There is an affliction known as “Paris syndrome” that affects several dozen (mostly Japanese, for some reason) tourists a year. These tourists apparently experience some fairly extreme symptoms – in addition to dizziness, fatigue, and anxiety, hallucinations, derealization, and depersonalization are also common. So what causes this bizarre disorder? Well, firstly, jet lag and culture shock. But it’s more than that. Paris syndrome is largely a result of, essentially, unmet expectations.
Paris is the most visited city in the world, and perhaps the most famous. Some 40 million tourists each year generally have high hopes for the city, and Paris syndrome is a result of an unrealized ideal of Paris. Victims are so upset and disturbed by the fact that Paris isn’t exactly as they imagined that they are hospitalized and generally have to return home before the city upsets them any further.
Though Paris syndrome is terribly dramatic and rare, Paris is a huge city – one of Europe’s largest -and like any big city, there are some…unpleasantries. It’s not one giant museum full of beaming French people in berets trotting past sparkling white buildings. It can be dirty, there are hobos, the Métro can be crowded and sweaty, and, yes, the French can be rude if their cultural norms are ignored. But this is a large part of what attracted me to Paris in the first place – the fact that it’s a bustling city. I’m just as eager to do the touristy things as I am to simply observe how the city’s 10 million inhabitants interact and exist.
So hopefully, if I prepare myself for the less pleasant realities of a city, I will be able to avoid the near-psychotic episodes of Paris syndrome – I wouldn’t want to scare my host family so early in my stay. Instead of slipping into an anxiety attack if I see dog poop instead of baguette crumbs on the Rue de Rivoli, I’ll try to just move along and realize that this is just a curious reality of Paris. So in just a few days, I will head to France’s capital where I must bravely combat Paris syndrome…if I survive, I will, of course, report back on my most interesting discoveries, be they bizarre, funny, delicious, or delightful.
1 Comment to "Paris Syndrome"
Fact is US media precisely always show Paris as a city full of French people in berets and so on. Paris is probably the only city in the world about which there is so much fantasy. It is a nice city but hell yes France has changed a lot since the end of WW2 !
But you know french point about US people and cities is also full of stereotypes.