Tuesday, May 7, 2013

mexicana en parís

A few years ago, sitting at their dining table in Budapest, my neighbor's family asked me why I was studying Spanish, too. French they understood; it's such a beautiful language. But what good would Spanish do? Wasn't German the more obvious choice? Although they were well aware of my Hispanic heritage, it hadn't occurred to them that I shared it with much of the population across North and South America.
Europe is far from the Americas. That may be an obvious statement but I even mean it in the sense that Latin America is far beyond the realm of thought and consideration of many Europeans. For instance, moments after I proposed a Cinco de Mayo picnic on Canal Saint-Martin, my German boyfriend asked what the date was. Ignorant or not, Americans tend to "celebrate" the holiday anyway. Maybe the French are still bitter?
I'm mostly kidding. In the end, I think the real excuse for a celebration-less Paris is that France is simply quite far from Mexico. I'm glad it didn't keep him and I from enjoying cervezas and tacos though :). They were delicious, the weather was perfect, and the canal was buzzing with life last Sunday. Happy Cinco de Mayo, indeed. And in totally unrelated news, I got the Paris-based, 6-month internship I'd hoped I would!

6 comments:

  1. Ahh congratulations!! Can't wait to hear about it when I'm back in Paris!

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    1. Thank you! I can't wait to tell you all about - miss you.

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  2. I'm glad you got your taco fix for Cinco de Mayo no matter where you are.

    Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts regarding Europe and South America. Definite food for thought.

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    1. Thanks, me too :) and it's my pleasure. I'm glad to have this space to share my personal thoughts like this.

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  3. That's great news (about the internship), Danielle! Time to properly celebrate in Berlin ;) See you soon!

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