Hey everyone! If you’re reading this on the day it came out, I am currently in Athens, Greece, and I don’t have my laptop with me, so this post is being written ahead of time. Next week’s post will probably be all about the adventures I had in Greece, so stay tuned for that.
This week, though, I’m going to talk about breaks. It seemed like a very pertinent topic, seeing as how I’m on spring break and all (that’s why I’m able to go to Greece).
How does the idea of breaks relate to my study abroad experience? Well, something that I’ve noticed is that French people are really into taking their time and taking breaks. It’s something that, as an American, is a little odd for me to wrap my head around. In America, everyone is always full steam ahead all the time. You go into a restaurant and the server’s goal is to get you in and out as fast as possible. Before you’re done with high school, people are asking you when you’re going to get a job, if you’re going to go to college. The United States has such a go-go-go kind of attitude, I guess because we’ve been taught that’s the only way to get anywhere in life—by working as hard as you possibly can.
Here in France, things are more chill, even where I am in the literal capital of France. Servers don’t seem to care whether or not you ever leave their restaurant (so much so that capturing their attention to get the ticket is nearly impossible, at least in my experience—if you have advice about that, feel free to leave it in the comments). People take leisurely strolls, not always having a destination in mind, just walking.
I’m the kind of person who likes to take my time with things, to let myself warm up to a situation and not jump straight into it. I like taking breaks—sometimes a little too much—so for me, this kind of attitude is really nice.
I think sometimes people could do well to take a moment and look around, to let themselves enjoy the moment and not worry about the next thing they have on their to-do list.
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Okay, that’s all I had for this post. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week with my Athens experience!
-Ariel