Spring has officially hit Paris, and just in case anyone was wondering, it's true what they say, there's nothing like Paris in the springtime. When I was in Rome, I quickly became attached to the beautiful, temperate Italian climate, and got bummed out thinking that I would have to endure a few more weeks of rainy Paris. But to my surprise, it has been absolutely beautiful since we got back from spring break. While it's only been in the mid to upper 50s, it has felt so much warmer, which I would say is one of the biggest differences between Paris weather and Boston weather. The mid 50s in Boston still feels a bit chilly because there's always a slight chill in the air, or because the wind is blowing so freaking hard that you can't help but feel cold, but here it feels so great. On the plus-side, spring has brought the Parisians out of their stuffy apartments and into the city. People are picnicking all over the place, they're hanging out on the quais du seine, they're walking around, I've seen like 12 neighbors who I've never seen before. It's been a really nice change from the cold, drab Paris that I've experienced the last two months.
On the downside, the warm weather has also brought the tourists, and I'm already resenting them. I never understood the Parisians' aversion to tourists, but now I totally get it. I've found that you can easily spot a tourist, particularly an American tourist, because they don't wear jackets when it's warm enough to go without one (plus their tendency to wear sensible footwear, but that's another story). I don't understand why, and I definitely don't understand how, but the French ALWAYS wear coats. This weekend it was 65 degrees, felt like 70, and they were walking around in wool coats. I could understand if they wear them so that they have something warm when the sun goes down and the temperature drops, but they don't even take them off and drape them over their arms during the day. It really baffles me how they can endure that kind of heat. I mean, I wear my jacket all the time too so that I fit in here (yeah, I'm assimilating, I know), but I just about die of heat exhaustion in doing so. It kinda sucks, man. Not that I miss seeing Americans don their shorts and flip-flops at the first sight of spring, but seriously, it wouldn't hurt the French to shed a layer or two. but anyway, that's enough complaining from me.
In other news, I just bought tickets to the France-Lithuania world cup qualifying match and I'm pretty stoked about it! Apparently, Lithuania is doing much better than anyone anticipated, while France is currently having a pretty shitty year. Annnnd, if France loses this game, they are not going to the World Cup next year, so I could potentially get to witness an historical moment in l'histoire du foot-ball francais. Also, the sports director guy here at AUP told me that if I wear Lithuanian colors or a Lithuania t-shirt to the game, it's quite possible that I would get killed because of it. So, yeah, football's kinda serious here in Europe. Who knew, right?
Oh, and I'm also going to Madrid this weekend which is cool as well.
