to rain or not to rain

dimanche 30 mars 2008

My first full day in Paris was greeted with a whole day of rain - cold, frigid rain.  The entire Europe also changed from the winter hour to the spring hour, but that didn't bother me a bit since I was already jet-lagged.

In the afternoon, I met my first language exchange partner.  We had café in a café right next to the Seine.  After complaining about the rain and the nearly freezing temperature (first time I ever complained about anything), I remembered that I was sitting in a café, in Paris, with a view of the Tour Eiffel, on the Right Bank of the Seine.  Suddenly I realized there was nothing to complain about.  I am the luckiest person in the world to be here, enjoying this beautiful rain in Paris.

Everything around me turned beautiful and interesting - from the smartly dressed (with the ever present scarf) chic young French woman clinging tightly to her umbrella and even more so to her cell phone, to the grumpy-looking older Frenchman dodging the bullets of the rain to cross the street.  While it rained heavily in our area, I noticed a strand of brightness in light blue peaking through the clouds behind the Tour Eiffel.  At that exact moment, it was 20:00, and the blinking lights on the tower began their hourly show.  The sunset soon transformed the blue into an intense orange, all seemingly just to remind me of where I was.  My new friend is an avid photographer and snapped this candid when I wasn't paying attention, so here is the first picture of my blog.

Et alors, j'ai vraiment de la chance d'être à Paris. Mon cours commence demain. Je sais que j'apprendrai plein de français dans mon cours et que j'apprendrai plein de vie à Paris. Pendant les premiers jours quand j'étais ici en 2006, tout ce que les gens disait a semblé mélangé. Mais cette fois, je peux entendre des mots distincts dans chaque phrase à la télé. C'est un bon début.

D'ailleurs, quand je me baladais dans la Rue de Beaubourg cet après-midi, je me suis senti comme si je ne partais jamais de Paris et si j'étais toujours ici depuis deux années.