City Of Dreams

I stepped foot in the city, and my life changed. 

Paris 

The city of lights. The city of love. But to me, it was my home.

Well, for the next two months...... 

I came to Paris when I was 14 and fell in love. I dreamed of going to Paris my entire life and I finally made it. I remember the moment when I came into the city and just cried. The architecture, the people, the clothing, and the overall aesthetics was priceless. But I never thought I would go back. 

Until the Summer of 2022.

As a 20-year-old, having to live in the city was a much different perspective. I had to understand the metro, where to buy groceries, what arrondissement to stay away from, bars to go to and the best clubs in town. It was a bit different than my 14-year-old naive self. 

Now luckily, I had a warm welcome in Paris, with an airconditioned apartment and other students from the US. I got this internship in Paris through a program where I would live with other students in an apartment building that were also working at different locations around Paris. This created an automatic friend group without a language barrier to hang out with outside work. 

Before coming to Paris, Duolingo kicked my ass, so my French was minimal. But interacting with servers, the other french interns and my bosses helped me understand the charisma needed to get by in Paris. There are many cultural differences, including that you must say bonjour every time you enter a cafe or store and say merci, au revoir when you leave. Doing the bare minimum will take you far when interacting with Parisians. 

Anyway, I arrived in Paris on June 2nd, met everyone, and we all went into the city immediately. I still picture walking around the corner of the metro and seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. My heart exploded. It felt like home. Everywhere you looked, it could have made a million-dollar photograph. The cafes, the identical architecture and the people. The people. I can't get over how everyone looked like the main character in a Nora Ephron film. The fashion, the saunter walk, everyone looked timeless. My expectations were met. 

We started at this bar rented out by our coordinators, which came with free drinks and charcuterie. The bar was tucked away in the street near Notre Dame, almost like a little speakeasy. This is usually how bars are in Paris unless it is just a cafe. After we all became comfortable, we walked around the city to other cafes and bars. One cultural difference I wasn't prepared for was the fact people started to eat dinner at 9. We walked past millions of cafes at 10pm, where Parisians were just getting ready to eat. The American in me could never, but the Parisian in me adapted quickly. Eventually, we made it to La Marais, which would soon become my favorite part of Paris. The chicest part of Paris for a younger demographic. 

Paris soon became my reality.

It wasn't a dream anymore.

bisous bisous <3