”. And no one ever did. But at what cost…

So, I’ll stop complaining (sooo Parisian…) and will just admit that I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED about moving to the country of the most friendly people ever, the United States of America. I’ll keep you posted on how “real” that friendliness is, as a big European cliché about Americans is that they are friendly but that it is very superficial (read: they don’t réally mean it). For now, I much prefer the idea of someone being “fake friendly” over “really arrogant, aggressive and angry”!

3 more days to go and 3 more nights – with one evening with my girlfriends and 2 work X-mas parties (one of my work, one of my husband), the final days seem to be very promising! Also because my French friends and colleagues really are not at all like the people described above – just in case they read this ;)

xoxo (Gossip girl mood – yep, it happens)

Louise