This post came to life because I had a
Culture Shock assignment a couple of weeks ago. Everyone seemed to enjoy reading it so much and as a result I decided
to share. Hope you find it helpful and entertaining as well…
There
is no secret that traveling to Paris, France is just one of those cities that’s
on every girl’s bucket list. It’s the city of lights and love. It’s especially known
for its beautiful architecture, the famous Eiffel tower, and countless museums.
Yet, beyond lights, macaroons, cheese and beautiful music played in the streets
by locals are silent rules and culture stereotyping that I was not aware of prior
to packing my luggage. I was a bit nervous, but also filled with pure excitement
the moment I stepped into the airport that night. I was traveling alone for the
first time outside of the country, but was meeting my cousin Dulcinea at our
Air B&B. Although I did not pick my seat,
I was lucky enough to have been gifted a window seat, and I also soon
discovered that the middle seat was unoccupied. However, right before the plane
took flight, I was nicely asked by the French gentleman who occupied the seat
next to the aisle if I would be willing to move so that he could sit next to
his wife. I was confused because the
seat next to her in the middle of the plane was empty, and the seat next to me
was empty so why even disturb me. I thought it was inconsiderate of him to ask
me to move when I was clearly settled into my seat well before he showed up. I declined his unwelcomed invitation to
relocate and nicely suggested that he move over with her. After the plane was
steady in the air, she soon joined into the unoccupied middle seat I was so
excited to have vacant for the next 7 hours. This was my initial encounter with
Parisians.
I stepped
off the plane and suddenly understood nothing.
I was surprised to learn that there is a huge lack of English-speaking
customer service at the airport. I had a hard time finding the correct train
and was given all types of different instructions. Fortunately, I was able to figure
it out and was on my way, however I did wonder how people traveled to other
countries prior to technology. Thank God for Google Maps!
Traveling
on the train from Orly Airport to Les Lilas, I almost felt like I was on a train
in New York City. There were areas that appeared
to be rough looking and graffiti all over the walls. Honestly, I didn’t expect
that, then again, I did not do much research on Paris besides deciding the best
places to visit and pre-booking museums and excursions. When I came up from the
metro onto Rue de Paris, I immediately saw a McDonald’s and needing a familiar environment
I decided that this was the best bet to grab lunch. This was the fanciest
McDonald’s in existence, as they had a special café area that sold macaroons
and croissants. I went to the counter feeling
right at home to place my order but was hissed at in French by the server to place
my order the kiosk machine. In the end, it
was still an epic fail, because I was not aware I had to purchase condiments.
City of Love…where is the Love?
I finally
arrived at my destination after about 9 hours of traveling. Our host was not there to greet me, but there
was a code to get inside the building and a key hidden for the apartment door.
This key was beautifully shaped like an odd star and looked like a keepsake. I found
our room unloaded myself and headed to the bathroom. However, to my surprise there
was sink, a half of a tub, a bidet, but no toilet. The apartment was very tiny,
there was no living room, a small kitchen, another bedroom, the bathroom and a
small door that appeared to be a linen closet. I opened the door to the linen
closet, and shockingly found the toilet. I am upset I do not have photo of this
to share. On the bright side, our room had a balcony that overlook a main
street called Boulevard de la Liberte. I loved to leave it open and just let life
of the street into our room. There was another apartment building across the way,
and it reminded me of the Alfred Hitchcock film, “Rear Window”. It was awesome watching Parisians just going about
their daily life.
Our second
day we had preplanned to visit the Palace of Versailles. It would require us to
take the metro and a train totaling about 1 hour and 20 minutes. On both the metro
and the train, I noticed that I was getting many unpleasant looks from other women.
I kept telling my cousin that something was wrong, but she continued to reassure
me that she did not notice anything. Regardless, it kept occurring and I soon noticed
that their eyes were always on my cleavage area, and then they would look at my
face with such disdain. I wasn’t wearing
anything revealing, but I do have large breast. I quickly concluded that there might
be an issue with breast here, and my cousin was oblivious to it because hers
are on the smaller side.
Outfit of the day...Semi Covered Breast.
On another
note, the Palace of Versailles was beautiful, and the grounds were completely breathtaking.
The Hall of Mirrors was my absolute favorite and Marie Antoinette’s gardens is incredible.
It was nearly impossible to do the entire place in one day and unfortunately, we
left several areas untouched. There was so much history to be learned and I especially
enjoyed learning more about Marie Antoinette. If planning on visiting the
Palace of Versailles make sure you start as early as possible, and most people do
opt for a 2-day tour.
