I went to a restaurant the other day called Le Faitout with the two other Northwestern girls studying at Sciences Po, and it was there that we met the best waiter in France. He was very nice, and refilled our water and bread baskets before we were even done during our entire meal, which is unheard of. I felt like I was at TGI Friday's! The food was reasonably priced and fantastic. I had lasagna with squash, goat cheese, and zucchini and kir for dessert (white wine with flavored liqueur/syrup) and everything was amazing. If you ever come to Paris, go there. It's in the 19th. Do it! Paris has so many cute, trendy little bars and cafes where students hang out, and they're great for making friends with fascinating people with really exciting lives.
The metro feels very safe, even fairly late at night since everyone in Paris stays out so late every night. It's safe, but there are a lot of characters who like to ride the metro around (accordion players even though it's illegal for them to ask for money on the metro, drunk teenage boys doing flips between the rows of seats...)
I'm calling it right now. These are the French fashion trends that will be American trends next season or next year: fur/faux fur, big bulky coats, Longchamp bags, sequins on tote bags, stacked wooden heel knee-high boots, short skirts and dresses with tights, messy hair, neutral toned clothes, ugly masculine boots, shoes that look like men's shoes, really high heels, ankle boots, and pointy shoes for men.
Of course, the fashion/luxury industry is a huge part of the French economy, and Sciences Po had a "luxury forum" last week where the HR directors from Louis Vuitton, Prada, Chanel, L'Oréal, and Jean Paul Gaultier spoke about what it's like to work in fashion and what it takes to get a job in the industry. It's a fascinating, innovative, fast-paced industry that shapes our daily lives and our entire culture and I know even more than I did before that I'd love to work in luxury/fashion someday. My dream job is to be an intellectual property lawyer for one of those companies. Their marketing strategies are really different and their brand images are so strong that it would be fascinating to work to protect that. But we'll see...
I miss my friends and family, but I really don't miss home other than that. It's different and unfamiliar, but (sorry Chicago) Paris is the best city in the world. They made a movie about this whole study abroad thing! It's called L'auberge espagnol and it's about a French college student who studies in Barcelona for a year. At the beginning, he has to go to meetings and fill out lots of paperwork, then he says goodbye to his family, has trouble carrying all his luggage around and finding his temporary apartment, doesn't know anyone and tries to convince himself he's having a good time, goes to classes, finds another apartment, and finally makes friends and has an amazing time. When he goes home, he can't really explain what Barcelona meant to him and his life is totally different. The movie does a really good job of capturing the weird emotions you feel when you leave home and start to get comfortable in a completely new place.
Most of the differences between France and the United States stem from the fact that France is so much more homogenous, in my opinion. The French like to blend in, and Americans love their individuality and uniqueness. A lot of the French people I've met think French people are too snobby and superficial, and that Americans are more accepting of differences, but sometimes French people seem more mature and sophisticated to me than Americans. I was talking to a French person who was complaining that there's a lot of pressure to be well dressed and good looking, but along with that comes an appreciation of beautiful things that Americans just don't have. So here's what I'm taking away from this: cultural peculiarities have good and bad aspects depending on your perspective.
In one of my classes, we had to read some English texts, and the professor told everyone that it might be difficult to read in English, but read through them a few times, don't look up every word in the dictionary, and just try to get the general idea of the text. HA! All the classrooms are beautiful, like they used to be gorgeous, ornate buildings but now no one's using them so they decided to turn them into classrooms.
I had a presentation today (my first one here!) and I had to analyze three pictures of World War I memorials and I explained that they show how France wanted to remember the war, in contrast with how they chose to remember other wars. It was pretty good, but it's hard to get stressed out in Paris. Less pressure, less competitive, less homework I heard about a study that decided that people in France are the happiest in the world, and it's easy to see why. French people keep their work and stress in perspective and don't let themselves get overwhelmed by it, and I think Americans could learn a lot from that. When I go back home, I'll have a lot more perspective on stress which will help me a lot. Another one of my observations: it seems like there are a lot more girls than boys at Sciences Po. Woohoo!
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