Greetings, readers! How are you all? I hope that you are finding life enjoyable and full of pleasant things like sunshine and non-expired milk.
I’d like to tell you about Pareee, which is the way I pronounce Paris when I’m trying to fit in in France. As a result, I don’t fit in in France.
My journey started at 6:30am at St. Pancras train station in London. The Eurostar, a magical wheel-y contraption that can take you all over Europe in mere hours, starts boarding there. 3 hours later, I was in Paris!
Because I am a General Course student, there are plenty of tourism options for me during the school year. Proscenium offers discounted weekend trips to places like Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and Wales for GC kids. Paris was on its list as well, but I had friends studying abroad in Paris that I wanted to meet up with, so my other friend, Minna, and I booked our own trip. Actually, Minna did most of the planning. I just watched her passively while eating Sainsbury’s biscuits.
We had a lovely time. Paris is so different from London in terms of atmosphere and culture. It’s more laid back (people charge in London, but they stroll in Paris) and there is a romantic charm to the city overall (the couples kissing ferociously in various doorways contribute substantially to this). My friends took us to see Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the bridge with all the Love Locks (not the official name btw), the Eiffel Tower, and various items of food. After seeing the items of food, we ate them. It was an amazing weekend.
The two days in Paris were some of the best I’ve had since coming to Europe. It was fantastic catching up with friends from back home and it definitely made me appreciate this year more. Sometimes, I forget that I am in a foreign place when I am in London, since communication isn’t an issue (if it is, it is because of my social awkwardness and not because of a language barrier).
But, the difficulty I had in Paris talking to waiters, buying tube tickets, and ordering 4 mini macarons with rose petal ice cream (#firstworldproblems) reminded me that I am far from home indeed. And, that I am very lucky to be so.
Talk to you all in another week!
Cindy
