Blending in – or standing out?

Remember how I said I was starting to feel like a resident? Clearly it shows. 

What is the inherent problem with a non-native young woman dressing like a Parisienne?

Tourists will think she is a Parisienne. They will ask her for directions. Often. And most of the time, she won’t know where these places are either. And having been taken by surprise at being called out in the street, “Madame! Excusez-moi, Madame!” most likely, she will not respond in her most fluent of French, but rather disjointed and vague directions/apologies. How humiliating.

This normally happens to me once every few weeks since I arrived here, but today it happened an astounding three times in around five minutes. There has been a huge influx of tourists in the past couple of weeks. At least the third was asking where a street was that was by coincidence my street. I can figure out that much!

À Bientôt!