Advice for College Students Living in Paris
If you’re a new French study abroad college gearing up for a semester or year with a bunch of college students in Paris, get ready for an experience you won’t want to leave behind!
Paris has earned its reputation as the city of lights not only because the architecture of the French capitol city is backlit each night to illuminate the meticulous sculpture work, but because the city is thus never dark. You and your fellow study abroad students will surely take advantage of you college study abroad experience in Paris as an opportunity to spend late nights on the town and early mornings taking the metro home. Consider it your role and job to ensure that you take advantage of all that the study abroad experience has to offer, while also learning French, exploring all parts of Paris and, when there’s time, studying. You’re gearing up for a busy semester in Paris!
Here are a few tried-and-true tips that all college French study abroad students spending time in Paris can take advantage of to help you get in tune with the city and culture:
1. To help yourself get acquainted with Paris when you first arrive, check out this afternoon outing: Paris is a city that adeptly combines elements of new with deeply-rooted history. Take a walk from one end of the Champs-Elysees to the other and compose a journal entry - en francais - about you experience. You can begin by taking the Metro to La Defense. Explore the contemporary architecture and commercial feel. As you head towards L’Etoile and the Louvre, you will walk across a busy highway, past the park and through a not-so-upscale section of Paris. Finally, will arrive at la Carree in the center of the Louvre, surrounded by half-millenium-old architecture. Paris, more than any other study abroad destination, is rich in architecture, history and style. This walk will help you appreciate the changes that occurred in the city over centuries and will offer a glimpse at Paris’s future.
2. Head out for a typically French study abroad weekend sojourn to Versailles. The town of Versailles sits about 30 minutes East of Paris along the RER. While the town itself is small and unassuming, you and your fellow study abroad students will find the contrast between the small town and the big city of Paris a relaxing change about halfway into your study abroad experience. Of course, all college students studying French will have learned about the famous chateau called Versailles, where Louis XIV spent his days riding horseback and wondering the delicately manicured gardens.
3. Many Paris study abroad students also enjoy taking part in a weekend camping and hiking trip to Fontainbleau, the famous forest to the southwest of Paris. Like Versailles, visitors can also take the RER train for about an hour to the wooded location. You and your fellow French study abroad students will have an opportunity to spend time away from the fashion-conscious and fast-paced city of Paris and can practice your French amongst yourselves along the trails. Many college study abroad students also find the Fontainbleau trip useful as a retreat towards the end of the study abroad trip, as it offers them an opportunity to bond with one another before returning home. If you have time in your schedule for an end-of-semester retreat, why not head south?.
Now that you have a few tips for some fun outings, enjoy your time in Paris. Take as many pictures as you can bare, keep a journal and be sure to make time for yourself. Most of all - don’t forget: you’re studying in Paris!