Paris, France

If I had to venture into any given culture, I would have to go to Paris, France. Ever since high school the idea (more like fantasy) of going there has always been sitting in the back of my mind. I love the feeling I get when I look at anything related to Paris or France. I love the architecture, the Eiffel Tower namely is beautiful when its all lit up.

The list of things I would bring are very much a product of my generation. I definitely would need my zune filled with any french pop, electro-soul, or R&B that I could find. My laptop if I could get it to work properly. My most fashionable clothes. Some for summer, winter, and can't forget clubbing. I would never leave without checking out the nightlife. And of course spending money so that I can find new music and movies that I could never find in America.

I love the language, the way it sounds and the way it feels on your tongue. I don't speak it at all sadly. I learned it for two years in elementary school but that was so long ago I didn't really retain any it . I hope that during my hypothetical stay I would pick it up and begin to speak without the aid of a French/English dictionary. I don't want to look like a silly American for the whole six month trip. You know the kind who goes every where in the world and expects people to know English for their convenience. I want to make an effort to adapt to the culture. I know if I got a good grasp on the language it would allow me to learn Spanish a bit easier. Spanish and French share some similarities.

Another thing that I love about the French people is that they are very body conscious without actively enforcing diets on themselves. Food is looked at in a totally different way than it is here. Food is something to enjoy not stress over. And their society is thinner because of this mindset. Here we stress too much over our weight and what food we can and can't eat. Its just a blase part of life there.

I also would love to visit because of the huge fashion industry in Paris. My whole love affair with Paris stemmed out of my love of fashion. It's one of the fashion Capitals of the world. I would just love to absorb everything about the trends there. I also want to hear what mainstream french pop and R&B sound like. Last night my friend introduced me to this attractive French R & B singer named M. Pokora. His music is obviously influenced by contemporary American R & B. I think its interesting that music is this commonality that the whole world can agree on.

Paris and Chicago are different but in the most basic ways they are similar. There is a difference in language obviously and the way that they live their lives. However the two are both world class cities, filled with most of the luxuries that grade A metropolitan areas possess. I think if I knew the language right now that I could go live in France with very little of a culture shock. That is just a blind assumption, but I like to think that there is some truth to that.