A life spent with friends, and family, and familiar faces often unfolds for this blogger on Rue Notre dame des Champs. The sound of the name evokes particualr feelings of belonging, acceptance, being welcomed, warmth. A simple look at the street would not suggest this, necessarily. particularly on the more moody nights when it is rainy/ gloomy. Yet even on those days, waking down Notre dame des Champs is always promising – there is the hops of buzzing into a giant dooor, taking the lift, being welcomed with an embrace, great home cooked food and friendliness.
This part of Paris’s geography for me is associated with feelings of belonging. That’s an important aspect of any personal ‘affective map’ that I could make of Paris – I am not sure there is any part of London that I have the same feeling for!
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Now, as part of a 2013 project to collect 365 reasons to be grateful for the experience of studying and living in Paris and London, I’ll have to add that I am especially grateful for the sense of belonging that I derive from family and friends based in Paris. (And that would be the 235th reason to be grateful out of 365)
Anon's Paris 