Bonjour, cocou, salut!
Welcome everyone to my very first blog post from Paris! In case you haven’t read my introductory post, my name is Tyler and I am currently studying at the Sorbonne University!
For a bit of context, I arrived in Paris, as of writing this, about three weeks ago, but I’ve actually been out of New Zealand for a while since then. I flew out on the 4th of August, where I landed in Glasgow (which was 17 hours to Dubai, and then 8 hours to Glasgow – not a fun flight!).
After landing in very wet Scotland, I met up with a friend to do a trip around the UK for a week and then a Contiki around Europe for two and a half weeks. This is definitely one of my favourite benefits of studying in Europe – being able to travel so much, and so close to my host city was truly invaluable.
Anyway, enough about topics that don’t involve the main event, France. After finishing my European whirl, I stayed with a friend and their parents in beautiful Dijon, where I made the most of my very last home-cooked meals for the next five months. I then took the (very quick – only an hour and a half) train to Paris, and officially arrived in my new home on the 4th of September.
I first arrived, my absolutely mammoth, hiking-style backpack on my back, and my school bag on my front, to La Gare de Lyon, and picked up my monthly public transport card, which in Paris, costs 85 euros every month for unlimited transport on all public transport. This might seem super pricey, but this is to be expected in the capital of lights, where the cost of living is significantly higher than other French cities. It will also end up being a lot cheaper than buying individual tickets in the long run, as a commute into uni via the metro can sometimes cost up to 6 euros one way.
After picking up my sole mode of transport for the next five months, I headed straight to my accommodation, which is located slightly out of ‘central’ Paris. For context, Paris is made up of 20 central ‘arrondissements’, in the shape of a circle, if you will. Anything out of this circle is considered a ‘banlieue’, or a suburb of Paris.
I’m staying in a suburb called ‘La Défense’, and while I was initially hesitant about being seemingly far away from the hustle and bustle of the central city, I honestly have no complaints. The public transport in Paris is exceptional everywhere, but from the Défense area in particular it is very easy and efficient to get into town.
You’ve probably already vaguely heard from people about just how hard it is to find accommodation in Paris (more on that in later blog posts), so I honestly got very lucky with my living situation. In France, and a lot of major European cities, on-campus University accommodation as we know it in Auckland just doesn’t exist. I knew I wanted to be living in something somewhat similar, so I opted for a privately-owned ‘student halls’ accommodation called YouFirst. I’m flatting with two other students, and am very happy with the living situation.
Since arriving in Paris, I’ve been extremely busy. Before leaving New Zealand, I enrolled myself into an intensive French course that focused on teaching us the basics of university assignments in France – I learnt a lot about how to format the different types of essays (le commentaire composé, la dissertation, and la synthèse de documents). It was very intense, and a lot to wrap my head around during my first week of being in Paris, but it’s already been super helpful in prepping for my very fast approaching devoirs sur tables (in-person tests). All of a sudden I’m very grateful for the work we had done on planning essays for our oral exam in FRENCH304 at UoA.
But that’s not to say that I haven’t been getting up to anything in-between classes. Something I’ve loved about the Sorbonne so far is the presence of other international and exchange students – the uni has a club called ‘Parismus’, which organises trips, meet-ups and events for exchange students to meet each other. WhatsApp has been super useful as well, as many times I’ve found myself meeting other students at a bar or a café by just asking in the various student group chats.
Moving to a new city where I knew literally no one was slightly daunting at first, but I’ve honestly made so many great friends so quickly, and I’ve found that other exchange students are super keen to meet people and get involved, which makes it a lot easier.
I can’t believe I haven’t even talked about the Sorbonne Campus yet – to be honest, I think it’s best if I let the photos speak for themselves first.
I think so far one of my favourite things has been exploring the Sorbonne campus, as even when I’ve gotten extremely lost trying to find a class, I’ve been able to take in more of the incredible artwork or architecture. Although, slight disclaimer – not all of the Sorbonne campuses are this attractive and historic. The Sorbonne has three main campuses, all spread out quite far from each other and very different in style. I have courses on the main campus you see above, and the campus in Clignancourt, in the 18th arrondissement. (A much newer building which has more of a modern vibe.)
I’ve been here long enough that it should’ve settled in by now, but to be honest, I find that I keep having to pinch myself every time I walk to class, speak French on the street or order in a boulangerie. It’s been my dream to come back ever since I went on a school exchange to Paris as a bright-eyed, barely scraping an A2 level of French 14 year old, so to be back, living independently is just so surreal.
So far, my favourite aspects of Paris have been:
1 – The public transport. Being able to get around such a big city so quickly has been such a breath of fresh air compared to Auckland. It’s also very easy to use and super reliable.
2 – The food. I’ve spent more money than I’m willing to admit at the local boulangeries and pâtisseries. I think my favourite French pastry is a mille-feuille (which literally translates as a thousand leaves), and is heaps of layers of pastry (see why it’s called a thousand leaves?) combined with custard and icing on top. The cheap Nutella crêpes sold by street vendors are incredible as well – they truly just don’t hit the same in New Zealand.
3 – The language. This is obviously not something that is unique to Paris, but having learnt French for 6 years, and having been in love with the language for all of those years, it’s so surreal to be able to speak it and understand it (most of the time!) in everyday life. There’s something so accomplishing about successfully understanding a lecture (more on that later), ordering at a café or a restaurant, and just in general operating in another language for almost every hour of every day.
Whew, this post is already getting way too long, so I’ll save all the details about my courses and my touristy adventures until the next blog.
À Bientôt!
Tyler