As mentioned in the article “Meet the Year Abroad Bloggers”, I am doing a six month internship which I am loving and then hopefully finding something for two months. Ladies, I highly recommend working during your year abroad- your language will improve in a week! I already can feel my fluency increasing because you are truly thrown in the deep end so embrace it! Next summer I am spending three months at an art museum in Nice which should be so nice as the sun should be shining. Just so you know, there is a maximum gap between placements in order to qualify for an Erasmus grant so look in to this into a bit more detail. I managed to sort mine out but it was a little stressful for a while there. Luckily Exeter were really helpful.
Sorry about all that extra information but I think it’s important to know. Anyway… back to Paris… I thought that in this blog entry I would give you an idea of some things to look out for in Paris so that you’re not as shocked as I am. I had the advantage of being used to Switzerland at least but trust me when I say France is very different to England!
First of all it truly is as expensive as everyone tells you, no they are not exaggerating! That £20 weekly shop you managed in Exeter? Double it! I still have not managed to find a supermarket that is both cheap and has a good selection of food. I am a vegetarian and I am struggling to see how I will manage a balanced diet. The French sure do love their meat! Only bonus is that they also love their wine and you can buy GOOD wine for CHEAP in shops.
Secondly, the metro holds many treasures. You will over heat as the entire city squeezes into the carriages, you will meet the odd rat or mouse and you will witness much begging, which of course is all very upsetting. Some of the smells you will encounter down those tunnels do not bear thinking about.
Next up, banks have the worst hours you could ever imagine. I only started setting up my bank on Saturday the 14th because of course I only have somewhere to live since last weekend and during the week the banks close an hour before I finish work. French people also loooove their lunch breaks, so there is no chance you will get anything done between 12pm and 2pm. Basically, do your research before you start trekking off to do important things.
A quick point to make- be careful! Paris is still a big city, despite how exciting and beautiful it is, and like all big cities, you need to keep an eye on your belongings and generally be aware of your surroundings.
Here’s two things to finish off: “vous” is always safer than “tu”. I know we do not have this problem in England make sure to keep an eye on the footpath… No one picks up after their dogs. There are excretions of the canine variety all over the footpaths. It is absolutely disgusting but oh so francais!
I hope this gives you an idea of what you will be getting yourselves into. Generally speaking, however, I am so happy to be here and really need to start getting stuck in to French culture which hopefully I’ll be able to write more about soon enough!