Escape To Paris

Just a few hours ago, I came back from a trip to Paris, which lasted from Saturday morning until Monday afternoon. At first, I wasn’t certain if that would be a good idea because I was so miserable and thought I’d ruin the trip for my company, but since I didn’t have to pay for it and all I wanted was to get away…

It worked. Once I got there, I went into “holidays mode” and my usual life was removed for 60 hours. I even enjoyed situations that would usually stress me out – like talking French in shops. I only took it for three months in university, ten years ago, so there was no extensive vocabulary or knowledge of the grammar I could utilize, but it gave me a certain satisfaction to see that I could still get what I wanted even if I had problems understanding and expressing myself in the language.
There were a few slip-ups, like the time I wanted to order ice-cream “avec nappage saveur chocolat – with chocolate-flavoured coating” and said “avec nappage sauvage chocolat – with wild chocolate coating”. The moment I said it, I realized the mistake, but the guy who served the ice-cream did not even blink. Amazingly, it didn’t even bother me as it would if something of about the same consequence were to happen here at home.

Right now, I just want to hold on to that feeling, even if I know that it’s bound to fade away over the next few days.

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