One evening a few weeks ago, I caught a metro to Parc de la Villette for an outdoor screening of Fitzcarraldo. The result was surprisingly rich.

The Parc

I was expecting a bunch of tree and benches at Parc de la Villette. Instead, I found a huge kid’s playground, an arts and science center, and dozens of strange red sculptures that I would find out are called “follies”.

Also surprising were the people at Parc de la Villette. I have noticed incredible ethnic diversity in Paris before, and here was a particularly telling scene. I saw cricket games as well as capoeira practices. There was an African tribal band playing to the delight of the crowd.

As the sun went down, a giant inflatable screen took shape. People crammed onto the lawn in front of it to see the screening of the film. An announcer started with an explanation that it was difficult to find copies of Fitzcarraldo, and the version that we were watching was in bad shape—what a privilege. I was in the mood for a slow, artistic film, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Well Confused

A recurring theme in being an exchange student is confusion and feeling out of place. As I walked past red metal edifices and watched traditional South American martial arts being practiced at Parc de la Villette, I couldn’t help but feel those feelings. At first, I was scared of them: shouldn’t being confused be a sign that you are doing something that doesn’t fit you? But, no, that isn’t the case.

You start everything as a beginner. You can try to game that by sticking to things that you know, but then you’re stuck in a tiny subset of reality because you’re too scared to be lost and embarrassed while you find your footing in a new place. So, it seems to me that the key to being competent isn’t to look for opportunities to be an expert, but it is to jump head first into the unfamiliar. That must mean that in order to be interesting and successful, you should spend most of your time feeling exactly the opposite.