Hi Lodo! So, I’m always a little curious about the way I answer these questions because sometimes I’m at home, in my bed, when my work day, social life, love life, etc. are over, and I’m just there answering the question. Like, Ask Yas column mode.
And sometimes I do it while I’m walking, recording myself on the recorder I bought specifically for this project, even though every two seconds I get anxious because I’m there wondering whether, for some reason, it’s not actually recording.
Anyway, when I read the question, and I’m not going to hide it, I realised it’s a question I’ve already been asked before. But that doesn’t make it banal. Quite the opposite, actually. It’s one of those questions that allows me to answer by bringing out different sides of myself...
The answer is immediate, instant and instinctive, and it’s Paris.
For me, home is... I mean, luckily your question is “which city do you feel most at home in?” and not “which one and why?” hahaha. So at least I’m slightly spared from having to answer this question completely.
ANYWAY.
You probably already know this, maybe even through Yara, but I’ve changed cities so many times in my life. I was born in one city, then after only a few months I moved straight to Rome, where I stayed for a few years, then I moved to the Middle East, then I went back to Rome, I did a million internships, Erasmus, etc. I’ve lived in so many places, etc... etc etc.
I don’t want to sound banal because I realise that a lot of people who read me, and a lot of people I speak to simply because I live here, have the same kind of relationship with Paris that I do.
For me, Paris = home!!! Full stop.
Paris didn’t change me. I’ve already said this while answering other questions: I don’t think places are what change me. Experiences do, and maybe also the people I met here. The people I met and then lost, too, or the ones who lost me.
I don’t know, it’s strange because I genuinely wouldn’t know how to define “home” for you, I think... For me, home isn’t belonging. It’s more that state in which I feel alive, dynamic, and I don’t feel STUCK, you know?
And then I’d add that it’s a city, if not THE CITY, where I feel alive and constantly in motion, but at the same time I have a base. I know that at some point I can also completely collapse and that I’m safe in that collapse, if that makes sense?
This is getting super philosophical, I don’t know if it makes any sense, but that’s how it is.
I could tell you a thousand things. I could tell you that I feel at home because when I get on my bike, which, by the way, was stolen two weeks ago, I know how to get around almost every arrondissement without looking at Google Maps.
I’ve been practically everywhere in Paris and there’s an entire world beyond the 6th, and I can’t say the same thing about Rome.
What else...
I hope at least some of this makes sense.
