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Published: October 7th 2010
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I won't get into a long explanation of how or why I came to be in France for so long, but I will say that it started last year, with my grandma's help, a dream, and an intense passion for Art History. The short of it is that I found a program online that would find me an internship here in my field and ended up working for the musée Rodin, where I met my boyfriend, who is ironically as close in culture to an American as you can get where English is still your second language. He's Quebecer. It produces a cute accent in English, that's for sure, which I can't talk too much about considering I probably have the most horrendous accent in French ever, some sort of hybrid combination of Parisian, Quebecer, and American, with a bit of a southern twang thrown in for good measure.
He works here on a visa, which has to be renewed every few months to a year or so, on Canadian soil. I have come back on an au pair visa to nanny for different families in and around Paris, to be with him and also to be so close to
everything that I love: Europe, travel, French food. However, what results is that we both have to leave and come back here every few months or so, and so someone is always in Paris alone while the other one sorts out their paperwork to get here, only to have the other one leave shortly thereafter. Of the last eleven months that we've been together, we have been TOGETHER, in the same place, for three of them. Luckily, we have found in each other loyalty, fidelity, and a willingness to sit for hours in an internet café to talk on Skype every day. I miss him when he is away, but I wouldn't say that it was hard... it's not hard to be with someone whom you know you love.
I was slated to return last Friday to work for my new family. I had a year-long visa and an itch to leave, and I wanted to be here for the 9th annual Nuit Blanche, which I happened to catch last year and was dying to see again. It is basically a night that features artists' light installations in museums, cathedrals, and on the streets. It is SO much fun!!
I stayed up all night packing on Thursday and rushed to get everything done in time, and on Friday morning, minutes before my mom was supposed to drive me the 2 hours to get to the airport, I checked my email to find that my French family wanted me here the weekend AFTER. This just wasn't going to work for me. I had not only been dying to see Nuit Blanche, but also, my friend Drew from college was stationed in Germany and was planning a visit to see me the weekend afterwards. The visit also coincided with the Fête des Vendanges of Montmartre, ANOTHER huge and awesome event in which the wine-producing part of Paris (yes, Paris, modern city that it is, actually still produces wine!! How many other cities can boast this stupendous fact?!?) throws a themed party where there is dancing, snail-eating, and wine-drinking on the streets for days. It ends each year with a famous fireworks display, where the fireworks are perfectly choreographed to explode in time with songs from old French crooners from the 20's. I saw this last year with Carrie, and it was not only the best fireworks show that we'd ever
seen, but it also brought us both to tears. I'll never forget the look on her face while she was watching it--it was pure joy, wonder, and awe, and I could see the fireworks exploding in her eyes.
Needless to say, I HAD to see this again.
I therefore called my boyfriend multiple times in a panic, unable to reach him to ask him if he'd be all right with me coming and crashing with him for a week. I was in a panic! It isn't exactly good form to invite yourself into someone's already small apartment for an entire week without first asking if it would be all right. Not to mention the fact that we had to leave the house right then or we'd be severely late to catch the already stand-by flight in DC.
I finally reached him, rendered him speechless with my emotional verbal tidal wave ("Ihavetoknowrightthissecondbecauseimabouttobeoutthedoorifitwouldbeokificrashedwithyouforaweekbecausemyfrenchfamilydoesntwantmetillnextweekendisitok?!?!??"), and waited with bated breath until he caught his and sputtered out, "Honey, that's GREAT!"
It was then I knew that it'd be ok.
I rushed to the airport and arrived at the gate in the midst of boarding, running to the desk and
quickly demanding if they had any spots for me. They had TRIPLE-BOOKED the flight, but they somehow allowed me on the flight, where I promptly called my mom and... knocked over a flight attendant's tray of orange juices and champagne. Sometimes I wish I didn't have the clumsy gene...
(To be fair, I only bumped her, and I don't believe anything spilled, although I was too mortified to look. I quickly ran to my seat, threw my enormous carry-on overhead, and ran to issue a more formal and sincere apology, which she accepted with a hug and an admonition to slow down. The other flight attendants overheard me and were so thankful that someone apologised to them rather than yelled at them for once that they offered me champagne, which I declined for reasons I still don't understand.)
I promptly fell asleep, woke up and I was in Paris again. Paris. Again. This was my fourth time flying into Charles de Gaulle, and it was beginning to become routine.
And I never thought I'd be saying THAT.
My boyfriend helped me with my luggage (sweet thing) to his place, where I promptly fell asleep until 4
PM or so, when I awoke to get ready for Nuit Blanche.
And what a Nuit!!! We saw so many things! We first stopped at the Notre Dame, which was, for once, completely unlit and had this strange light glowing from inside. It would continuously fade and intensify, and there were four or five mysterious silhouettes of figures from the inside and the outside that gave the whole thing a rather creepy vibe. We were dying to go inside, and we weren't disappointed, for it featured a few heavenly voices singing Celtic tunes in a very heavenly, etherial light. It was breathtaking.
We then waited in line, at my own mistaken desire, for an hour for another light expo at a hospital right beside the Notre Dame, which for all the waiting we did was a major disappointment and consisted of strings of green lights hanging from the open-air courtyard and for which I won't even bother to post photos.
We then made our way to the bridge behind the Cathedral, where we found the most amazing installation of the night, which consisted of cubes made from tubing and mesh that had geometric designs projected onto them that pulsed and moved to the beat of house music. It. Was. Fantastic. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. And you could walk through it!!! The Boy and I watched it for forever.
Several installations and a rum crepe later and The Boy and I were completely exhausted. We somehow made it back to his apartment, accidentally finding the place where Lady Di died on the way, and slept a sore and aching sleep.
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J Dodson
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Amazing
Jessica - The way you explained the lights in the car on the way back from Kohl's was perfect - these images are exactly what i pictured. I was and am officially inspired to experience this one day! <3