Visitors

The interesting thing about having visitors is that you get to see the place that you live through new eyes. You go to places like the Eiffel Tower and the Sacré Cœur and take pictures, even though you ordinarily wouldn't be caught dead in touristy places where you could get your wallet stolen so easily. You go to expensive restaurants instead of eating a 3 euro lunch at the ENS dining hall, since a guest pass would cost 10 euros. You don't get as much Berthillon ice cream because they don't see how amazing it is like you do. Anyway, having visitors is a different way to see the city, except that I had my visitors in my first three weeks, when I was supposed to be settling into a routine. What's more, my visitors were actually friends who lived in Paris with me four years ago. So, the visits were almost like déjà vu, a reminder that Paris is timeless, but that we're not.

My first visitor was Eileen. In case you don't remember, I met Eileen four years ago in my class on Paris and literature. After my semester, I left Paris and she stayed for a few months before ultimately going back to Berlin, where she got a job with MTV and then a few other companies. About a year after studying abroad, I came back to Europe and my main intention was just to stick around Paris and pretend like I was still living there. Instead, Eileen convinced me to spend three days in Berlin, and I also went to Pisa to see Justine (my former French teacher). Little did I know that those would be the three languages I would be learning in graduate school (French, Italian, German).

Anyway, Eileen's visit to Paris was pretty low key. My favorite part was on Thursday when we reprised our old Thursday night bar ritual. We went to Tribal (a bar in the 10th) where they serve free moules/frites (mussels and fries) at 9pm on the dot, and then headed over to the Moose. Even though it's been four years since Eileen lived here, all these bartenders still remember her, and we definitely got extra moules/frites at Tribal and plenty of free drinks at the Moose. At Tribal, they even gave us a table marked "reserved" because they were so happy to see Eileen. Four years ago, I was only 20 years old. The Thursday night bar hopping with Eileen didn't make me feel European, but it definitely made me feel like a "normal" college student since I couldn't go to bars in Baltimore (being under 21 and all). This time, the novelty of the drinking was gone, but it was still really nice to be back in familiar places and doing familiar things.

My second visitor was Alexandra, who was my college roommate and also spent a semester here in Paris at the same time as I did. With Alexandra, we did much more touristy stuff. She hasn't been to Paris in four years, seems to have forgotten a lot of her French, and didn't really remember her way around. Also, she didn't have a working European cell phone or anyone else in the city she knew. So, we went to Angelina's for hot chocolate (so good, so fancy, but so expensive!), Fauchon for drinks and cheese on the terrace, high-end shops (where she could afford things, but not me), and more. Then, when Rosalind (my scholarship donor and awesome Hopkins alumna friend) joined us, we continued to do touristy and classy things. We even saw a movie—Qu'est-ce qu'on a fait au bon Dieu, the same one I saw in Berlin which is apparently so popular that even though it's out on DVD, it's still in theaters!

Anyway, the trip reminded me of a younger me trying to get to know Paris. Now I do know Paris, have plenty of French friends, see how life actually works here, and although the touristy showing people around is fun, it's good to know that I actually know how to live here. And all the visitors left just in time for me to leave as well—on Thursday, I head back to America for conferences, meetings, etc. It will be my turn to be the visitor!

PS: Here is a picture of me looking like a very pious tourist in the Sainte Chapelle. Beautiful, no? Thanks to Eileen for the picture!