I am currently a high school graduate from the Philippines and I have won a grant to study for four years in fashion design at one of the posh fashion institutions here in Paris. This will entirely be my very first time in a foreign country. When the Philippine Airlines flight I boarded from Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila first took off, I almost puked not out of seasickness or jet lag but because I’ll be going to a Babel-like land – a land that is bereft of spoken English and everybody is speaking French. I have been told that English and French are cousins because they originate from one language which is Roman and thus they are called Romance languages. So that’s my only consolation. Besides, I have been told that people in Paris are intellectual in nature and thus are more romantic. So I have to keep that in mind as an inspiration and to forget my loneliness because I’ll definitely be missing family and friends back home in the Philippines. Besides, I want to meet foreign guys. I’m curious to know their culture.

When the plane touched down at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, that’s when I immediately went to the women’s room at the airport and puke. I also wept and sobbed there because it was really a foreign land. Everybody around me was Caucasians and there were only a few English signs at the airport. Of course, I knew the procedure beforehand on where should I go next but that numbness feeling still freaked me out. I later learned that not all of these people are Roman Catholics like me although Catholicism is still the dominating religion in the country. There are lots of Muslim migrants here from Morocco and at this point in time in December, they are celebrating Eid ul-Adha. It is the commemoration of the willingness of prophet Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.

Then while resting at the airport lobby after puking the Philippine Airlines breakfast (which was actually still Filipino food), I suddenly remembered the movie I saw a few years ago called The Terminal. The Terminal was about a man who had no citizenship and had lived for more than a decade at Charles de Gaulle. I later learned that the French Red Cross took him into custody. The real-life movie was directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks. The cinematography which touched me so deeply was done beautifully by Janusz Kaminski. Then it dawned upon me that I was actually sitting in the terminal where the same person in limbo had his life. Then I slowly smiled. Paris after all will be a challenging experience. I may not be lonely here as I think.

And so, I slowly wormed my way window shopping at the airport – exactly the same area where the guy in The Terminal was strolling. There were lots of boutiques there, the same ones you see in Manila such as Valentino, Lacoste, Gucci and what-have-you. There were a few bistros and cafes offering authentic French delicacies but I begged myself off for that momentarily. There is time to enjoy bouillabaisse and other yummy French food later.