paris je t'aime

with a little bit under four months in paris under my belt i can definitely say that the city is growing on me. it's not that i would have disliked being here in some point, i just didn't feel very strongly about it; sure i was happy to get away from helsinki but paris in itself, well, i think i would have been equally happy to be almost anywhere outside the nordics.

i know it sounds amazing on paper - hey, i live in paris. but after talking with quite a few french people, parisians if you will, i've come to notice that they often tend not to think so; and i have to say that i can understand why. the traffic is insane, the city is too big, filthy at times, there's poverty and crime and congestion. it's expensive and summertime heat (yes, it finally hit) can be exhausting. the bureaucracy, i've heard, will drive you insane and the term 'parisian attitude' has a whole new meaning for me, and not necessarily in a good way.

but.

it's also so full of life, it has secrets and quirks and magic, and there is so much history everywhere it sometimes overwhelms me. it has the early mornings when i go out to photograph and the city is empty, as if it would exist just for me; and watching the sun come up by the seine is so beautiful i don't quite know how to describe it.  it has long warm nights and parks and opportunities waiting around every corner, and some of the happiest moments i've had this summer have been biking alongside the canal in the middle of the night and it just hitting me that i am here and i have all the possibilities to make this experience amazing. and huge as it is, it also means that you have never seen all of paris, or come in contact with all of her faces. there is the polished, shiny facade and then there's the other side, abandoned and worn-out and crumbling, and the mixture is just incredible.

and it fascinates me. paris fascinates me.

i'm flying to finland in a few days for a month; and the hint of sadness this brings about in me is the final proof of the fact that i have learnt to love the city. that i will miss being here when i'm not; that i would rather be here. and even if i know that i most likely won't spend the rest of my life here i also know that the time that i will end up living in paris has all the potential to be quite good.

it is, after all, paris.