Being a tourist at the Eiffel Tower

I know I said I wanted to do untouristy things whilst I was here (see last post) but yesterday, having spent hours reading (or trying to read) some awful long french article for one of my modules I thought "you know what, i'm in Paris, I'm going to go and take a selfie with the Eiffel Tower", and so I did. They say that as a foreigner in Paris, no matter how many times you see the Eiffel Tower it is never not exciting and breathtaking, and I have to say that's true (although i've only been here two weeks, we'll see at the end of the year). As I turned the corner at the top of the Jardins de Trocadero there it is, huge and looming straight ahead, and as impressive as ever. It's kind of weird how this effectively useless monument has become so hugely popular and so hugely iconic of Paris.

I could not believe the amount of people that were there, like me, to take photos of it, with it etc. People doing wedding photo shoots, popping champagne in their finest dresses for photos with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Selfie sticks left, right and centre, silly poses trying to pinch the top of it. It's such a bizarre thing to sit and watch people doing but then you can't judge people because we're all equally guilty of doing exactly the same thing and 5 minutes later it was me, on my own, posing for selfies with it in the background.

The size of it is hard to comprehend as well. It looms way above any of the surrounding buildings, so stood out from the rest of Paris. If you stand underneath it and look up it makes you feel dizzy, and i'm sure if you stand at the top and look down you feel even dizzier. On my list of things I want to do is go up to the observation deck of the Tour Montparnasse because I think you would get a great view of the Eiffel Tower and how it stands out against the Paris skyline. It's like when you go up the Empire State building in New York, you get a great view of New York, but not of the world-famous building itself because you're stood on it. Where as from the Rockefeller centre you get an amazing view of New York AND the Empire State building. So I think it would be cool to see the Eiffel Tower from a different view point than the ground.

I always forget what a weird light brown colour it is. Imagine if it was in gold or silver, or metallic pink, like the tiny little key rings sold underneath it, 5 for 1€.

A brief history of the Eiffel tower (as googled by me): 
- Designed by Gustave Eiffel, in 1889 to celebrate the 100-anniversary of the French Revolution.
- At the time it was completed it was the tallest building in the world at 381m. (The current tallest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai stands at 828m, almost 3 times the height of the Tour Eiffel).
- It was only intended to be a temporary structure and was nearly torn down in 1909, but saved due to recognition for its usage as a radiotelegraph station (it is apparently not as useless as I thought).
- It is repainted every 7 years (maybe metallic pink is an option?) and receives more visitors yearly than any other monument in the world, over 7 million on average.
- You can have dinner on the Eiffel tower for 190€ per person, plus 95€ for wine. Anyone want to take me?

Exploring bars in rue Mouffetard, 5ème

On Friday night we explored some bars in the 5th arrondissement, where a few of my international friends are living. There's a really vibrant street called rue Mouffetard which is lined with bars, and creperies, and restaurants, and ice cream parlours, and brasseries and on a Friday night it's buzzing with people.

The first place we went to was called Le Requin Chagrin, which I had heard about online. It had a kind of english pub feel to it inside, with french-style brasserie tables outside. On Thursday it's happy hour all night for ladies and cocktails are only 5€ so mental note made to spend a Thursday evening there (especially since I have no lectures on a friday). I didn't take this picture myself because I often don't think/forget to take photos when i'm out. They're showing all the Rugby World Cup games here and though i'm not exactly a huge rugby fan and I don't know how many of the games i'll watch, I reckon it would be a good atmosphere if you did want to watch a game and support your nation.

The second place we went to was a tapas restaurant/bar called Le Bar de Fer. This was a really small space, they struggled to squeeze us in, but it had a great atmosphere and the food looked amazing. They had a guy playing live music, just his voice and his guitar, and he was seriously good. He had a perfect repetoire mix from more chilled acoustic songs to more upbeat tracks like Stand by Me and Cheerleader which had quite a few people up and dancing and others singing along. It was also really cool decor in there because they had literally just got people to write all over the wall, quotes, drawings, messages, where they were from etc. and it just had this kind of lived-in vibe which I liked a lot. I wish I had taken a picture of it! The drinks weren't that cheap, 5.50€ for a glass of wine, but it was nice wine, and the atmosphere, music, vibe etc. was great.

 



Word of advice: don't order a tea. A friend ordered a tea, 15 minutes later (having been bought the wine/beer we'd ordered) we ask where the tea is and the waitress looks at us like we're completely stupid because obviously the tea is being made and will arrive. Another 15 minutes later, and eventually they bring out a cup of hot water and a tea bag on the side - how that took half an hour to make I don't know, and for 4€ my advice would be to just order alcohol instead!

Sciences Po - First impressions

So I have arrived in Paris and yesterday was the first day of the Welcome Programme for international students. It's so nice to be in Paris because I had forgotten how completely beautiful it is. This is the view from the apartment that mum and I have rented on Airbnb for a week:

... Just in case you weren't quite sure you were in Paris! 