Over looking one of many gardens
 |
Hall of Mirrors |
On
the train ride back from Versailles we were approached by many refugees from Syria and Sudan with
notes in English and French telling their story. It was heartbreaking as many
of them were mothers with their children.
At the time, I was unaware of the amount of homeless people in Paris as
well as the growing issue of the many refugees.
We
were going to be in Paris for three full days and then leaving for Ireland, so
we always started the day early to see as much as possible. This day I made it
a point to make sure I did not wear anything that showed cleavage to see if the
glares would be any different. I wore a romper and the top part of it covered up completely. All was going well
that morning and I barely noticed any looks of despise. However, we did manage
to both get yelled at by two men on the metro. Les Lelas is the beginning stop leading
to the heart of Paris. When we first
boarded it was empty, and we were sitting on these seats next to the door that
flipped up when you stood. As we proceeded closer it started getting extremely
packed, and not aware of the silent rule we got yelled at by these two men to
get up to make room, not that standing made any difference in space. I did not
appreciate the way he spoke to me, as well as the fact that he just assumed
that we were being inconsiderate, so I made it a point to tell them that we
were not aware and that he did not have to yell. There are a lot of unspoken rules, such as
going up the escalator and keeping to the right if you’re not planning on walking. Certain areas of Paris the locals are just irritated
by tourist, which to their defense is no different with many New Yorkers.
Outfit of the Day (No Cleavage)
Another
interesting fact about Paris is that you are required to put a coin into the
bathroom door in order to use it. Many of the restaurants we went to provided us
with the coin or as they call it jeton, however not at Subway. My cousin put a coin to get into the most
disgusting bathroom of her life, only to get locked inside. She was screaming, no one heard her, and I
was standing outside until she called me on the phone sounding like she was
being murdered. When I walked in, I could hear her yelling for help. I told
the two workers she was locked in the bathroom and that I didn’t have any coins
they looked unfazed and just ignored me. Luckily, a rather irritated customer who
was eating ended up putting a coin in to let her out.
On
our last day we had pre-booked the Batobus which is a river shuttle on the
Seine that stops at 8 stations. It was such a fun and great way to get around
Paris. We were able to relax, admire the
beauty of Paris and get on and off to different areas. We went to Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Norte-Dame, Pont des Arts (love lock bridge), the well-known
Louvre museum, and many other places. It was at Norte-Dame that my earlier suspicions
regarding my breasts once again resurfaced. When walking inside I was told by
security to cover up and he pointed to my breast. When I looked at him in dismay, he instructed
me to put on my jacket. My cousin turned to me and laughed, because she had her
buttons undone and was showing cleavage, yet he did not say anything to her. Nonetheless,
Norte-Dame Cathedral is an architecture masterpiece filled with some much history.
Dulcinea was able to do confession and when we purchased some jewelry pieces the
priest blessed them for us. It was an amazing experience.
Batobus on the Seine River
Pont des Arts (love lock bridge)
Pont des Arts (love lock bridge)
Arc de Triomphe
Norte-Dame Cathedral
Confession inside Norte-Dame Cathedral
Outside the Louvre museum
Court Yard of the Louvre Museum
Later
that night we had dinner with her friend that was born and raised in Paris. She
confirmed that Parisians have a problem with large breast that appear to be
fake as they believe it to be an American cliché. She was away for 6 months studying in Sweden
and pretty much traveled all over Europe. She admitted that since her return,
she despised living in Paris and wanted to move. She expressed that once she experienced
other countries, she realized the differences regarding what she grew up to be social
norms. She stated that many Parisians are rude and unwelcoming to everyone and
it does not matter whether a person is local or not. She helped us celebrate our last night with a bang and we laid in the grass drinking wine and watched the Eiffel tower sparkle, we also ended up breaking night and we barely made it to the airport for our 6 am flight.
I
spent 3 ½ days in Paris, and when I arrived to Ireland it was the complete opposite
environment. I personally think that Paris is still an amazing place to travel
once one becomes familiar with their customs and silent rules. Perhaps being
slightly more fluent in French instead of basic words would also be helpful. A
lot of the time we seemed like a bother even when ordering food. Nevertheless, I
must state that not all Parisians are rude, such as the woman that owned the café
next to our Air B&B where I got my butter croissant and café crème every morning. However, I found that the men were much more
accommodating compared to women who often appeared to be unfriendly and made it
a point to let you that they were talking negatively about you. Despite it
all, I would still go back and try it all over again…well after visiting the
rest of the countries on my bucket list. Please keep in mind that this is my experience and the sole purpose of the post is strictly referencing Culture Shock.
à votre santé
~Tiffany
