Favela Chic (Paris) - QQ

After a long day of walking around, I decided I needed a nap. I thought to myself, just an hour and I can get up to grab dinner and walk around some more, but I almost had a repeat of last night (sleeping all the way through) if F hadn't called. F was introduced to me through a mutual friend since I don't know anyone in Paris so I only met F in person for the first time tonight. She is probably one of the coolest people I've ever met AND seems to know half of Paris. So F tells me that there is a farewell party for one of her expat friends at this bar/club/restaurant near Place de la Republique. I've never been to a club in Paris so of course I had to check it out.

I make my way over to Place de la Republique but I wasn't sure which direction the club was. I asked a couple guys for direction - trying to practice my French - but they answered me in English. Sigh, this happens to me all the time - is my French really that bad or is it just obvious that I'm a tourist? It must be the former because just a few steps away a woman stops me to ask me for direction (so I must either look like a Parisienne or I just look very approachable :-). I finally find the club and there was a line but it wasn't too bad. I must say the website (http://www.favelachic.com/paris/) looked much better than the club inside (does "favela" mean "shabby"?) The club was completely packed it was nearly impossible to move. I manage to find F and her friends - all the men were expats and all the women (except F) were French. Everyone was extremely friendly. The music was loud and was a random mix of American songs from Prince's "Kiss" to Kelis' "Milkshake." The club seems to cater to mostly an expat crowd, a lot of Americans but also many from other parts of Europe (met a guy from Spain and another guy from Luxembourg). There were quite a few attractive men but I think most of them were not French. It seems that a lot of people were like me, who were in Paris temporarily or just visiting. It reminded me a lot of my experience in Beijing last year where everyone seemed to be transient. I guess there must be a big community like that in Paris as well. When I think about it, that group in Beijing also tended to be more attractive on average. I wonder, are attractive people naturally more transient (always looking for new adventures) or are the more adventurous people more attractive (because they have more worldly experiences)?