Notre Dame, aka my neighborhood church. It offers masses open to the public every day of the year.
It’s now been one month since I landed in Paris, and it’s been a whirlwind. Although I was told that France would be an entirely different experience, it wasn’t until I had lived here for a few weeks that I began to see just how true that was. I still walk to school, but instead of a few minutes, it’s a mile away, and my friends and I spend the vast majority of our time hanging out throughout Paris, instead of on Sciences Po’s campus. Sciences Po, like most French universities, has no housing for students, and as such, the students live all around Paris. This has its upsides—like getting to explore all the different neighborhoods in Paris—and its downsides—it’s much harder to make friends here than it was my freshman year at Northwestern.
My roommates and I live in a beautiful, spacious apartment in the 5 arrondissement, in the Latin Quarter, which is home to an extraordinarily large number of universities and high schools (its name comes from the fact that Latin was the only language that ancient centers of learning taught in). We’re a ten minute walk from Notre Dame and very close to the booming nightlife of the Latin Quarter, a haven for the students that live and learn there.
A typical Parisian neighborhood. Notice the random doors set into the sides of the buildings–those lead to apartment complexes which usually require a code, and then one or more keys to get into.
- Finding an apartment in Paris is extremely difficult, particularly for foreigners, and many of the apartments are notoriously small. As I recently discovered, Paris’s population is as big as Chicago’s, but because its area is so much smaller, the population density is 5 times as large! This means that living areas are literally everywhere, including some of the most popular shopping and entertainment districts in Paris, and entrances to apartment complexes are squeezed in between stores and restaurants.
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These video game-like pieces of art pop up on the sides of buildings all the time. I’ve seen at least 5 since coming here.
- I’ve grown to love exploring Paris. There’s something new to discover around every corner. Last week, a bunch of tents popped up next to a nearby Metro stop, selling everything from authentic Basque county food to jewelry and delicious nougat (such open air markets are very common in Paris). This week, they’ve disappeared, and it’s like they were never there. Yesterday, my friends and I found a crepe shop that sells a full meal for less than 5 euros, and we visited it twice in one evening. Street vendors are everywhere, and they sell everything from books to art to selfie cameras (which are really popular among tourists here). Without a doubt, Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
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I’ll leave you with this view of Paris, taken from the top of the Centre Pompidou.
