By Megha Lakha
When my friend and I were little, we planned to go to Paris for our 16th birthdays. We never imagined that it would be a reality. We spent a week together with our moms, doing the touristy things we’d always dreamed about (Eiffel Tower…check; Mona Lisa…check), and then I stayed on for a month-long Oxbridge program.
My program started on July 7th and would end on August 2nd, and the Olympics began on July 26. When the Olympics kicked off the only things that affected me were just the closing of a few Metro stations and a few blocked-off areas.
Oxbridge has dorms and we could have roommates, too. I was lucky because I got a single room (FYI, the single room and double rooms are the same size- and the single room was VERY small). The rooms were cozy and nice, but definitely not super roomy. We also had a sink and balcony in our rooms which was nice.
Everyone who attends the program has to choose a major and a minor. I chose Photography as my major and Culture and Cuisine as my minor. For the photography class, we explored the city and only photographed in black and white film- which felt glamorous and very on-brand for Paris.
All of the classes involved off-campus excursions. For example, Art History majors went to the Louvre often. In my Culture and Cuisine class, we cooked a bunch of different French foods and went around the city to try some of the iconic cuisines that Paris had to offer, like crepes, macarons, foie gras (I didn’t try that one), and ratatouille (sadly, not prepared by Remy…and it didn’t give me flashbacks to my childhood).
My major class would be 3 hours every weekday, and I would have my minor class for 2 hours 3 times a week, leaving lots of time to explore the city. The program rules weren’t too strict; our curfew was at 10:30 on weekdays and at 11 on Saturdays. There were mandatory assemblies every Sunday to go over rules/plans for the following week. We also could leave the school and go out of the neighborhood as long as we signed out in groups of 3.
Because the program valued community, we could also sign up for activities like a macaron tour, a visit to the YSL museum the Museé d’Orsay, or an on-campus pottery workshop. One day, the entire program skipped a day of classes to visit the Palace of Versailles, which was absolutely enormous. At night, we might eat crepes, watch movies, and, towards the end of the program, have Olympics Watch Parties! (While many of my peers actually got to attend events in person, I caught them on TV.)
As much as those organized excursions were fun, I loved being able to go off with friends on our own. We became very acquainted with the metro systems of Paris; I consider myself a metro pro. I had to take the metro a lot to make lunch reservations in time and get to attractions that I wanted to see.
Everyone in the program was given a NaviGo (a Metrocard) and we could use the Metro whenever. The Metro was definitely more convenient than taking taxis or walking. Even though most things in Paris are within walking distance, the Metro allowed me to quickly go anywhere I wanted. We even used the Metro during class to go see different areas of Paris. (Marta has some catching up to do.)
The program served us breakfast every day and dinner every night, but lunch had to be on our own. We were also allowed to go out and have dinner with our friends; we could even do Uber Eats. After class, my friends and I would usually walk around and find a cute Brasserie for lunch. After lunch on most days, we would go to museums, shop, or walk around the amazing landmarks of Paris. I saw the Eiffel Tower so many times that it became engraved into my mind.
The language also managed to stick a little bit. If you’re in Paris for 5 weeks, you’re bound to pick up some French. I take Spanish (which was not useful in France…actually it was ONCE in an Italian restaurant, go figure), but I was able to learn a few words and phrases to help me communicate with locals who didn’t speak English.
While living in Paris for a month was my ultimate dream come true, I also got a bit homesick towards the end of my month there. I missed seeing actual houses (because In Paris it’s just apartments), I missed being able to take the cap off of my water bottle because they’re attached to the bottle in Europe, and most of all, I missed air conditioning. Our dorms weren’t air conditioned so I had my fan running all day.
While Paris was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, I was happy to come back to the US. But now that I’m home, I find myself missing Paris. It goes to show that you truly don’t appreciate something until it’s over.
