Stress Relief

So, I've been in Paris for a month now. But last week was my first real week in the city. By which I mean, it was the first week in which I had all of my classes, real homework and the real stress that goes along with that.

In some ways, it's nice to have a little more structure to my days. And, let's be honest, some of these classes are really more like "classes." That's not to say I don't have work. But when this work consists of going to see plays for free, or visiting the Parisian monuments, it somehow seems like less of an obligation and more of a treat.

It's hard though, to realize just how much less time I have to explore Paris. Whereas before I had entire weeks to traipse around the city, I now have to slot museum visits and long walks in between classes, meetings and homework. And now that my weekends are starting to fill up with trips (I'm going to be traveling four of the next six weekends), I have even less time to spend in my home city.

Okay, I just reread that last sentence. And you all have permission to slap me, either virtually or whenever you see me next (I would prefer virtually). I'm not complaining about the fact that I have to visit the rest of Europe any more than I'm complaining about my "classes." But I'm starting to realize just how fast my time here is going, and I'm starting to think that I may have to sacrifice some of my planned foreign vacations if I really want to do Paris justice. And if some homework has to fall by the wayside as well, so be it.

Anyway, I don't have time to fill you in on everything that has been happening to me in the past couple of weeks. You probably wouldn't find it interesting anyway, unless the idea of two hour discussions of the Fourth Republic really get you going. So I present the following primer on avoiding stress in the City of Lights.

Things That Will Stress You Out in Paris

-going to your first history discussion section, and finding out that you have two oral presentations to give in the first two weeks
-doing mental multiplication and realizing how much that 4.00 euro pastry costs in real money
-in every class, being handed a bibliography of 100 books with no guidance as to what you actually have to read beyond, "These seventeen might be interesting..."
-missing half of your first literature class at the Sorbonne because you can't figure out what the room number is
-realizing that you forget all your eight years of French whenever you get flustered

Things That Will Relieve the Aforementioned Stress
-watching a classroom of 9-year old French kids learn prepositions and Halloween vocabulary in English class ("Ze spider iss in ze box...")
-meeting up for Paris's best falafel with an elementary school friend
-autumn walks in the jardin du Luxembourg (and being told by adorable old men in said park that you speak French very well)
-walking home with a warm baguette in hand
-photo exhibits along the Seine and Champs-Elysees
-free front-row theater tickets
-late night cafe-dates with friends
-a daily pastry (eclairs, une tentation, chocolate pear tarts, chocolate banana tarts, raspberry tarts, religieuses...)

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To sum up...I'm still loving it here. Yes, there have been more stressful moments during these past few weeks than previously in my trip. Yes, I'm starting to miss more and more things about the U.S. (pumpkin carving, clothes fresh out of the drier, glorious water-wasting showers, football, muffins...and all of you guys, of course). Yes, I sometimes feel as though I am spending my entire life in the Metro, with all the finer elements of French society.

But the trade-off to putting up with those inconveniences is that I'm feeling more and more like a local. I have a routine of sorts. I have my favorite neighborhood boulangerie. I know the first 15 stops on my Metro line. The sandwich lady at the shop by my program center finally smiled at me today. And, speaking of the Metro, I had an experience with a repeat panhandler.

You see, it often happens that one will be sitting in a Metro car minding one's own business and struggling to keep one's English-language book inconspicuous for fear of muggers, when someone will get onto the car and make a plea for cash. I generally ignore these litanies, but they invariably include at least one of the following elements:

a) loss of job due to terrible economy (To which I say, you think your economy's bad? I'm an American, buddy.)
b) some sort of rare and previously undiscovered medical ailment
c) 17 children

Anyway, I generally act like a normal person and avert my eyes from these spectacles of human misery. But the other day, a speech started that sounded strangely familiar. After the mention of a chronic eye ailment, I was sure. I had heard this exact speech before. Yes, I have now lived here long enough to have a favorite boulangerie, a favorite park and a favorite panhandler.

It was perhaps not the most poetic moment of my week. But it did more than anything to remind me that I'm not here as a tourist. The fact is, I have a claim on Paris now. It's a mythical city for so many, but I'm one of the lucky few who can say, for the rest of my life, "I lived there."And despite all the stresses of the week, I was somehow cheered to realize that out of all the Metro cars in all the stations in all the world, this unemployed German waiter from Montmartre walked into mine...twice.