How to become a Parisian

Južno  - Evropski

The few ways of behaving are mostly characteristic of Parisians...

WARNING: this article should not be taken seriously since some characteristics are exaggerated.
Furthermore, some of these observations could be applied to any capital city.

GRAB A DRINK

Any reason is a good reason to go and grab a drink with your colleagues, friends or family. 
Parisians love to have a drink on the terrace of a café or a pub, especially when the weather is nice. 
After work, they will talk about the exhibitions they've seen, gossip about the love life of their bosses or speak about the new intern.
That's perfect timing for happy hour !
Parisians can spend hours discussing in cafés.
It's a typical french art de vivre (way of life).
The most common cliché is the Parisian seating in a café, drinking espresso while reading a newspaper or a book. 

BRUNCH 

Like many of us, Parisians work during the week and they sometimes fancy going out on Saturday night and cherish Sunday to relax. 

They take the time and end up waking up quite late so that they will go with their partner or some friends for brunch (brunch time is generally between 11 a.m and 3 p.m).

They will discuss the exhibitions they saw, what happened at work, "Sophie, the new accountant, is having an affair with Jerôme, the director's assistant" and things like that. 

CHILLING ON THE BANKS OF THE SEINE 

When summer shows up, Parisians like to go and have a picnic by the river Seine.

They usually gather with friends, enjoying nice weather, drinking some rosé (pinky sort of wine), saucisson (dried sausage), some cheese like camembert, for instance, and of course... a baguette!

BE CULTURALLY DYNAMIC

Every time a popular exhibition is showing in Paris, Parisians will go and see it because it's trendy and then, they will be able to discuss it when meeting their friends for brunch at the weekend. 

You can even witness big queues in front of showrooms or museums. 

And you will spend long minutes admiring a piece of art and commenting it if you're accompanied. 

There are few places where these popular exhibitions regularly take place: 

Le Grand Palais, Musée du Quai Branly, Le Centre Georges Pompidou, Le Musée d'Orsay...

When summer comes, there's a bunch of festivals taking place in Paris. A true Parisian will go at most of them. This is the place to be!

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

You will spend a lot of your time in the métro (=undeground) and you'll soon begin to hate it.

When in the métro, you should jostle to get on the train as well as getting out.
People are always in a hurry so they will bump into you without apologising, often not paying attention to you.

Some metro lines are often crowded or have signal problems.
Thus, you'll spend long minutes or half-hour waiting until the issue is solved, huffing and puffing.
Imagine all the amount of people gathered underground.
A real jungle!

IF YOU LIVE IN PARIS YOU DON'T  NEED A DRIVING LICENSE (at least, not in Paris...)

Many Parisians do not pass their driving license until in their early thirties simply because they consider it not necessary when living in a city that has a great offer of public transportation.
Still, as we all know at a certain age, owning a driving license can be quite practical. 

HATE PIGEONS

  There was a time pigeons were probably more widespread than Parisians in the city but since then, actions have been taken to reduce the number of those little feathered creatures. 

Yet, you can still see them parading in gardens, touristic spots.

What would Paris look like without those cute pigeons?

However, don't feed them as you may get a fine for it. 

Instead, behave like a true Parisian and run away from them or chase them away. 

TOURISTS ARE A PAIN IN THE ARSE

Tourists will accost you and stretch their maps in front of you while you were waiting for the bus or to go for a coffee with your friend, Marie-Christine.

Parisians often ignore tourists or pretend they don't speak English just to get rid of them. 

DESPISE SUBURBIANS :



Any city or town out of the Paris area is considered almost like a foreign country. 

When someone tells a Parisian they live in the "93", the Parisian is more likely to respond "I've never been there, where is it ?"

They rarely go to the suburbs; Paris is big and offers a lot of activities that they're not very curious about the outskirts.
This also means that people are prepared to pay a 900-euros rent for a 200-square feet apartment rather than live in the suburbs in a much bigger apartment for the same price. 

I reckon you may be revolted by this kind of behaviour but know that not all Parisians act like this. They are just normal people and might actually be quite friendly. 

You just have to get to know them a little bit more...

And, as Alexandre Dumas junior wrote: "God invented Parisians so that the foreigners would never understand French people"

And you? What do you think about Parisians?