Cat’s out of the bag. I took a little Euro trip this weekend and went for a solo voyage to Paris. It was an amazing time, and a very much needed change of pace and scenery. Here are five things I loved during my weekend in Europe that I wish we could start doing in the States, ASAP.
Openly judging and being rude to people – Ok this one, I feel like we really need to bring to the US. Here, everyone is so “pleasant” and trying so hard to be overly nice and friendly. What happened to being honest? What happened to telling people how you really feel? Everyone knows that truth progresses society. So we should be honest with each other. “Get the fuck out of my way.” “You don’t belong at this restaurant” “Your car is shit.” Etc. When your friend comes out with an ugly outfit or suggests a stupid idea, there’s no point in being nice to them and dancing around the truth so that you don’t hurt their feelings. Be direct. Be honest. I heard a woman tell a man (a stranger, in a bar mind you), that those were the ugliest shoes she’d ever seen a man wear. And guess what, life went on.
Rampant chainsmoking – Everywhere you look, everyone’s smoking like chimneys. Women, men, old, young, hell babies even had cigarettes shooting out their mouths and life was just beautiful. Within four hours of landing, all of my clothes smelled like cigarettes and I couldn’t have been happier. You know when three military grade cops are standing around, puffing cigarettes in their mouths, shopping for cologne, that’s a sign of an advanced society. Sure they might have free healthcare to help them deal with the long term effects of smoking, but when everyone’s doing it, is it really a “national health problem” or just “life”?
Walking everywhere – I get it, it’s really not possible in some places in the US to “walk everywhere” (especially in LA where you have to literally circumnavigate six lanes of traffic just to get to the other corner of Venice Boulevard). But let me tell you, not having access to a car and refusing to spend money on public transit led me to walk everywhere I wanted to go and I couldn’t be happier. I got to see more than I ever could. Plus, it also meant that I could literally indulge and eat and drink whatever the fuck I wanted to, and then just walk it all off. No wonder the French eat so much food, the second part of the meal is literally the “digestion walk.”
Exclusively Espressos– Order a “coffee”, pay one Euro, and get served a hard shot of espresso, no if, ands or buts about it. Let’s cut right to the chase here, people. None of this mocha-frappa whatever. It’s amazing, you can sit your ass at a cafe, drink an espresso, and then you get to post up there for the rest of the day, no problem. Nobody will bother you, you have to practically beg and plead to be seen by a waiter. It’s pure bliss.
Alcohol all day – 9:46am? Beer. 1:03pm? Beer. 4:10pm? Beer. You get the gist. Cafe’s serve alcohol all day and unlike America where they might question you for it, over in France, they don’t give a fuck. There’s no rules. Sit back, relax and enjoy your breakfast beer while sitting outside a cafe watching life pass you buy in the picturesque cobblestoned town square. You’ll be glad you did.
lol “being rude to people”, it might be something typical Parisian… cheers from Lisbon, PedroL