Oh, J'adore Paris!
So, the good news is I went to Paris. The bad news is, I’m back in school. (I know, how can I complain after only being in school for three weeks?) Well, let me tell ya, when you spend a wonderful week in Paris, traveling all around the city, seeing as much beautiful art and architecture as one can stand, sitting in the classroom leaves much to be desired. I must say I have never enjoyed a trip nearly as much as I did this one. I knew going to Paris would be something quite phenomenal for me, and I was right.
I traveled with my buddy Bryan, a fellow CSU student studying here in Aix. He has become a good friend over the past months and is a good travel buddy as well. We took the TGV to Paris, and stayed with a friend of his that he knows from San Francisco. Again, another CSU student, her name is Jenny and she is studying in Paris for the year. At first Bryan and I were kind of thinking maybe we should have chosen Paris as our study abroad city, (especially after seeing the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre all on the first day.). But after a day or so, we were quite happy with our choice to study in Aix.
You would think that the students studying in Paris would have this crazy, exciting, big city life…but it is quite the opposite. The students that we met in Paris were rather dull, and didn’t really get out that much. In fact, a lot of them complained about the city. I don’t know what it was, but there just seemed to be a lack of excitement there – it could have just been the unenthused CSU students that were rubbing their unenthusedness off on me, who knows?
My conclusion is that everyone who has the interest should most definitely go to Paris at least once in their lives, if not more than that…but unless you were born there or someone is paying you ungodly amounts of money to stay there, you probably shouldn’t live there. I think, perhaps, when you live there, especially as a new foreign exchange student, you get caught up in the rustle and bustle, and end up becoming very frustrated with the city and its people. So, for me, that would be a terrible shame, as I would never want to be fed up with a marvelous city like beautiful Paris (think French pronunciation, it sounds better that way).
So, even though I spent an enchanting week in Paris, I was actually really glad to return home. My small little Aixoise appartement was quite welcoming after 7 days of non-stop sightseeing and activity. Also, April wasn’t home from her vacation in Strasbourg, so I had the place to myself for two days. It was wonderful. Sometimes you just really want some time alone, ya know? Plus, it gave me time to journal, reflect on my recent endeavors, and to walk around my living room naked… Ok, just kidding, I quit doing that years ago.
So, as I mentioned before, I’m back to the drawing board, back in school. It’s actually not too bad as I’ve always enjoyed school. I love my schedule this year, only two 2-hour classes a day, I have Fridays off, and most of the classes don’t require you to turn in your homework assignments. It’s kind of a laissez-faire system, in the sense that they actually treat you like intelligent adults, and let you determine your own methods of studying and absorbing the information.
The greatest thing about my life in France so far, is the lack of pressure. Everything is so much more laid-back than what I’m used to back in the states. Here, you can really only do one big thing a day, if you try to cram in any more than that, you will have some sort of disaster. By “big thing” I mean: doing laundry, grocery shopping, ironing, running errands, going to coffee, plucking your eyebrows, stalking the cute waiter at the bar around the corner…etc. All of these things have to be done on separate days…crazy, I know, but c’est vrai, ça.
I traveled with my buddy Bryan, a fellow CSU student studying here in Aix. He has become a good friend over the past months and is a good travel buddy as well. We took the TGV to Paris, and stayed with a friend of his that he knows from San Francisco. Again, another CSU student, her name is Jenny and she is studying in Paris for the year. At first Bryan and I were kind of thinking maybe we should have chosen Paris as our study abroad city, (especially after seeing the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre all on the first day.). But after a day or so, we were quite happy with our choice to study in Aix.
You would think that the students studying in Paris would have this crazy, exciting, big city life…but it is quite the opposite. The students that we met in Paris were rather dull, and didn’t really get out that much. In fact, a lot of them complained about the city. I don’t know what it was, but there just seemed to be a lack of excitement there – it could have just been the unenthused CSU students that were rubbing their unenthusedness off on me, who knows?
My conclusion is that everyone who has the interest should most definitely go to Paris at least once in their lives, if not more than that…but unless you were born there or someone is paying you ungodly amounts of money to stay there, you probably shouldn’t live there. I think, perhaps, when you live there, especially as a new foreign exchange student, you get caught up in the rustle and bustle, and end up becoming very frustrated with the city and its people. So, for me, that would be a terrible shame, as I would never want to be fed up with a marvelous city like beautiful Paris (think French pronunciation, it sounds better that way).
So, even though I spent an enchanting week in Paris, I was actually really glad to return home. My small little Aixoise appartement was quite welcoming after 7 days of non-stop sightseeing and activity. Also, April wasn’t home from her vacation in Strasbourg, so I had the place to myself for two days. It was wonderful. Sometimes you just really want some time alone, ya know? Plus, it gave me time to journal, reflect on my recent endeavors, and to walk around my living room naked… Ok, just kidding, I quit doing that years ago.
So, as I mentioned before, I’m back to the drawing board, back in school. It’s actually not too bad as I’ve always enjoyed school. I love my schedule this year, only two 2-hour classes a day, I have Fridays off, and most of the classes don’t require you to turn in your homework assignments. It’s kind of a laissez-faire system, in the sense that they actually treat you like intelligent adults, and let you determine your own methods of studying and absorbing the information.
The greatest thing about my life in France so far, is the lack of pressure. Everything is so much more laid-back than what I’m used to back in the states. Here, you can really only do one big thing a day, if you try to cram in any more than that, you will have some sort of disaster. By “big thing” I mean: doing laundry, grocery shopping, ironing, running errands, going to coffee, plucking your eyebrows, stalking the cute waiter at the bar around the corner…etc. All of these things have to be done on separate days…crazy, I know, but c’est vrai, ça.
<< Home