Now I’m in Paris… but I feel I need to go back to 2007 and give you some history. In 2007 I went backpacking across Europe. Paris France was the second city I hit. I HATED IT!

Paris France is the City I love to Hate

After boarding the Eurostar in London (the first city I hit), I headed straight to Paris. It was exciting.

I planned for a year and made sure everything was aligned for a great experience. After all, I was doing this by myself, without a working cell phone and lots of language barriers. To be honest, I was a little scared of backpacking on my own. But, I needed this, and honestly, I wanted it.

I read that Parisians appreciate it when an American tries to speak French, so I made sure to learn all the essentials: “Hello, how are you… Do you speak English? Can you help me? I would like… Excuse me, Can I have, How much…” and several more… I felt ready!

I learned the basics of ordering in a cafe and a restaurant. Most importantly I learned to be very polite because I also heard that Parisians don’t like Americans because they find them rude. Therefore, I went to Paris with my A-game.

Arriving in Paris from London

After arriving at the train station in Paris, I de-board. I’m greeted by men with guns… Men with guns ALL OVER THE TRAIN STATION. It was very intimidating. To this day, I’m not sure if there was a national security issue or if France has strict laws and regulations. Not an issue though… I’m from LA, there are people with guns everywhere, and these people don’t care about shooting you. No big deal.

As I figured out where to go, I realized I needed to learn lots of French if I was going to make it around town with all of its French signs and maps. Considering Spanish is my first language, I hoped my Spanish skills would help a little.

I asked a lovely train employee for help in French… He looked at me in disgust and shrugged. I thought, my French must be really bad… Maybe I’ll try again and ask which station I should get on to get to my hostel… He looked at me again and pointed. Not too bad, I managed. Great!

I get to my rail station, and off to the streets I go. Paris is different. The streets are smaller. The buildings are so cute. It’s beautiful.

Lost for an hour, with a giant pack on my back, I look for someone to help.

I find a security guard who probably knows the streets more than anyone I could ask, and I say,  in French, “Excuse me, I’m looking for this street…” but I get a quick “SHHHHHHHH!” She lifts the palm of her hand and places it in front of my face as if to tell me to stop talking.

I quickly thought, “Oh my god, maybe I’m not supposed to interrupt a security guard from their work.” As I collect my thoughts, someone came and asked the security guard something in French. She politely responds… This was my chance to try again, but I was only greeted with verbal hostility. I couldn’t understand what she said, but it was clear in her tone that she did not want me around.

This didn’t make sense to me. Clearly she is okay with people interrupting her while she is working, she just didn’t want me interrupting her?

I left, furious… How can someone be so rude? Even after I saw her politely speak to someone else, I apparently was not welcome.

I decided to search for my hostel on my own, which I eventually found.

Every time I encountered a local on the street, I was greeted with verbal hostility even though I was just looking for my hostel.

It was a bad Parisian experience. I only met rude people. I couldn’t make friends. My hostel was a disaster. I told myself I would never come back to a city so full of HATE! 

But… Here I am now. Fortunately for me, I’m here with my French-Canadian-American partner who is fluent in French and knows the culture really well.

In my next two blog posts, I’ll discuss my bad first experience in Paris. Click here for the next chapter of this story!