Skip to content

Bonjour à Tous!!

Last time I wrote I talked about the fact that I would be switching positions from someone who gives out food to those in need, to someone who collects the food dropped off at Serve the City's building. This has been a bit of a challenge because I now have to take and understand directions in french (which are said very fast) as well as interact even more with the workers who do not speak any English! I was a bit nervous about this because I always doubt my French skills, and I was worried once they found that I was slower at communicating, they wouldn’t really interact with me. This is actually not the case at all! As everyone in the packing department has been very welcoming and even when I haven’t been able to exactly convey my thoughts they have been quick to meet me half way. It’s been great to understand why people decided to work with this organization and the highlights and struggles of the job. 

I suppose so far the accomplishments I am most proud of besides helping people in need, are the fact that I can definitely say I have been all around Paris and off the beating path! I’ve seen parts of Paris that I didn’t even think about going to before and I feel like that’s a major pro of volunteering in a new city. I am also proud of how far my french has come since volunteering here, a result of having to speak it on a daily basis. I still report to the volunteer supervisor so my responsibilities have not really changed but people know me now so I can kind of do my own thing.

I have been having an amazing time volunteering with Serve the City Paris, and it’s a bit hard for me to believe that in a little over a month I’ll be on a flight back home to the states! The people I have met, have already impacted my life in the best way and I hope the little work that I partake in has helped lessen the load that this amazing organization undertakes.

À Bientôt! MEKAYLA

By mekaylatucker

Bonjour à tous!!

Mekayla here, reporting from Paris where its...raining… yep still raining... but any who…

After going back and fourth and trying to figure out which volunteer opportunity to choose, I decided that I would go with Serve the City: Paris!! I have been working with them for just about 4 weeks and I volunteer about two times a week. It has been cold but a great experience. There are currently about 2000 people on the streets in Paris, so what Serve the City does is recruit volunteers to collect or distribute food for people in need. So far, I have decided to hand food out, which means I am usually freezing or wet, as Paris has not gotten out of winter yet unfortunately, but it allows me to get to know other volunteers and most importantly, practice my French.

For me, the biggest challenges I am facing have to do with the language barrier as I still have a hard time understanding French when it is spoken very rapidly. I think the best way for me to overcome this is just to continue to push myself outside of my comfort zone as much as possible because once I get used to the rapidness, I will be able to get it down. The benefits of volunteering with Serve the City is that I am able to see so much more of Paris than I probably would otherwise, which is exactly what I wanted. I also just love helping people and to see the instant happiness on peoples faces when they see food gives me hope that the little I am doing here may help them even if it is just for the day.

Overall I am incredibly excited to see where else volunteering with Serve the City will take me. This week I have decided to do more of the collecting of food to see the other side of operations. The environment at Serve the City is great and it is mostly young people, so it is great to hear what French young adults feel about the state of their country and specifically problems like homelessness in Paris. I am so excited to take you all on this journey with me! Stayed Tuned!

(Hopefully I survive this continued rain!)

À Bientôt!

By mekaylatucker

Bonjour à tous!!!

As you know I am currently in the city of lights with the GW Paris program. I knew I wanted to be in this program because for me, the chance to study at Sciencespo was always a dream of mine. It is truly an amazing experience to be able to learn alongside my French peers and really immerse myself within the French culture and…education system. This means that I don’t have the typical “light” course work load that is synonymous with studying abroad, but it does challenge me and gives me a new way of looking at not only my world but the world around me.

...continue reading "Paris? Mais Oui!"