Whenever I am in the city, I like to think I can reach my home by just getting in my car and driving off. While in France, I have found it difficult to be able to imagine myself not being surrounded by buildings, not being able to see more than down a perfect street with no buildings for at least a mile in front of me, but that is not the reality of Paris unless I travel away from the city. Maybe it is the fact I grew up in a city where there are many open spaces with high and low points, with no buildings that are next to each other covering up what is around me. Paris denies me the feel of the outside world beyond the limitations of buildings and trapped open spaces with seemingly happy people. Am I the fake person coming to Paris? Are we happy in the US or do I confide in the unfamiliarity of this new place I never expected to visit? The Albert Khan Garden: open and yet surrounded by the city. Most people can think beyond the line of reality and imagine themselves being in a limitless space because it is green. Even the buildings have limits and so does the mind. I can’t imagine what the rest does, I was still surrounded by buildings. Let me close my mind, breathe in, think, and imagine. I am in a garden, and it is limitless to an otherwise limited mind. Connections in my head and connections of people are happening everywhere around us with or without our consent. I am as limited as I let myself be, and the only enemy is the mind.
Why did you come to the Albert Kahn Garden?
Anna: We came because we’re boyfriend and girlfriend. I’m from France and he’s from Italy. (Lorenzo with a vape in hand) We met a couple of years ago but we meet up
What languages do you know?
We both know English, but I know French and a little bit of Spanish. Lorenzo obviously knows Italian but also studies other languages. Lorenzo: I know a little bit of French too but I find English to be the main language that everyone seems to know.
Anna and Lorenzo remind me that a lot of these places serve a purpose far beyond the intended use. Yes, it is a garden and as I have mentioned, it may be used to feel like an escape from reality of the city outside of or become something greater. However, this space serves more than a visiting site but to unite people to do an activity. We can communicate through many mediums and this garden serves as one. Everything has meaning if we give it one and I believe everything has a greater purpose than what it is meant to have.