Thinking about home vs. France...

Now that I have come to the last days of my trip I am starting to recognize some cultural differences in life here that I am wanting to take home with me.  I am the youngest student studying here in Paris and at first I was skeptical about the timing in my life being right for studying abroad, but now after being here I am very grateful that I was able to have this experience at such an early age.  Being here has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about where I see my life going and how I would like my future to turn out.  After meeting a bunch of people my age that have also studied abroad and who have traveled all over the world and who know five languages I know I need to continue to travel and to learn new cultures and even more languages, but maybe I should focus on perfecting me French for right now.  

I have also realized here that work should not take over your life.  Even though I have not had a full time job in life yet, once I start one (this summer) I will be able to understand how to take time for leisure time and not let it consume all of my day.  I have seen so many adults back home that have had their work take over their whole life, and they are always busy and stressed out.  That is what I feel like when I am going to school back at home, I don’t take enough time to relax in between studying and then once it gets too stressful I explode.  One of my favorite things to do here is to go to Buttes Chaumont (an amazing park) and lay on a blanket with some snacks and a glass of wine.  The park is always full of people, when its warm, and everyone is off work and forgetting about their day and just relaxing and hanging out with their friends.  If they aren’t at the park after work then they are at home or a restaurant, café, or bar with their friends or family and they stay there for hours.  This kind of “leisure” time seems to happen every night.  It is very refreshing to see people separate their work and social lives.  Once I get back to the United States and in my future I will try to keep this in mind and I think it will make my life a lot easier and more fun.  We all need to take a step away from our lives at some point and realize what is important and I am so glad that I was able to do that this semester.  I will never forget this experience, it has taught me so much about life and it had been one of the bests time of my life.  Paris will always have a special place in my heart.

This could NEVER happen in San Diego

 There is one thing that can happen while living in Paris that could never happen in San Diego and that is the ability to travel to different “worlds” at the drop of a hat.  I had always known that I wanted to study abroad in Europe because of all of the different countries and cultures that are so close together and so easy to travel to.  Skyscanner has become a go to site for traveling and I have already been to Amsterdam and Barcelona while living here in Paris.  In the next couple of weeks I will also be traveling through Italy and then spending some time in London.  Not only are all of the countries so close together, but the travel to and from is so cheap.  We found flights to Barcelona for only 80 euros roundtrip!  And then once you get there, there are hostels everywhere and those are even cheaper!  

It always shocks me when I go to a different country in Europe because I would think that since they all border each other they would somewhat be the same, but they are all so drastically different. The people, architecture, language, food, it’s pretty incredible.  It is really fun to experience new cultures and find new appreciation for home and for Paris.  Every time I go to a different country it makes me want to go to more and living in Paris makes it so easy for traveling to be continuous.  All of the people my age that I have met have already been to so many countries because it is just so easy.  People in Europe also are mostly all trilingual or more.  This is hard to find in San Diego unless it’s English and Spanish.  In San Diego it’s hard to find culture shock anywhere you go, I guess you could fly on Southwest and go to a different state but it not even close to the same thing.  Everyone still speaks the same language and you can get basically the same foods anywhere you go in the United States, especially the fast food restaurants.  I am going to be very sad when I have to leave this perfect travel location, but I know I will find myself back here again one day ready to explore even more countries.

Every Day Life: Home vs. Paris

Daily life in Paris is a lot different than my life at home.  The two biggest differences I have noticed are transportation and grocery shopping.  At home I drive everywhere, but in Paris I only take the metro or the bus and sometimes a taxi.  I can’t decide which one I prefer more, but I think I would like it if I had a choice to take the metro back home.  Taking the metro is sensible for Paris because the streets are small and they are getting more and more crowded every day.  The only think I don’t like about the metro is when I have to carry something through it like luggage or shopping bags.  Which brings me to my next point, grocery shopping.  Going to the supermarket was not something I did every day back at home, but now in Paris I think I go to Carrefour or the outdoor markets almost every day.  At home I would go grocery shopping maybe once a week because we have giant fridges, our food stays good for a while, and we can buy food in bulk like at Costco.  The cultural difference I see in Paris is that people really appreciate their fresh foods and going out to eat also seems to be more popular.  After work I always see the restaurants completely full of people especially now that it has gotten warmer.  People here are always staying at cafes at restaurants and cafes for hours and they take their time eating, drinking, smoking, and conversing with their friends.  Unlike in America there always seems to be a rush when eating and someone is always waiting to take your table at a restaurant, and we also have way more fast food restaurants.  That is something I miss, it’s hard to find a variety of grab and go food here in Paris.  I am dying for some In-and-Out at the moment!

Time Traveling In Paris

One of the most amazing aspects of Paris is its contrast of ancient and modern.  You can go anywhere in this city and see buildings or statues from different centuries right next to each other.  One of my favorite little parks in Paris is located right outside Shakespeare and Company.  I normally go over to St. Michel and get a cone of gelato at Amorino and sit in the park and look up at the Notre Dame.  When I think of historical figures in Paris this is usually the first place I think of, this and Sacre Coeur.  It is a very surreal feeling so be next to something with so much history and so renowned across the world.  It’s incredible that a building of that stature has become something normal in my everyday life. Now that I think about it I think I do see the Notre Dame almost every day, I can see it from all of the usual places I visit, and it has become second nature to have this icon in the background of my life while living here. 

When we were giving tours of the city to Holly we went over to La Defense one day.  When I think of where the most modern contrasting buildings in Paris are located, La Defense is definitely the place.  It was a completely different world over there with no Haussmanian architecture at all.  I felt as if I had gone to the future.  It was different than just a city with tall buildings, it wasn’t like Los Angeles or New York City.  The architecture was still very different and abstract and very modern.  There is an abundance of modern art sculptures throughout that area, completely opposite of the ancient artwork inside the Louvre or Musee D’Orsay.  

One place that contrasts old and new that I do see every day is my apartment.  I am living inside a fairly modern apartment with very clean lines and when I look outside my window I can see the Viaduct.  This used to be a railway line that ran in the 1800s and it has now been transformed into Promenade Plantee that is covered in foliage and the location of some of my morning runs.  

The city is full of modern and ancient, but I prefer the ancient because it is the history of Paris that attracts so many people to come here and it’s what makes Paris so unique and distinguishable.   

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

The day we visited the landing beaches of Normandy was one of the coldest days this whole semester.  Though, it was fitting being at the cemetery while it was foggy and cold.  Unfortunately because of the weather we were unable to walk down to the beaches so we just walked through the memorial and the museum.  For me walking through the almost never ending cemetery was very emotional.  My brother was in the army and was served in Iraq right in the midst of war against terrorism.  When I thought about all of the soldiers that were someone’s father, husband, son, and brother it brought tears to my eyes thinking it could have easily been my brother in another cemetery just like this.  I am very thankful to all of them that served during WWII and all of the men after them that are still protecting our country and I am honored to have been able to pay my respects.  I also walked through the museum and I was excited to see how many people there were there, not only Americans but people from all over the world.

I am unaware of how WWII is looked at through the French perspective but I am sure it is a lot different since the war actually happened on their homelands.  When I told one of my French friends that I was going to Normandy he was very excited and he told me that they learn so much about the war and the Holocaust throughout school, but it didn’t seem to affect him any further. I compare it to the US and the Civil War and how awful slaves were treated in those times, but that it’s not something we think about every time we see an African American.  I’d say this goes the same way for Jewish people in France.  I have not noticed any hostility towards Germans but I do not think it would be appropriate throw around the word Nazi at any occasion.