It is December 31st, one week from when I flew from Europe to Boston and one week until I fly to Pittsburgh, and the last day of 2024: a prime time for reflection. Settling back in at home, into familiar routines with familiar faces, makes me feel the last four months were a very realistic dream. It’s hard to believe that just a few days ago I was living in Paris, my routine consisting of a pit stop at the Patisserie for a croissant and café au lait for breakfast and classes entirely in French and a 30 minute metro ride to my friends’ apartment. Just as a I settle in at home, I settled in in Paris. What was once foreign became familiar. Picnics along the Seine, runs with my roommate through the park in our neighborhood, shopping in the Marais, reading in the Luxembourg gardens, book club at the Red Wheelbarrow bookstore in the Latin Quarter, lunch at the boulangerie, Frère bavette, on Rue Daguerre, where we all took classes. Even just a week later it’s hard to imagine that these were everyday activities in Paris. I’m already looking forward to returning to the city and pointing out these places that were so special to me during my time abroad.
In the last couple weeks of our program, we had a farewell dinner organized by IES with all 140 students. It was a three course meal on a boat, some of the best French food I had eaten all semester (which is saying something), and I was sitting next to my closest friends. We floated by the Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower, which, by then, had become monuments we saw often but they never became less spectacular. I was in awe every time we saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle. It really is as magical as they say. Towards the end of the dinner, one of our program advisors, Seth, made a toast. He said, “Paris will always be here, but never again will you be in Paris with this particular group of people at this particular moment in your lives.” Everyone looked around at their now close friends, and I felt his words sink in. Though it was a little cliché, I was struck by the transient nature of study abroad. It’s true that I will never be eating duck and escargot on a boat in Paris with those people ever again. While I was saddened by that thought, I appreciated the time we had all spent together so much. It’s pretty special that we got to share this experience.
Among the people with whom I shared this abroad experience, there are those that I’m confident will be in my life for a long time- my roommate and other close friends, but there are also people that I won’t forget but I may never see again. There are people with whom I interacted briefly every day and made up an integral part of my time abroad, but I don’t even know their name: our building manager who always gave Nora and I a thumbs up when we left for our morning runs, the man who worked at the convenience store right by our apartment building, familiar faces on the metro. I learned that these 3 second interactions are an important part of feeling at home in a new place. I’ll cherish them as much as I do my close friends.
Throughout my semester, I learned the importance of knowing the language and always trying to improve. Though speaking French took much more brain power than English, it was always beneficial in communicating with local parisians and immersing myself in the culture. Parisians are infamous for being “mean” to Americans, but I found that they were much more accommodating when I was making an effort to speak their language. I was met with many more opportunities abroad because I knew the language: live theatre performances, a video art class at the Sorbonne, a buddy program where I was matched with a Parisian student. I travelled to many different cities, all of which I loved for various reasons, but I never felt as immersed as I did in Paris because I didn’t know the language at all. That being said, it was very cool to go to different countries and familiarize myself with the basics of the language and the currency and the culture, even just for a few days. Every city I visited was entirely new to me. I highly recommend tours, whether walking or boat or bus, to familiarize yourself with your destination. Whenever I started my trip with a tour, I felt more oriented. In Vienna, I went for a run immediately upon arrival and saw so many sites that would take hours walking.. running tours work, too!
Some pictures from my travels throughout Europe:
One of my proudest achievements in Paris was starting a run club with my roommate. We put up flyers at our academic building “Club de Course,” and I mentioned our idea to everyone I spoke to in the first few weeks of classes. By the end of our networking, there were over 30 people in our group chat interested in meeting up on Thursday evenings to run around Paris. All 30 people never showed up, but we had a solid group of five to ten friends that ran together every week. We would each take the metro to our meeting spot along the Seine, run and talk and laugh, then get something to eat. It was my favorite weekly activity of the semester. Run club created community and encouraged me to stay active as we ran by iconic Parisian sites. My closest friends became those that I ran with every week. I’m planning on bringing this initiative and desire for community back to Pitt and into my career.
As we graduate college and move to new cities, the skills I learned from study abroad will become even more valuable: finding community, adapting to an unfamiliar place, problem solving away from my support system. I feel so lucky that I’m going back to Pitt having experienced so many amazing things.
Thanks for reading!
– Eliza