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Category: Paris, France

ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 4

ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 4

Featured image: Parisian architecture I’ve been back in the United States for almost a week now, and my four months in Paris feel like they were years ago. I attribute that mostly to the fact that I’ve been working nonstop at my retail mall job (is there anything more American?) since the morning after I got back, and doing boring adult stuff between shifts, like getting a haircut and scheduling doctor’s and dentist’s appointments. A stark contrast from my last…

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AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 4

AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 4

Featured image: Me at L’Orangerie, looking at Monet’s water lilies Before I began this semester, I never would have imagined that on Thanksgiving, I’d be sitting at a table staring down a 20-pound turkey. And yet, that’s exactly what happened a few days ago when my host family decided to reconnect with their American roots (they lived in the United States back in the early 90s) and cook an entire Thanksgiving meal. That evening, the apartment was filled with old…

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ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 3

ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 3

Featured image: Bern, Switzerland, with a view of the Alps in the background Now that I’ve spent almost three months in Paris, I’m feeling pretty settled here. It helps that I’m taking care of a plant now. A few weeks ago, I volunteered at a rooftop garden in the city, and left with a slice of an apple tart and a tiny plant. I’ve never been super into gardening – or good at taking care of plants, for that matter…

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AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 3

AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 3

Featured image: Nuts and spices at the night market in Marrakech August, September, October, and now November. I said it in my last post, and I’ll say it again here: time has been flying by. Since my last update in October, I’ve visited the Loire Valley with my host family, gotten some real work done at my internship, and even gone to Morocco for a weekend. Now, instead of leaving the apartment in just a t-shirt, I don’t think twice…

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ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 2

ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 2

Featured image: The view from Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum in Paris. It finally happened: I joined a French gym. After being worn down by weeks of being harassed by French men while running on the streets near my apartment and realizing that it’s rapidly getting colder and darker in the mornings, I caved and got a gym membership. Much like everything else here, French gyms are smaller than American gyms. The weight room is unbelievably tiny and cramped,…

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AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 2

AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 2

Featured image: The Eiffel Tower at night, a few weeks ago Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe just how quickly my semester abroad is going. Between four classes, an internship, and exploring the city, time does not slow down unless you force it to. These pauses normally happen during a way-too-late-night conversation with a friend or when I have a moment to sit on a quiet park bench and journal. This also happened a few weeks ago when I…

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ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 1

ALLEGRA DENOOYER | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 1

Featured image: Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where my friends and I tried to resurrect Jim Morrison last weekend. We’re hoping to see him again within 30 days. The day I arrived in Bordeaux, France, my host family threw a dinner party with some friends and we began eating dinner at midnight. I was exhausted from not having slept on the plane ride over, groggy from my three-hour afternoon nap, and incredibly jet-lagged. Needless to say, I don’t remember any…

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AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 1

AIDAN ZOLA | PARIS, FRANCE | POST 1

Featured image: standing on top of the Dune du Pilat during an excursion in Bordeaux The other day as I was video chatting a friend from home, she asked me to describe Paris. After some moments of reflection, the best I could come up with was: Paris? It’s, uh, very Parisian. And though at the time it sounded silly, I later realized that it was true. Paris is very Parisian. Here, the people smell nice, but aren’t always as outwardly…

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Noah Purdy | Paris, France | Post 5

Noah Purdy | Paris, France | Post 5

Featured image: A dramatic landscape during a visit to Chantilly with my host parents. I’ve never been great at good-byes. I often leave events early, I’m quick on the phone and I avoid the long, drawn-out farewells that some family members and friends seem to adore. So, as I face my impending departure from Paris (I write this on my penultimate day in France, a rainy Saturday), I’ve been struggling to wrap my head around leaving a city that has…

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Noah Purdy | Paris, France | Post 4

Noah Purdy | Paris, France | Post 4

Featured image: A lovely day trip to Lyon, land of silk and rich cuisine, included a visit to two Roman amphitheaters dating from the 1st century BCE. Recently, while walking back to their apartment from the metro after a dinner out with my host parents, my host mom asked me if I remembered walking home with them my very first night in Paris after they took me on the metro route I’d need to get to school the next day….

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