The apartment is great, really spacious, with stunning views, and only a 15 minute walk from Sciences Po, so it's a perfect location while I do the welcome week and hunt for somewhere more permanent to live. However it is ridiculously hot in Paris at the moment and finding somewhere to live is proving rather difficult so that's not so perfect.

Anyway, yesterday was the first day of the welcome programme. I arrived in the morning and there was coffee and croissants and then we had talks by the director of Sciences Po, the dean, and various other student societies. The 'directeur', Frédéric Mion, was so suave and cool and charming in his speech, and he is apparently very popular with students which I can completely understand! He just seemed so much more 'with-it' than the Vice Chancellor of Warwick, our dear old Nige Thrifty, the contrast was ridiculous. So that first introduction to Sciences Po impressed me because if its run by someone who seems so cool it must be a cool place to study. 

The rest of the day we spent in our groups having a campus tour, because there are several different buildings in the similar area which make up Sciences Po. It's hard to explain quite how in the middle of the city it is, but as an example, there is literally a Paul Smith shop on the corner of the Sciences Po main 27 rue Saint-Guillaume building, and a Louboutin just round the corner in the next road. It's right off of the boulevard Saint-Germain and so it is completely in the heart of Paris which is amazing. It does make me wander if i'm going to ever switch out of travel mode and into study mode but we will see. The buildings are the same beautiful old architecture that just characterises Paris and is such a stark contrast to the ugly concrete 1960s buildings that make up most of Warwick. Sciences Po doesn't have its on sports facilities like Warwick, there's way less student societies (and no cheerleading squads) but it has working wifi which is about the only similarity to Warwick. I think it will be interesting to see how the academics differ/are the same once I start my lectures on Monday 31st August. 

Below shows the 'campus' map and also the entrance to their main building: 

  

Before the welcome programme started I didn't really know what to expect, I knew there would obviously be lots of international students and so I wasn't really surprised when everyone was speaking to each other in English. Everyone is so friendly though and it's amazing how far people have come compared to my 2 hour train journey from London. There are lots of australians/americans here on exchange and although we're all native english speakers we have all come to Paris with the same goal of learning french, we're all going to be studying in french, it's just difficult to enforce french amongst ourselves. Hopefully as we start lectures we will meet some actual french people but so far the only new word I have learnt is "arvo" which is Australian for afternoon!

I don't have anymore activities as part of the welcome programme this week so i'm going to continue searching for an apartment with mum and we did a bit of exploring the Montparnasse area this morning which I'll blog about in the next post. This evening I'm going to meet up with some of the girls I met yesterday and I think our plan is to sit somewhere along the Seine and drink wine. We're basically already Parisian. 

P.S. IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WITH A SPARE ROOM TO RENT IN PARIS N'HESITEZ PAS A ME CONTACER. SVP. 

See you soon, Paris.

So today I move to Paris. The official start of my year abroad.

Can I just start by saying that moving abroad is really inconvenient. Especially if you're getting the train and have to carry your suitcase on the tube. I am a really indecisive person when it comes to clothes and what i'm going to wear and so having to be selective in what and how much I pack in order to just be able to lift my suitcase on to and off of the Eurostar has been really difficult. I know that as soon as I'm in Paris i'm going to want a whole new wardrobe of clothes but the thought of wanting to wear something I have left behind is scary.

Anyway, this post is my chance to write down all my thoughts/feelings about the upcoming year before things actually start happening and I get so wrapped up in the excitement of being in Paris that I forget how I was feeling before I got there. I'm writing this whilst listening to a 'Sightseeing in France' playlist on Spotify. I'm not sure that traditional french music is my favourite but maybe that will have changed by the end of the year.

P.S. I'm sorry in advance that this is such a long post.

Paris 

The first thing to talk about is being in Paris. I spent 5 weeks in Paris 2 years ago doing an internship. I lived in a little rented studio in Montmatre, I didn't really make any friends outside of the office where I worked and I spoke quite a bit of english in the office. I spent my weekends with friends from England who came to visit (except for one weekend where I went to a ballet on my own), and I visited all the typical tourists sites. I think, and I hope that this experience in Paris will be quite different from that. Paris is such a beautiful city and I think it is very easy to feel like a tourist, obsessed by the famous monuments and the beautiful architecture etc. I hope that in living there, and studying there, for a long period of time I can experience more of Paris than just the typical tourist sites. I'm kind of excited, in a weird way, to live in a probably awful apartment, to be freezing cold in winter, to hate the rain, to not want to go food shopping and to not want to write an essay that is due in the next day; in Paris.

