24 hours in Paris

At the end of January, one of the new students in my program posted in our Facebook group that she was going to Paris for a concert, and I decided to join. The act in question was Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, aka the black guy from Community. He’s been rapping for a while and he’s actually really good. You should youtube him if you feel so inclined. Anyhow, I’m a fan, so I decided to go for it. This semester I wanted to go back to Paris at least twice, with one of those being a super short day trip, just because I can. I’m living three hours away from Paris, and who knows if that will ever happen again.

So the three of us, that being myself and two other girls from my program, caught a Tuesday afternoon train, arrived in Paris by early evening, dropped our things at our hostel, and then metro’ed across town to the venue. We were even lucky enough to have some nice young Parisians help us find the place, which was awesome. Before we left the station, I went to compare the city map I had marked with the venue’s location to the map of the neighborhood near the exit so I knew which direction to head once we were above ground. Sure enough, these two young people were also looking at the map, and asked me if we were heading to the same venue. Turns out they didn’t know where they were going, but with my specifically marked map plus their knowledge of the area, they now understood and showed us where it was. It might sound like I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but this is huge. Parisians are notoriously cold, rude people. So the fact that this happened was nearly the equivalent of seeing a leprechaun ride a unicorn. I don’t think we would have gotten to/been on time for the show without this little Christmas miracle.

The next day, we did a bit of sightseeing. My two partners in travel had never been to Paris before, so we hit a few staples (Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysées, Place de la Concord, exterior of the Louvre) and then it was time for the other two to catch their train home. This gave me an additional several hours to wander on my own before heading back to Aix. Once I was alone, I fluffed up my scarf a bit so it was nearly useless and walked like I knew where I was going, and I was presently surprised. None of the tourist crap peddlers bothered me. No one jingled their Eiffel Tower key chains at me; no one offered me some mock petition to sign while they tried to pick pocket me. It was lovely. So I wandered around Paris for a few hours and just enjoyed my time. And soon enough, it was time to catch a train and head home.

Super glad I made the trip. I really love Paris, and am very thankful I have the opportunity to visit it multiple times this year.

Childish Gambino