Springtime of the Masses

The first of March and the signs of spring continue to appear--fewer scarves, girls in skirts without stockings, actual sunshine. If nothing else, the changes could be seen in the mass clusters of people around the city, sprawled along the Seine or perched on the steps of L'Opera Garnier, lapping up the sun like parched puppies. Although the temperatures refused to entirely cooperate, the sun was shining across the capital today. It had been missed.

I keep returning to the weather. People ask if I get homesick and I don't per se, though the weather seems to promulgate a deep craving for light and openness. It's astounding how much a little sunshine can alter moods, feelings, the day itself. The weather here seems to have a cumulative effect--brow beating the inhabitants into a morose state during the winter. Perhaps it's banal but I feel the effects each day. I can see the drawn, stern faces of pedestrians--each feeding off the other and the whole taking their cue from the skies.

At times it is particularly devastating for me as I am disused to the winter as it occurs here. This unfamiliarity is then exacerbated by the effect of being a stranger, a fish out of water. With sunshine comes vibrancy, smiles, and activity. As a foreign resident winter seems to test your mettle and perhaps gauges the true value you hold on a place whereas the warmth of summer is an idyll felt more with the senses than the mind. My time in Paris this summer existed on a different plane. It was an experience suspended from reality. As a result it continues to exist more tangibly in my mind than in the place I see around me each day. These past two months have been rooted in reality, offering a myriad of emotions and experiences. As a result this reality of place has granted me a better understanding of the city that surrounds me and of myself. So while there might be times where something as cliché as a gray sky creates a wistful feeling inside me, there are more often feelings of true happiness found in experiences--of place, of love, of life--all rooted in reality.