Urban Nature: Combined Essay

                                                Urban Nature

I always said and have always called myself a “city” person.  I am a very fast paced, impatient person. I live off of other people surrounding me and I enjoy being in walking vicinity of all my necessary needs, such as:  restaurants, clothes, groceries, and much more. It is ironic, because I did not start that way. I was born in Italy, Puglia, where everything was dark and tiny and everything was not necessarily a drive, but if you walked you would feel like your stepping onto the set of Jeepers Creepers and you would feel very unsafe and scared.

I was born with more nature than concrete, it was beautiful, but as a kid I loathed it. I wanted to leave and that wish was later granted a couple years later when I moved to New York for college. Even my move to Los Angeles was not suffice, it was still so dark in the majority of the city, because in truth there was only one street light for every two blocks. I always called it a zombie town, because of how slow and nonchalant everyone seemed to be and how at night in some neighborhoods it tended to look like an apocalypse had just went down and everyone had been vanquished or disappeared. However, when I left I never knew how much I would miss, besides the food, its nature. The hikes, the grass, the water, its nature was one of the things I failed to understand or remember to say bye to when I left.

So when I left Los Angeles and I arrived to the metropolis New York, I was at first blind. I was excited the lifestyle I wanted, which was city life, had finally come to be. If I wanted food, I would go across the street, if I wanted to go to school, I would take the metro below my building and in one stop I was there. Everything was fast and quick, just how I liked it to be. So when I returned back to zombie town and I was greeted with what they always seem to live up to, which was there nickname, I did not realize what else I would be hit with, which was my longing for real and non-manmade nature. I missed my scenic drives (and driving as a whole), my lookout points, and the fact that if I wanted to be in nature it was just a twenty to thirty minute drive.

When I returned to what I now call my third home, my walks through central park just felt unreal and depressing, the state of weather that New York was in was also no help. Irony later fell on my lap, when I was assigned to explore all the parks of New York from one class, and in another I learned about biodiversity. From what I learned was that where Central Park was, unsurprisingly, was what used to be more of its metropolis. From biodiversity, I learned about the urbanization and choice selection of the trees, plants, and animals that was placed in Central Park. From what I recall, which may not be much, when the committee were selecting which trees and animals to unleash within the new natured vicinity. They did not take in consideration if the animals, trees, and plants would truly work together. After discovering that they did not, the committee played god and manipulated the nature of the park into working in a way that perhaps the plants and trees would never have done so from the start.

Although, I seem to be complaining, I am learning to just understand what is presented to me and stop fighting it, because at least there is some sort of escape from the constant concrete that tends to be now always around me.

This leads me to my now new life in Paris, and my return to Europe. Once again, I have found myself in a city life, something I adore, and once again I forgot something I would miss or as a human, need. This was nature; in New York at least it was a big piece urbanized landscape that went for miles. Here, at first, I had the largest difficulty with all the bans and requirements and locating it. Then we were assigned two parks, back to back, the first being Parc Monceau and the second being Parc des Buttes Chaumont.

The first, Monceau, was huge and it made me a bit nostalgic in regards to New York and its Central Park. It had all the things I have seen in all past parks I had visited; children playing, people working out, and couples strolling. I did not expect that part to be different, but what I saw instead was the aesthetic and the design of the city carried into the park. The park was more fluid and in tune with its city, although it may disrupt Paris’ roads, it at least continues its design aesthetic. Monceau has a very “ruin” or romantic feel. It feels as if it has a past and as if it was designed to be strolled and looked at. Most parks they plant a tree and place a few statues, but Monceau was so beautiful and so breathtaking that it made me feel relaxed with its nature. Getting lost in it was a pleasure more than a stress or burden. I also, unintentionally, planned it at a moment when the five minutes of sun that is granted everyday in Paris to be shining at the moment I was walking through.

I recently learned how to walk for pleasure I used to detest it. It was in my DNA to hate it, because I lived in a place where cars were a necessity for movement and transportation, and this is all thanks to my lovely zombie town. However, once I moved to New York and I became accustomed to its lifestyle and geography, I refused to use any other form of transportation besides my feet. This is only mainly accomplished in the summer, fall, and spring. Not a single soul could catch me outside in winter.

So since then I have adored walking, I cannot place a reason but perhaps that it is the only source of meditation that works on a character type like me. It is the only form to calm me and relieve me of all the annoyances that hit me throughout the day. I have never been one to meditate; it actually infuses me with more anxiety and stress, because the idea to stand or sit and not move, gives me stress. When I used to live in Los Angeles, I would go for drives when I was upset or needed space. Paris provides me with my favorite modes of transportation to help me relax all the while staring at its historic architecture and city.

Overall, I understand what the city is trying to accomplish. It is trying to create an illusion or a five-minute escape for its citizens. I always need a break from the city and the park provides it, and when I visit either of the parks, which I have so fortunately been able to see or visit, it certainly provides me with what I need. Especially in the summer and the trees and plants are fully blossomed and flourished in leaves and flowers, you can definitely block out the outside views of the tops of buildings. Luckily, I am one of the very few who enjoys the sound of traffic and cars so the noise pollution is never a bother.

I opportunely have temporarily moved to a location where it’s meant to be strolled through. Everything is designed and structured so beautifully, so I feel, even for non-walkers it is difficult not to even want to attempt it.  I was told the only to acquaint yourself with a new home and city was to walk through and get lost in it. Every time I was assigned a new place, and especially the park, I decided to lose myself in them. Each time I found a new way home with a new location to go to. After my visits to the park, I visited Montplier and took abuse to the fact that every city is either an hour or lower away and I went hiking and more. It was the perfect escape. So far, living in Paris, I have been granted the bests of all three of my past homes; the best food, nature and city life, beauty, and my family being in near vicinity. Paris does a good job of incorporating nature and city life. The parks were beautiful and a joy to visit.