After 5 months in the greatest city in the world, I have sadly bid my home for the semester goodbye. Goodbye grève, goodbye Sciences Po, goodbye my bright Parisian apartment. Goodbye Montmartre. Goodbye and a bientôt to my people who made this experience everything it was, who I will always remember this city through. Let me introduce them to you.
This is Sophie, Julian and Lianne. They are respite from a painful class, a secret joke and friendly face to make even the most horrible course something to look forward to. They are the hope I now have for this generation as future leaders, thinkers and problem-solvers – and for group projects to not always suck. They are brilliant, each in their unique way. They are laughing until your stomach hurts. Hot tea and study seshes crammed with more good conversation than actual cramming. They are the feeling of flying on ice skates in cold December air.
This is Britt. She is trust. She is the feeling of fearlessness in a big city and new confidence in my strength to overcome anything. She is riding on the back of a bike, blurry street lights and cars passing by. She is the inexplicable feeling that you can share your secret without judgment, without fear. Dancing like no one is watching but knowing that they are and loving it. She is rosy cheeks from the cold or exhilaration or both.
This is Sachin. He is charm and reliability. He is shared Prince cookies at a pleasant picnic in the summer sun. He is the string quartet you’ll never see at 3 am but how beautiful it must have been. He is the Eiffel twinkling every hour, on the hour. Even when you know it’s coming, without fail it takes your breath away. He is surprises around every corner of narrow streets. Ever-changing graphics and art on the white walls of Parisian buildings that you could so easily miss if you don’t remember to look up.
This is James. James is passion, a fervent belief, a refusal to settle or expect less from people. He is the direction I found for my future in my time studying and learning from the people around me. He’s our shared desire to go make a change and the fire that sustains it. He is stumbling over newly acquired french vocabulary in my A1 class, failing again and again using it in daily life, but never giving up until someone one day finally understands me. He is a midnight walk by the Pantheon and a heated discussion over a beer or several.
This is Jacqui. Jacqui is the femininity in the curves of the Eiffel, the wide Parisian windows overlooking every street, framed with planters full of colorful flowers. She is the feeling of cloth and the smell of perfume as you peruse boutiques and second-hand stores with your girlfriends. She is the moment the leaves turned colors. She is the warmth that greets you coming home after a long metro commute and the sweetness of a pain au chocolat.
This is Claudia. She is growth and perspective. She is a candlelit dinner you cook together and meaningful conversation. She is assertiveness, unapologetic honesty, self-reflection. She is cursive in a worn-out journal and every date I took myself on. She is a never-ceasing journey, as a person and as an adventurer traipsing the globe. She is cup of tea in a cozy cafe in Giverny when plans go astray, and a cocktail on the beaches of Aix-en-Provence when life couldn’t possibly get any better.
This is Blake. She is individuality, as unique as each of the 20 arrondissements. She is the Seine, the center where life is always happening. She is DIY karaoke and notes taped in elevators. She is capturing the moment, laughing loudly, knowing who you are. She is a one-woman show in a living room and fireworks over Bastille. She is a run in your tights and red lipstick. As elusive as a Franprix demi-baguette but as comforting as the quiet streets of Montmartre.
This is Will. He is everything else, the magic, the je ne sais quoi of Paris. He is the never-ending feeling of wonder. The love of life and simple pleasures. Morning jazz and a view of the Eiffel over grey rooftops bathed in light. He is the unexpected kindness of a stranger, the feeling of being lost among the thousands of people but embraced by all of them and the city itself in your anonymity. He is knowing that someone not too far away does know and see you. He is the metro ride that you joined in on some strangers’ card game and might’ve won.
Everyday Escapes 