If I had to choose one word to describe my first week in Paris, I would choose fantastique! It's hard to believe that we've been in the City of Lights for a week already. Just like at GW, everyone in my program (GW Paris Fall Business Studies) is really diverse and brings a lot to the table. There are people from each region of the States, plus Puerto Rico and Switzerland. We've gotten to know each other pretty well over the past week, which has been something like a “welcome week.” There have been a lot of small excursions, during which we’ve explored the campus, met professors, and enjoyed a lot that the city has to offer. Some other highlights include:
- A picnic under the Eiffel Tower
- A wine and cheese tasting on a rooftop overlooking the city
- A guided tour of the Musée d'Orsay
During these excursions, I think a lot of people (myself included) have discovered one particular challenge of living in Paris: navigating the metro. You'd think that we would be able to do it easily, as there's a metro in DC, but the Paris metro is rather tricky with many different tunnels and ways to exit. On top of that, all of the station and direction names are unfamiliar to us, which applies to city streets as well. (When I went on a run in my neighborhood yesterday, I made sure to write down each street that I turned on should I need to retrace my steps!) So far, no one has gotten terribly lost (yet!) and it will undoubtedly get easier as the semester goes along.
Despite the looming threat of classes starting tomorrow, one thing that I'm really looking forward to is spending more time with the five French SciencesPo students in our group, both in and out of class. Each of them is really interested in learning more about us and American culture, and they're more than welcoming to us. In my opinion, this has made the transition to Parisian life a lot easier. We will be taking all of our classes with them (three GW business courses and two SciencesPo electives), so it will be interesting to see the differences between American and French academic settings.
Overall, this week has had a lot crammed into it, but I wouldn't have it any other way! All of the activities have served as a great introduction to the city that will be our home for the next three months. See you next week!