Paris, France

     One week ago, I journeyed to Paris to visit my friend who was studying abroad in the city. I only stayed for two days, but I recognized something during my short time there.

     After arriving in the city at 7:45 am, my mom and I could not check into our hotel room until noon, so we decided to explore the area our hotel was in (we stayed at the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel & Conference Center on 17th Blvd. of Saint-Jacques). Since the day was a Saturday, the morning Farmer's Market was in full swing, and there were varieties of seafood, vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, and flowers along the whole block. As everyone stood in long, slow-moving lines, I did not see anyone on their black-berry or iPhone attempting to kill time.
     Come noon, we settled into the lobby, waiting for our key cards and a nap. I look to my left, and I see a couple of guests taking pictures with rocker-type men wearing low-hanging trousers and 80's hair-band hair. Sitting on the opposite couch, a techy Asian man was wooing an attractive, hopeful song artist, taking turns comparing music styles and interests. In town was a SM Entertainment conference. This was the only time I saw people religiously clicking on their gadgets, looking for the latest updates, or killing time until their lectures.

     Around 5 pm and on to the next day, my friend, my mom, and I visited all the tourist-y sites. From the Eiffel Tower to the Musee de Louvre and from the Notre Dame to the Arc de Triomphe, we scoured the city, trying to squeeze in every site in our two day visit. Of course, we had to stop and enjoy the fine cuisine of the city as well. I feasted on roasted chicken, rack of lamb, chocolat croissants, cafe au lait, baguettes, macarons, and chocolat mousse. We were taking pictures on our phones of each other and our food, enjoying the company of our Facebook notifications showing us the jealousy of our friends. At the sites, people take pictures with their cameras, but what seem to be locals are nowhere looking down at a screen.

     One week later, I am in Fort Wayne, running in the park, and I see a deer creeping along the woods, eating shrubbery. I stop and watch, cautiously, the delicate animal. It doesn't move, but it acknowledges me by looking at me every so often. I sit down to stretch and see how long our affair will last. A few people walk past, quickly looking at the deer, but continuing forward with haste. Then, a father and daughter walk across the way, see me and the deer, and stop. The dad says, "Hey, I think it's looking and you." I chuckle, but don't want to scare the deer away, knowing the slightest movement could make it so.

     The father and daughter, then, both pull out their phones and snap pictures of the deer, instead of taking nature in. Of course, if I had my phone on me, I probably would have snapped a photo, too. But that's just it. We, as Americans, seem to be obsessed with recording our interactions with each other and nature. We have our technologies within reach at all times. On the other hand, it seemed, at least in my brief time in Paris, that the French took in their moments, not needing to record each experience.

     I was filling myself with the moment. I wanted to take this experience with nature for myself to get to know who I am in nature. At the moment, I did not care what the father and daughter were thinking of me, but I wanted to get to know what I was thinking of myself. Without my media, I could more easily do so without worrying about the lighting in the picture or zoom technology of my camera.

     I have heard that France is where inspiration begins and stems. Paris is the city of love. In the past, all artists, creative people and the like would gather together, sharing their experiences face-to-face, immersing themselves in the city's beauty.
   
     With our media these days, much of that is transforming into something new--uploading pictures, tagging people, and commenting on what we see online. It's not good or bad, it's different. But I feel as though, we as humans, parts of nature who may have lost track of our natural existence, need to stop on occasion to view the beauty of our lives without the help of our technologies. It is the experiences we immerse ourselves in  that shape who we are. It is the media existence that shapes what others see us as, and while this is important, we must see our individual selves before we can take in what others think of us.