A summer speaking french

It was early July while I was enjoying warm Leuven for the first time. No raining, no cold, no humidity. Not the Leuven I used to be. It was Leuven during the summer. It did not last long, though. In fact, my European summer would not happen to be in this city of Belgium.

Days later I was settled down in Paris: my summer would be there for a cero euros price thanks to the generosity of a friend instead of paying a pointless rental when classes were over. Without missing that I had some arguments with my landlord so the escape for my trouble was three hours away from lovely Leuven.

So unlike many people let's say that I never planned -and somehow want- a summer in Paris once I had it. Definitely the first days I may have unconsciously believed that I was still in Leuven therefore I was reading a good book or simply doing household tasks. In the following the days, I realized I was in an immigrant neighbourhood when I rarely could hear French around my hood. Chateau Rouge, which it was the metro stop near my house, had a pile of hairdressers targeted for black people along the street, telephone booths and a bakery 24/7 just at the corner of my street. That is how I could describe where I was in Paris during my first days.

After a couple of weeks I finally realized I was in Paris. I mean, my mind and eyes were able to realize of this. People were different from Leuven. For instance, twice, people got into arguments with me just because I rubbed my body with them while walking in the street. Once one of them even asked me to say sorry. Ha. Not to mention that twice I was about to get robbed in the Parisian metro; bars close at 2 am and by no means you will get a Stella Artois for one euro; and last but not least: French people are either bad in English or just do not speak it. This was a sign I was not in Leuven anymore; indeed, I was now living in Paris.

This does not mean I hated Paris. Not all. I started to love it once I find certain things were better there than in Belgium. As a matter of fact, Books and museums were ridiculously cheap unlike Belgium. I would recommend Gibert Jeune or the bookstore of the Pompidou Museum with a price for each book ranging between 10 and 15 euros. On the other hand, about finding good and cheap food I would not say that Paris is expensive either. However is a matter of finding good spots. As a general rule I believe that the more tourists are, the more expensive price will be around that area. 

Also, Parisian streets during the summer are quite different from other periods. There are a lot of free outdoors activities for everybody such as concerts and public cinema. Precisely, this was the moment when I decided go out in the streets everyday with my camera to keep all these summer memories. 

I remember that my first photo I took it in a public shower were lots of people were there just enjoying the cold water splashes during a hot day. I wasn’t really sure where I was aiming with all these snapshots until I checked my photos in my laptop. Once I reviewed each photo, I decided to grab moments like this around Paris.

Therefore, I went to the most popular spots in Paris and grabbed particular moments that most likely will happen only there. I was not interested in Paris cliché tourist places such as the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, the Montmartre and so on. Instead, I was interested in these places but mainly about what people was doing there. After almost three months of stay, this was the outcome: this is how I saw Paris from my eyes. Au revoir!