Penniless in Paree

So the first two weeks of class was gruesome!!!! We covered a semester worth of work in two weeks, sitting in class from 9 am to 5pm everyday, with just an hour and a half of break. It was crazy! And then at the end we had an exam and an oral presentation of a paper we had written… whooouu I get tired all over again thinking about it. But then after these two weeks we were rewarded with a four-day weekend in Paris, from Saturday to Tuesday. And ohhhhh man Paris was just amaaaaaaaazing.

You know how every city has a vibe, Paris just thrums with high ceaseless energy. It’s metropolitan and international and walking the streets and you hear just 40% French, the rest, languages from all over the world. It’s like New York, but richer and chic-er because of all of its culture and class. And the architecture and the tourism and the ambiance…ooo yeah. Our hotel was in the 5eme arrondisement, the Latin quarter, very close to Notre Dame and a lot of other tourist spots, so we were really lucky. And the weather that weekend was perfect so there was really no excuse not to have a good time.

At first I was not so sure about the whole trip. I saw a whole list of compulsory museum visits and sister from Ghana who can barely recognize art, I was thinking, oh gosh, I’m probably gonna fall asleep on my feet but ohhhh no!!!! It was all so amazing, BEAUTIFUL artwork and sculptures that just draw you in and work on your emotions, fantastic! So many times I was just breathless, trying to take it all in, the accuracy of the angles of the sculptures and their smoothness. Gosh, one naked female statue even had freaking cellulite carved believingly onto her thigh. Yeah, that’s talent. And I thought of all the commitment it must have taken to create those things, and I was just inspired. And the Eifel tower at night, one word: BREATHLESS!!!!!!! It was gigantic, monumental, beautiful and just breathtakingly amazing. And when it lit up, whoaaa my breath just got stuck in my throat. And I was hanging out with cool people so it was all so really perfect.

And funny story about how I became penniless in Paris… in my rushed packing for the trip I forgot to take extra money and I did not know the code for my French bankcard so all I had on me was the cash in my purse and for a big city, it wasn’t a lot of money. After buying a scarf and some books, I had left on the last night 5 euro and change and I had to be able to afford lunch the next day so…it was really not the best situation.

Anyway, I was really tired the last night, looking forward to an early night, when a couple peeps from my prog invited me to a jazz club they were going to. Apparently it was free Monday nights, so I was just like why not, “heyyyyy lets jazzzz it up in Pareeeee,” and I went with them.

When we got there, I asked the cuuute bartender, whether we had to pay anything to go in and in his gruff voice he was like “ahhhh mais non ah, rien, jus la premier consomation, ca coute 7 euro.” And I just thought, excellent, I’m not gonna ‘consume’ anything so “heyyyyy lets jazz it up already in parreeee!!”

And we got in. It was disappointingly small and soooo hot, the room where they playing the music. I settled down and began to people watch and noticed how everybody seemed to be tapping their fingers and nodding their heads and I guessed that was the jazz thing to do, so I got engrossed in trying to be like them, look cool and nod my head, when all of a sudden the waiter broke my thoughts and asked for my order. I was thinking, duuude, and just said, “non, rien pour moi,” all the while nodding my head and looking cool. But ooh no, apparently, it was compulsory to get a drink, the cute bartender had left that out!!!!! I was not amused. I looked around quickly to see if I could escape, but nah, we were boxed in. So I picked up my purse, counted my change, barely made 7euros and ordered the drink. I was maaad, what a rip off! And when the drink came, I was sooo thirsty, I drank it in two gulps and put my glass down with a thud. There goes 7 euros were my exact angry thoughts.

Then when the waiter brought the bill, for seven of us who ordered together, it cost over $100 euros, Aiiiii !!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently the bartender had also failed to say that you paid obligatoirement for your drink and contributed the same amount for the music you were enjoying, WHAT THE HECK!!! So I needed to cough up 15 euros, and all I had was 7. Whoooo sister, I began to sweat, the temperature suddenly rising by several degrees. And there was no way out, not even if I crawled!!! People had started to get their money out, grumbling, but getting it out all the same. Ai what was I to do? Perhaps, I could faint!? Nah, too dramatic. So many thoughts were running through my head, and I guess they reflected on my face cos one of my friends asked if I needed help and she lent me 10 euros to bail myself out. I was FUMING, 15 freaking Euros: that could had got me the cute top I had been eyeing, a couple good books, 15 baguettes, 3 lunches, and in Ghana oh mannn, 100 balls of kenkey, over 60 roasted plantain, a month lunch of delicious waakye. And I don’t even really like jazz to top it up! I had just gone because, “heeyyyy its pareeee,” dannit!!!!!! After paying so much money to be there I was determined to enjoy the music and so got into nodding my head vigorously and tapping my fingers with all my might!! I got a couple weird stares doing that, but heyyyyyyyy, it’s paree!!

It ended up being an okay night after all. The music was actually good and improv too. There were two band members and different musicians would come in, pay up of course, and then wait a turn to play their instrument with the band. They’d just join in like that, play with the band, and then get a 5 minute solo where they would strum out their own tunes on their saxes, bass guitars, flutes etc. It was beautiful to watch them get into their music, merge with their play and release their emotions at the same time their tunes. Their queued for this chance up there, those 5 minutes when they could let themselves lose and be one with their music, sharing themselves and their art with whomever would.

That’s what I learned a lot about that weekend actually, believing in yourself and your work and having the courage to share it. It’s good advice, and was expensive too :). And oh the next day, yeah I starved. I listened to my stomach growl during lunch and I imagined it to be beautiful Jazz music. I mean hey it was Pareee afterall, magic happens.

I returned to Strasbourg have now started classes proper and oh so many stories. Updates to come shortly.