A Semester in Paris

This Fall I spent a semester in Paris, France. I knew I was going to study in a foreign country at some point in my college career, and I settled on Junior year as the most suitable time. I also knew it was always going to be Paris. I was very young when I decided I was going to live in Paris at some point in my life, as something about it just seemed magical to me. So when I was applying for study abroad programs last Spring and there were a host of cities all over the world to choose from, I clicked on Paris and didn’t look back.

In the four months I spent away from home, I learned a lot about myself, Parisian culture, and the world. I was surprised at how easy the adjustment was upon first arriving in France. Some of my friends from the Southern parts of the United States had a hard time with the stereotypical Parisian reserve, but as I’m from the Northeast and used to that so-called coldness, I found them to be like any city dweller.

I think many American students will find when studying abroad that American culture tends to infiltrate into other foreign cultures, specifically with younger generations. For instance, I became friends with a girl in my French class from Korea, and we spent our time together drinking lattes, talking about our love for Taylor Swift, and eating too many sweets. It was crazy to me that two girls from opposite sides of the world could be so similar.

When you’re the ‘other’ in a sea of people originally from an area, you will be treated differently and you will make a fool of yourself. These are a given. I once went to a dinner party and was telling the French people about my roommates and all the fun stuff we do together. Turns out, the whole time I was trying to say “my female friends” I was actually saying “my wives.”

Studying abroad has given me all the experience I needed: the space to define myself independently from the people and places I’ve always known, the confidence in knowing I can be on my own and thrive, and the realization that what I need to be happy in life is really quite a simple formula.

At times, was it disappointing or frustrating? Of course. Paris was not exactly the magical place I had dreamed it would be. Yet when my roommates and I complained about how difficult some aspects of the culture were, we knew we only felt this way because it was unfamiliar. This taught me how important it is that we immerse ourselves in the scary, unknown stuff, because this is how we grow.

If you think you’re content in who you are and what you know, you may be misguided. We can constantly grow and change. I think we should never, ever settle for what we’ve always been told about a people, a culture, a place. We should go out and learn and define things for ourselves. Most of all, we should search out meaningful connections with other humans who look and sound nothing like us. Whether you find that connection over a plate of pain au chocolat or in the exchange of smiles in a cafe, it matters just the same.