So, now, regarding my project, everything is starting to move forward. I have picked my final locations and am starting to draw the final sketches, which I may post (some) next week. I am getting together with my advisor more often to walk through the streets of Paris. She also points out the most popular cafes and the hidden second hand stores when we walk so even though I've been here for more than a month, I'm still constantly discovering new places.
The last week was especially fun for people watching. My advisor took me to a street where all the people who were apart of Fashion week liked to meet up, sit and drink coffee and beer for hours. And the clothes they were wearing: so funny! These people had no boundaries (other than the fact that it was cold so luckily no one was naked or anything). Some wore big fur coats, some had half their hair shaved off and tons of make up and bright nail polish on; no one looked the same. What captured my attention the most though, was the way they carried themselves. These people knew when they walked by a café, everyone was looking, especially me. And that was their goal. I spent at least two hours drinking one cup of hot chocolate (because it was expensive) while openly staring at the people walking by. I'm sure anywhere else I would've have seemed... almost disturbing. But everyone was just having fun, drinking, smoking and talking about anything as the traffic rolled by and the sun began to set. It was one of my favorite nights in Paris so far.
The big news from this week end is that I went to Berlin! I took an hour and a half flight from Paris to Berlin on Friday and came back Tuesday night. And Berlin is beautiful, but not the way Paris is. Paris, visually, is rich, and full of stories that span back hundreds of years. You can see it in the arches of the old churches and the way the older buildings literally lean back in the oldest parts of Paris. Berlin, on the other hand was recently rebuilt. This means that there's much more SPACE, to breathe and live. Most, if not all of its current buildings are simple cement blocks with windows and terraces. The streets are wider and there are more (and much bigger) parks. The sidewalks are cleaner but there was beer bottle caps everywhere. For me it was kind of like fusing Tucson and Paris. So it was more than great to go there, almost like I was closer to home...
Anyways, it was nice to escape from the busy-ness and constant noise of Paris to the more open and relaxed atmosphere of Berlin. It really helped to emphasize French culture, which is so different to that of Germany. Even though there are many foreigners in both France and Germany, there is still a certain way of living that identifies the general French population from the rest, no matter how close these countries are.
(By the way, if any of you go to Berlin, I recommend eating their waffles. Actually I command you to go eat their waffles. Crazy good!)
See everyone soon!
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