After a full day of travel on Thursday, I finally returned to Virginia. To get used to the time difference, I’m taking it easy for the first couple of days back here. Reflecting on my trip, I believe I’ve grown a great deal. Because I was doing so much during the month, I didn’t have much time to reflect on all the things I was experiencing. Now that I’m back home, however, I do.
Here are some of my thoughts.
Week 1: The first couple of days, I was pretty miserable due to the heat. I was just drenched in sweat every single day; I took showers morning and night. We also did a lot of walking this week, so I was pretty exhausted physically. It was a lot of getting used to new things and finding my footing around the Metro stops closest to the Cité Universitaire campus. The first couple of days, figuring out the Metro was confusing, and oftentimes the signage was hard to decipher (minus one point, Paris!).
We went to the Louvre on the second day of being in Paris, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I wanted to go back another time when I was less tired, though. As a lover of art history, it was a magical experience to see the paintings I’ve studied in class right in front of me! I felt overwhelmed by the number of people and often annoyed at tourists, even though at this point I definitely qualified as one.
The Latin Quarter was such a cool area, and I loved all the little alleys to explore. I found class the first couple of days enjoyable, but I was definitely underprepared for the amount of walking we did. I realized that going places with a large group outside of class was not for me; I needed an already stressful experience at times to be less stressful. It was at this point that I befriended some of the international students who were living at Cité U and learned the essentials about living there. Where the closest boulangerie was, the grocery store, etc. This helped a lot in creating a bit of a routine and a sense of normalcy in a place I had never been before.
The first weekend, Ben and I went dancing on the Seine with some of the Spanish kids we met while at Cité U. They taught me how to dance salsa properly, and we spent the evening just hanging out and people watching. We learned this game of trying to step on a beer bottle from the top without breaking it. Spoiler alert: the bottle didn’t last very long. The nightlife in Paris is spectacular; it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is, people will still enjoy each other’s company, have a couple of drinks, laugh, dance, and listen to music. I’m craving that in the U.S., but maybe I just haven’t found the right place for that scene quite yet.
It’s funny looking back on the first week, knowing what I know now about the city. It gives me the same feeling I have when I look back on my first week of college, that time of giving in to the experiences and learning by doing. There is no other way to do it.
Week 2:
Week 2 was more bearable in terms of the temperature, which made the class expeditions much better. This week, we visited Le Marais, the Luxembourg Gardens (which I had gone to many times before because… duh?), the Eiffel Tower, and Bercy, among other places.
I was starting to get the hang of living here, understanding how to communicate with people, although I didn’t speak the language very well, and take in the natural beauty of Paris. Parc de Bercy was incredibly gorgeous. I find that I feel more connected to nature than I do to cities, and this visit further solidified that knowledge about myself. Some of my favorite experiences from this trip are lounging about in different parks around Paris.
I also had my second real club experience in my life going to Silencio with Ben. It was this disco-tech sort of music with a mix of DJs, but it was super fun! I can get down to a lot of different music. It was a very out-of-body experience, though, but that’s on brand for David Lynch. You had no idea what time it was or where you were; you just knew the music was good and people were having a great time.
We met this young couple who offered us VIP tickets, and we got to dance with them behind the DJ booth, which is where famous people and friends of famous people dance. There were no famous people there that night, though. We weren’t that lucky. We stayed out all night and caught the first train back to the dorms. Funnily enough, that Monday was Bastille Day and I stayed in, which you would think I’d party the other way around. I just didn’t want to be around a lot of people. Vive la France, though!
Week 3:
Musee d’Orsay was wonderful, but it made me think about how frustrating it was to try and see the artwork due to the number of people there. Have they never heard of timed tickets or limiting visitors?? Even in small museums, it was like this. I can somewhat I can understand because of the sheer number of people who want to visit, but it’s nearly impossible to see anything when you go, which defeats the purpose in my mind.
It was funny, some of the places we had gone to as a class I had been to multiple times before. For example, Les Halles. I had spent quite a bit of time there going shopping, but it was really cool to learn about its history after I had become familiar with it.
The Catacombs were an incredible experience, and I was surprised to find out that many of the students I had met who had been living in Paris for a while had never been! I would recommend it to everyone who feels comfortable going. It’s such a humanizing experience, and the quotes carved into stone have stuck with me. It’s a reminder that death is a truth shared among all and is inevitable. We spend so much time fighting each other just to end up in the same place, while the planet takes collateral damage. Heavy stuff, but worth it.
I loved visiting Musee Jacquemart-Andre to see Artemisia Gentileschi’s work, but I have a separate blog post all about that experience. You should check it out!
Week 4:
This week might be my favorite of the entire trip. We went to the Army Museum and spent nearly the whole day there, visited Montmartre, my favorite district, and had a crazy weekend full of travel.
This week, I felt very comfortable getting around the city and going on side adventures outside of class. What’s funny is I found the French food just okay. It was good, but I much preferred the food from other cultures because of how flavorful everything was. Don’t get me wrong, the French pastries were incredible, but the regular meals had much more emphasis on the flavor of the food itself, not really any additional seasonings.
Montmartre was gorgeous, I love the bohemian feel of it and how artsy it is. Musee de Montmartre is one of my favorites that I visited. I especially love the recreation of Suzanne Valadon’s atelier-apartment. Wandering through was such an amazing experience, and I love how the museum is set up. It was also really cool to see the juxtaposition between the rapid industrialization of the turn of the century and the appreciation for the natural landscape of Montmartre in the artwork there.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the perfume museum and having the opportunity to make my own! It’s an underrated museum experience, and the guide was incredible. She was very knowledgeable on the subject and made things very clear without dumbing it down.
The weekend trip was crazy busy, but so much fun. A day trip to Amiens (the north), a day trip to Marseille (the south), and then a day at Disneyland, all in one weekend. I think I’ve learned to take opportunities that are presented to me, and let go of the need to plan mentality that I often have. A lot of really cool things I did, I just happened to stumble upon without any planning. It is smart to plan things in terms of transportation, though.
Week 5:
The scavenger hunt was one of my favorite days of the entire trip. I had so much fun running around and taking silly photos. It was well worth the weird looks we got the entire time, though we did get some laughs, too!
The last day before leaving Paris, I took it easy. I went to a trinket store near the Luxembourg Gardens I had seen online, and had some crepes! I feel satisfied with everything I got to see, so I didn’t feel the need to run around and wear myself out before a day of heavy travel.
Overall, I had a life-changing experience while being in Paris and enjoyed it very much. I did realize, though, the pride I do have for being an American despite the current state of the government and social divide we are experiencing as a society. There is so much beauty in the cultural exchange here, and that should not be stripped away.
Bye for now!