You know you're in Paris when...

You know you're in Paris when...

You go out for a day of shopping and your french boyfriend manages to buy more clothes than you. Then you have cheese for dinner, while watching the World Cup. And you actually care who wins (Spain).

My god...what has become of me.

After two whole weeks in Paris, I am very proud to announce that I have made several attempts at all of the goals I have set for myself.

1. Learning to Cook-made two dinners last week. First was a rosemary chicken and pasta dish. Unfortunately an utter disaster. The metric measurements are not helping, and who knew rosemary had to be cut? Recipe called for a sprig. Mine was more like a branch.
And second, a salad...with chicken. The chicken from the night before.

So obviously still must continue working on that.

I don't know why, but cooking scares me. I mean, it literally scares me. I get nervous while shopping at Carrefour (the grocery here). I think, "Oh goodness...all of these ingredients...they have to go (gulp) together." But I keep hearing my Grandmother's voice in my head, "If you can read, you can cook". But then again, she also always told me to marry a man just for their money. Which she did quite successfully, four times.

2. Learn more French-very happy to report I am getting quite good with this one. Went out with some French friends the other night, and understood about 90% of the conversation. Speaking is a different story, but my 3 hours of daily French class are helping with that.

3. Make friend's with a Parisien girl-hmmm...this is a tricky one. I am making lots of friends at school, but most of them are from Holland. Does it count?

4. Teach a performance class-A work in progress...

I find it interesting what has happened to my psyche during these first two weeks here. Naturally, I had a lot of excitement and adrenaline before I left. But then it suddenly dawned on me that I won't have the gym, DVR, friends, or even my BlackBerry to keep me company for awhile. My schedule is open...wide open. And I don't really do open. Not unless a beach and a mojito is involved.

So here I am. Going into week three and I have decided not to stay sheltered in my apartment.
I am going to do touristy things. Because as much as I don't want the French to know (I cover my American books in the metro with a French magazine), I am not from here. I am not French. I'm an American girl, who happens to be in love with this place, with a man who is from here, and who is just visiting for awhile to see what she finds.

Alan Alda said it best, it seems.

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.
What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself. ~Alan Alda