An Environmental Portrait: Settling In.
15th arrondissement. Her house is on a busy street, right next to a fruit and vegetable store and a Starbucks. Which doesn’t matter to her because she prefers tea.
Three roommates, a shared apartment. Apparently, they fight a lot, which makes it difficult to live with them. Her room has glass doors and when you enter it, you feel welcomed by the amount of light that comes from the window right in front of you. She shares it with another girl who took the desk to herself, leaving her without a place to study, which is why she has to work in the living room. Sharing her space is not something she likes, it makes her anxious and annoyed, which is probably some of the reasons why her side of the bedroom is not really decorated. It doesn’t have a home-y feel, even though she tells me she used to love to personalize her space in her old houses.
I know… I didn’t feel like putting more stuff.
Maybe she still doesn’t feel comfortable living in Paris yet, which reflects on the way she has furnished her place. It looks like one part of it is missing. Maybe a part of her is missing too. One cork frame with pictures of her friends and loved ones and a painting that her mother did. It represents flowers, which she says she likes. Orange, green, blue. A feeling of warmth comes from it. She tells me her favourite plants are orchids, delicate.
Her mom likes to paint, which is where her artistic background comes from. But she didn’t inherit the painting aspect of it. She prefers black and white illustration, which shows in her work. She gravitates towards the colour black, in art, in what she wears, even though her favourite colour is green.
There is a mirror on her bed-side desk.
If you want to exaggerate on an object in my room, choose the mirror!
It’s not because she’s obsessed with her reflection, she’s a shy girl, but it’s because she loves makeup. She has multiple bags of it. Pencils, palettes, more palettes, lipsticks, pink, red, cream, powder, brushes… Bags of makeup products that she likes to use or that she just simply adores. Like mascara, the one thing she could not live without. Putting on a full face of makeup on when going out with her friends was a must, which is a big part of her Latina culture.
An athletic outfit on her: black trainers, dark brown leggings, black t-shirt. She tells me she’s going to go to the gym afterwards. Her gym membership was one of the things she applied for as soon as she got to Paris. Running takes her mind off of the things she has to do and relieves her stress. She does look like she stresses out about some things, when she doesn’t know what to do for her work for example, when she doesn’t have inspiration. The stress may be coming from the fact that she is a perfectionist. Doing the best for herself is important, and because of that, she is organized. She keeps lists and journals, and it shows in her way of working. Everything around her is neat and clean.
I take a look in her closet. A lot of black and white, but a few colours here and there. She explains that in her eyes, her style is edgy but then again, that doesn’t like to take risks. That represents her, she has a big personality and always smiles but she is also shy and not so confident about opening up.
I do think that what I wear shows how I feel at that moment.
Her space being so empty, she shows me her rooms in the old houses she had. One place that is dear to her is San Sebastian. Her room there had white walls, wooden floors, decorated shelves and two beds. She said that she had two of them because she always had friends over.
It’s difficult to open up when I’m around a group with of lot of people.
If her environment is busy, she says that she would hardly speak, but would however be following the conversation because she is a good listener. She opens up to others when she’s alone with them. And when she does, she says that they become really close. Maybe she still hasn’t found the time to open up to her house mates.
I actually get… anxious?
Going back to her room, I realize that actually, her room looks more like it would be ready to be all packed up in 10mn and that she would be ready to move out. She explains that she has always been a girl that didn’t settle down until she felt comfortable.
No I’m not… not yet.
