Le temps. Time.

I find it difficult to believe that tomorrow I will have been here a week! I am not certain yet if time is flying by or if it is going in slow motion. So much has happened in such a short period of days and I almost feel as if it has been years since I left home. I am already extremely more settled than just a few days ago, when I did not have a home or a school. Then again, it has already been a week and I feel like I just arrived yesterday!
Lately it seems as if I left time behind and, I am floating in a measureless space. Time has never felt more trivial because hours pass before I am ready and they don’t mean much at all. In Paris, I leave home around 8:30 AM and I often don’t return until 6 PM. At the end of each day I feel like time has stolen my day and I watch as its dust gathers in the distance. I rarely consult my watch because not a single minute seems long, including during my two-hour language courses and my metro commutes. As soon as one item is checked off the schedule, it is immediately replaced without hesitation, however it doesn’t feel obligatory, but instead, it is merely the next step. There are only answers and no questions with what to do with the hours each day. Occasionally unanticipated changes in the schedule occur due to exterior factors, and yet it matters not because the list continues. Even the mundane trip for contact solution is an adventure because I never know exactly where it will be sold or along with what other strange products. Paying at the cash register never fails to amuse me between the “handicap” lines at the Monoprix and the random “credit card only” lines, which I stumbled into accidentally. Plus, I never know what the cashier will say and I most likely will not know how to respond. The social blunder stories that I will have will amuse any dinner guest!
The only strict alarms that I follow refer to when I wake up for class and when I need to be home for dinner. If I have learned anything so far it is to adapt to my surroundings, for example, I have to be in class from 9:30 to 5:30 some days, and I have dinner with my family at 7:30. Anything else is subject to change because I must stick to those two constants. My alarm in the morning and my dinner at night are the beginning and end to my day and without them I would feel lost. Sometimes my alarm sounds too early and or dinnertime seems too late, but they remain regardless, and I simply get up and or wait. Going and waiting, waiting and going, that is what time is all about, these days. More going than waiting, then again, because even though I may be hungry or eager, the present is always filled with distractions. GO! to the store and buy tomatoes for your lunch tomorrow, GO! to the MICEFA office to sign up for your appointment, GO! to the store to buy your books, Go! to the metro because it is already 5:00 O’clock, and before I know it, it is almost 7:30! In Paris, I don’t hesitate to run to the store on a school day because firstly, I need and or want something, and secondly, because I am already out. In Paris, you are always “out” and you are never “in!” I don’t even feel “in” at home until it is after dinner and I am settled down for the night. Blocks, metro stops, and stairs are like air and they are easily over-looked. Unlike at home, I don’t ever feel rushed, except to get to class and to dinner on time, because nothing else needs to be done that day! There is so much to do and only so many hours in the day, and everything will eventually be done, but perhaps not today. Pas problem!
Things are different in Paris because I mostly enjoy every minute of every day and I get to wake up the next day and start all over again. Besides, whereas I don’t necessarily look forward to sleeping at night like I sometimes will in the states, with the exception of my jet-laggy days, of course, it is always a welcome friend. For the first time in my life, I am not just waiting for the next part of my day and instead, I go one step at a time so I savor each step. No matter what, I have a delicious surprise waiting for dinner and another exciting day in Paris to look forward too, so it seems foolish to complain.