It's About The Experience...

... not the result.   But sometimes it's about the experience AND the result.  Today, I'm talking specifically about my quest to find coffee filters.  It took me a total of 2 grocery stores and 2 hours to find said filters.

    This all came, of course, after the miraculous discovery of the "American" coffee maker hidden behind boxes on top of one of the 3 fridges in my apartment.  I saw it there, its large glass pot shimmering, begging to come out and be used.  I asked Arthur if it worked, and he said yeah, but had no idea if we had filters and most definitely did not have the appropriate coffee.  (Actually, he showed me that he had espresso coffee, but that won't do.)  France is not exactly known for its coffee.  It's strange, actually, since Italy has such a coffee culture and it's only a couple hours drive away.  Here, though, coffee is bad.  And people drink that bad coffee.  There is a huge Starbucks in Place de Bellecour some miles away, but I refuse to go because a) It is Starbucks b) It is even more over-priced than at home c) It's something of a novelty here, so the lines are enormous.  All of the Swedes in our program go there every morning.  They don't have Starbucks in Sweden, so it's even more of a novelty for them.  Luckily, the appearance of the coffee maker happened before I was tempted by the siren-sounds of the Green Lady.

    After class today, I decided to go find "real" coffee and "real filters" for my very real coffee machine.  Tomorrow morning will be its first production, and will be complemented by the maiden voyage of my newly-purchased travel thermos.  I'm excited.  I'm not even one to self-identify as a coffee addict; I've gone a couple weeks without it now.  I'm just lusting after a large steamy beverage that I can tote with me to the 6 hour lecture of International Criminal Law.

    I stopped at the first grocery store, only to be met with cold drafts of air from outside, empty shelves where the eggs used to be, and meager resources.  I decided to head into my local market: Carrefour.  If you've been paying attention to my earlier blogs, you'll recognize Carrefour as the hellish market in the center of the city bustling with *literally* thousands of shoppers at all times of day.  The thing is, it's like a super Wal-Mart, so it has everything.  And it's 2 minutes from my apartment.  So in I went, after this very long day, to brave the crowds and find me some filters.  And an hour later, I had them.  I had a few other things too, as any good capitalist consumer would.  I was sent to 3 different departments by 3 different Carrefour helpers, and finally got them.  I also found fair-trade coffee.  Then I waited in line for a good 20 minutes to check out.  (Because remember, lines are only suggestions, and nothing is ever efficient.)  But it's about the process.  It's about the adventure.  It's about the experience that we do these silly things.  Looking around, noticing the differences, feeling totally lost but totally okay with it.  That is what matters.  Also, it's about the coffee.