Sciences Po

I am obviously excited, and also very nervous about university. Sciences Po, in terms of content and the type of university would not really have been my first choice. That said though, I am hugely grateful for the opportunity to study there as it has such a great history and reputation, and I have managed to get on several business modules which makes me less worried. I do know that it's going to be a challenge though. Apparently there are lots of essays to write and a big work load and it's not that I mind work, but I just want to be involved in anything and everything outside of studies too. I also think that I work well in more creative, group environments than when writing essays alone. I think many of the modules do a have a more interactive component to them though so maybe it won't be so bad.

The main thing scaring me is that everything will be in french. I have studied french for years now, and I know even from when I revise for french exams that just immersing myself in it I feel like I improve but having to be in french-mode 24/7 is scary. I struggle to write and do well on essays in english, let alone in another language! I hope that this part of it won't be as bad as I am fearing but I suspect at some point there will be tearful phone calls to my mum and late nights scouring google translate for the best way to describe a concept I barely understood from the lecture.

From what I have read, Sciences Po lecturers are a mix of academics, and working people who run a module alongside their day job. I think it will be really interesting to see different teaching styles, and to compare the experience to Warwick. I hope that I have some really inspiring and interesting lecturers because it can make such a difference to a module. I've heard that you can even ask professors for help in getting contacts for internships if you want to work in a field that they work/specialise in, so that could be handy.

I think in many ways university life in Paris will be very similar to Warwick but i've no doubt there will be many differences too and now I just have to experience it to find out.

Social 

Going back to the language thing... Sciences Po is a very international university, and so there will be lots of English speaking people there but I know that I need to make a very concerted effort to try to make french friends. I'm worried about not being able to communicate certain things, I don't want to have to be the quiet one who says nothing and I'm worried that I'm not going to make friends being like that but i'm also scared to open my mouth, say something wrong and look like an idiot. I guess this is just a part of moving and living abroad. I have a lot of respect for everyone who studies abroad for university, not just for one year but for their whole degree. I am always so impressed by how they manage lectures, essays, exams, etc. I think it will require me to seriously step out of my comfort zone in order to become a part of french university life, and not just international student university life in France.

I start International Welcome Week on Friday. I think will be good because it will introduce me to the university, how its works, and how they like you to work, but I also fear that these welcomes week encourage international students to stick together, and not to mix with the french natives who arrive a week later. Hopefully because my modules will all be in french I'll be able to meet french speakers and then we'll just drift from our lecture to a wine bar and become best friends. I realise that I sound like a complete loser panicking about making friends like I'm back in year 7 about to start secondary school but I want to be honest in this and this is how I am feeling right now.

I currently have no where to live (another thing to be worried about). I know I'm not going to end up homeless but I really want to live with french speakers to that I can improve my language as much as possible. I'm going to be doing an internship from January (hopefully) and if its in a large multinational company like I hope then it's likely there'll be a fair bit of speaking english. I want to completely submerse myself in french during this term at Sciences Po and I think living with french people would massively help this. Mum is staying with me this week to help me find somewhere to live for the rest of the year. Maybe bringing your french-speaking mum with you is cheating but I have a pretty busy schedule this week (9am-9pm on Friday!) and so I need all the help I can get.

Internship

This is just a quick few thoughts on my internship as this is considerably further in the future than starting at Sciences Po. I hope, and plan, to do a 6 month internship in Paris from January to June. I wanted to work because I think its important to have experience in the working world as well as studying. I have always wanted to work in fashion and it is my ambition to get an internship in one of the large french fashion houses. Not only because it would be a dream come true for me but because it's going to help me get a leg up in the industry when I graduate from Warwick. I know that I have a lot of work to do in applying for internships and I would have started this sooner but the french seem to be more laid-back (unorganised?). For example, I interviewed for BETC, an influential ad agency, back in June, but was told it was far too early for them to be thinking about January and to call back in October! So you can see why I haven't rushed into this but I fully intend to put my full efforts in to securing the most interesting and exciting internship and best opportunity that I can.

Ok, this has been very long. I think I have written down the most important things I am thinking/feeling/worrying about before I leave. Apart from the worry that I am going to get genuinely fat on all the croissants and cheese I am going to be eating. (Side note, I don't really like cheese, or red wine, but I think I will try to/have to change that when I am living in Paris). I want to also take up running. Currently, I can't run for more than 2 minutes without feeling like my heart is going to burst. I want to start running because its a cheap way to work off the croissants, Paris is a beautiful place to go running, and I need a proper excuse to buy cool work out gear. So that's also on my list of hopes for this year, even if its not really relevant.

In summary: 
- I hope that I experience a different side to the tourist side of Paris
- I hope that I come back fluent in french
- I hope that I make french friends
- I hope that from January i'll be working chez Dior or Chanel
- I hope that I have packed the right/enough clothes
- I hope that I love cheese and wine and running on my return.
- I hope that I don't miss the people I love too much

See you soon, Paris.