Friends of Paris

I’ve already written about Antoine from Chez Ammad and Fabien and Claudia from Chez Nous, but there’s more. I’ve been using some apps and websites to find friends, as well as the old fashioned in person technique. I’ve met a few folks at language exchange meetings. Of course, if there’s one thing I’m bad it – it’s selfies. I didn’t take any pictures of myself and my friends of Paris, but they’re cool.

Definition of friend so far: a person I met, hung out with, exchanged contact info, and hope to see again in the future.

BlaBla Language Exchange

BlaBla is an organization that hosts congregations for folks to meet others. It’s not just in Paris, but internationally. In Paris, however, they meet weekly on Thursdays (I believe). Is it technically a language exchange? Yes. But they become pretty large and loud gatherings, where it’s difficult to exchange or practice. But they’re still fun. And you meet cool people, like Yassine. Yassine, like so many folks I’ve met, is in computer science. But we talked about life, about taking on challenges, and language. Something that’s always impressed me with Europeans: they often know at least two languages. Yassine knew four!

I met other folks at BlaBla, but Yassine was the only one I exchanged numbers with. Look forward to chatting again, Yassine!

An Accidental Meeting

I met Eli online. We chatted briefly about his work as a marketing professor and my travels. We agreed to meet at a bar near Eli’s work. I got there a little early and waited outside for a few minutes. When the time came for our arranged meeting, I searched for wi-fi. No luck. This other guy kept walking into the bar, out of it, and around the street. So I asked if he was Eli. No, he was not.

This was Abdu from Germany. Abdu was searching for a language exchange meeting. Through a misunderstanding, he thought the meeting was at six rather than eight. Abdu was nice enough to share his hotspot and I was able to connect with Eli. When Eli arrived, we all sat down and chatted together. This was a nice conversation about philosophy, work-life balance, and politics. What I like about Europeans: I actually enjoyed this political discussion.

Well, the time came when Eli had to head home. He had an hour and a half train ride. Abdu and I stayed. Well, we were going to stay for the language exchange, but I was starving. So I got some delicious Indian food for only nine euros. But we did return and met some folks.

Another Language Exchange!

When Abdu and I returned with food, Mohammed joined us. I stuffed my face quickly. Mohammed hailed from Morocco and we had another political conversation. This often diverged to discussing women, but always returning to politics.

Again! An enjoyable conversation! And partially in French I understood! Win!

Eventually, Mohammed moved on and Abdu and I stepped out where it wasn’t 9,000 degrees Celcius. Yeah, I’m converting to the metrics.

Outside, we saw a kid at a table. We introduced ourselves to Nico, also from Germany. Nico enjoys art, and I had hoped to visit an art museum with him before I left Paris, but that didn’t happen. Alas. We met a lot of folks that night. We talked about German beer, classes, interests, and which language sounded the most angry. Plot twist, I don’t think it’s German. At least not when Abdu and Nico spoke it.

The last person I met was Claudia from Italy. She recommended a lot of spots to visit in Italy, including a medieval town and a bar with cheap beer.

Bastille – Walking With A Friend

Abdu and I met the day after to explore the area of Bastille. We wandered around, fulfilling my goal of getting a little lost in Paris. I was hungry from the start, but we intended to try some true French cuisine. So we passed by all the bars offering four-euro beers (difficult to do). We passed the patisseries and boulangeries. We finally decided on a bistro, but it was closed for another hour and a half. So we filled that time with walking more, winding up where we had met the night before. By this time, we were starving (in first-world standards). So we searched for somewhere open and nearby. We found a shop serving “French Tacos.”

What’s a French Taco? Uh…it’s more like a wrap… or a burrito? I had mine with chicken, cordon bleu, and this biggi burger sauce. It comes with french fries INSIDE the wrap. Is it delicious? Yes. Was it cheap? Yeah! Was it French? I have no idea! But it succeeded in filling me up for the evening.

Thanks to all the folks I’ve met thus far! I hope to meet again.

And I look forward to my experiences in Lyon. I’m taking my first high-speed train right now.