A Typically Amazing Day in France

Yesterday has to be one of the best days of my life. I know this sounds like a pretty bold statement, but the day really blew me away for reasons that most people might find strange but were profound for me. Only two days after arriving in France, my boyfriend and I were awoken at 9am by friends who greeted us with fresh croissants and pain au chocolate at our apartment. They came to the apartment to share a "petit dejeuner" since we were going to a protest march in Paris later in the day together. Having lived in France long enough and knowing the spontaneity of the culture, I woke up in my pink and gray flannel pajamas and greeted my new French friends and then headed to the kitchen to help prepare breakfast without batting an eye. In the past, this would have been a strange thing to have happen, but now I am really beginning to enjoy hosting and entertaining even when it's unexpected. This is an amazing part of French culture that most Americans don't know about. It's this "Latin" part of France and a lot of European culture that impresses me so much. The focus on friendship and family and just enjoying life. Taking all the time in the world to simply sit and enjoy a cappucino with a friend or spending an entire day together with a group of friends just laughing, talking and sharing.

So back to my "typical" day in France... After hosting breakfast, I got ready and headed out to a protest march along the streets of Paris. This is another part of French culture that I don't think a lot of Americans or people know about perhaps, which is that French people love to protest for all sorts of things. They are very active in their political process and creation of laws and frequently express their discontent when they don't agree with something in France. So, like a typical French person, we headed to the streets of Paris and walked 5km for equal rights of the LGBT community. We met up with a group of about 15 friends beforehand to create signs and share lunch together and then were on our way. Walking through the streets of Paris with hundreds of people behind me, music blaring, and signs ablazing was pretty amazing I have to say. Something I will never forget for sure.

After marching for about 5 hours or so, my boyfriend and I headed home to host a dinner for our 15 friends. Although admittedly, I was pretty tired at this point in the day, it was a really cool experience to create a meal for so many people, unexpectedly, and to share a dinner with so many new friends. Again, this is something very typical of French culture. Creating a meal for a large group of people at a moment's notice and not thinking anything of it. It's completely normal here to do something like that unlike in America where we tend to need to plan things well in advance and mark them in our calendars before they can happen. This flexibility and welcoming people into your home without hesitation is something I greatly admire about French people and I am learning from as well. So, in a dimly lit courtyard, with a bunch of plastic chairs, an old table and lots of paper plates, we put out a melange of simple foods and just ate and talked, enjoying each others' company. We didn't worry about the presentation or needing to put out fancy dishware. We just put out what we had and enjoyed it. No fuss, no stress. And of course, at the end of the evening, each person said good-bye to everyone with the typical kisses on the cheek, and a lot of "bonne soirée's" and "bonne nuit's" later, we ended our day.

Again, I realize this may not seem like a special day for a lot of people. But for me, it was perfect because it was all about connecting with people and enjoying the moment. It was about "going with the flow" and just taking in what life was presenting. It was filled with smiling, laughing, dancing, self-expression, sharing and of course, eating, and for me, there's nothing better.