Amy Glazier-Torgerson, Sciences Po Exchange, Fall 2013
Every day for the past eight weeks of my study abroad journey at Sciences Po in Paris, I have been eagerly taking pictures of my daily adventures. Among those pictures are those of famous Parisian monuments that, despite their grandiosity, I’ve accidentally stumbled upon, the amazing cliff top views I’ve soaked in during visits to Granada, Spain and Normandy, and of course the decadent desserts I scarf down like I have the metabolism of a French woman (I don’t). The photos I’ve taken try to capture the amazingness that is an exchange student’s life exploring Paris and other parts of Europe, but in sending them on to family and friends, the photos can only capture just that: what you see. Forgive the expression, but there is a great deal more to my two months in Paris than meets the eye. I’ve loved seeing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame so much, but to give you, the reader, more of a taste of my experience, I want to take you through a day in the life of an exchange student living in Paris.
I can use my day today as a bit of a case study. This morning, I woke up leisurely at 9am because I don’t have any classes on Thursday. I may have fewer hours of class here than at Northwestern, but there is a greater emphasis on oral presentations that demand considerable attention. After reading a few French language articles on Denazification in the French zone of occupation in Germany and Austria for one of such projects, I left my homestay in the 11th arrondissement and found a major student protest. I followed the protest for about half a mile listening to the chants criticizing the expulsion of a Roma middle schooler and eavesdropping on debates. Later that night at dinner with my host family, we talked about the French tradition of protesting and the danger of people being forced into political activisim without passion for the cause, but instead for the activity of protesting. I argued that the tradition of political activism at a young age can at least instill a desire for sincere activism throughout life. All in French: success!
After observing the scene, I went to a café for several hours to make travel plans for fall break with my friend from Sciences Po. Splitting up legs of the trip with different friends, we’ll be visiting Brussels, Amsterdam, Naples, Venice, Vienna, and Prague… in 11 days! We’re wishing there had been a seminar on navigating European public transit and finding hostels that won’t give you bug bites.
After we split, I took the metro across town to a hole-in-the-wall hot yoga studio where I finally found a good bargain on classes–no shock, Paris is an expensive city, especially for yoga. Detecting my accent (everyone does), the instructor asked me D’où venez-vous? (Where are you from?) and we talked about hot yoga practice in the USA. After an energizing class filled with new French vocabulary verbs (exhale with a flat back?) I wouldn’t ever have learned in class, I took the metro home in my workout clothes: a big no-no, but that’s one habit of mine that won’t go down without a fight. After a delicious dinner with my homestay family where, as usual, my big American appetite appeared in full force, I did more reading and skyped family. I’m going to a lecture in the morning at Sciences Po on economic equality, so I need to go to bed early!
Even though I passed through popular districts and monuments, the most remarkable parts of my day were moments of immersion: expressing myself honestly with my host family, understanding the conversations around me, and also importantly doing what I love in a new city. I can’t capture on camera most of these experiences, or others like the pride in being told “you speak great English for a French girl” (it happened once and never will again, but I’ll cling to it forever), or the frustration of balancing personal time with soaking in all that Paris has to offer. The stories I can’t capture on camera have transformed what would otherwise be an eight-week vacation into a life of perpetual adventures in Paris.