ikigai | enhypen ni-ki

6

What exactly do I do here in Paris except look at the Eiffel Tower?

Here I am slumped on the sofa chair of my hotel room in my bathrobe after taking an hour long bath in the bathtub.

I have to say this hotel is very fancy, and by the looks of it expensive.

Paris is beautiful.

I've ventured the place around my hotel yesterday for a whole day, and bought bread on my way back to the hotel.

A complete foreigner to this country wouldn't know the best spots here, the best places to go and the tourist spots, though I could probably just look it up on Google and most importantly communicate with the people who live here. I can't speak French for god's sake.

So the master plan I, Ingrid, have come up with is to befriend a local in this area, which seems like a hard thing to do when most people in Paris would snob a complete foreigner like me but hey it wouldn't hurt to try right?

I am not usually a social person. Growing up books were my best friend, i fell in love with them so it was natural for me to want to become an author. I have a few close friends I catch up with up until now, but most of my friends are busy with university. I dropped out of college so I feel often left out of the conversation.

Here comes Lena! Of course my closest friend at the moment and manager...I'm getting sidetracked, Paris!

I bring out one of the outfits Lena prepaired for me, a black dress that stopped right below my knee and a long black leather coat. In the occasion I want to feel stylish, Lena says I should wear this black beret too and the black boots with heels I brought with me.

Wow, I look great.

I grabbed my purse and left in search of someone, someone I could be friends with for a month, someone who could accompany me for a month.

I started by striking up a conversation with this girl at the coffee shop a few blocks away from the hotel, but then she just completely snobs me and walks out.

It's okay, I'm not embarrassed. I won't meet her again anyway. It's fine. I'm fine. I can do this.

Second time's a charm.

This time I tried befriending this dude who sat right across me who seemed to be watching the whole exchange I had with the first girl.

"Hey!" I started the conversation taking the seat in front of him.

"Hey miss" He winks at me.

What?

"Are you up for some?" He proceeds to make a weird gesture with his hands and instantly I know what type of person this man is. Someone i'd want to slap across the face.

I stood up from my seat showcasing to this pervert my middle finger with a smile mouthing the words "fuck you, you disgust me" The guy was visibly pissed and I just ran away from the scene.

It's okay, I won't see that son of a bitch again.

With my morning ruined I just slumped on whatever seat I could see and sighed.

Why am I in Paris again?