Is this a vacation? Sort of. Although traveling with three kids in a foreign country by myself does not always feel like a vacation…
I came for a study abroad class to study architecture, city design, and historic preservation.
What I have learned so far…
- the French have figured out what we Americans have not. That while we may not be here 50 years from now, and definitely not 100, 200, 500 years from now, the infrastructure will be and more importantly, other people will be here. What I mean by this is that the French invest in taking care of the people who will be here after us by investing in the infrastructure necessary to support future generations. They have invested in public transportation, public works such as the sewer system, underground electrical, and clean water, they care for their old buildings, build and maintain public green spaces (with lots of playgrounds), they are deeply invested in living an environmentally sustainable lifestyle, and they do things that other people will benefit from.
- while the French may seem aloof at first, they really do care about other people. I almost never stand on the metro or train with the 2-year-old because someone ALWAYS enthusiastically offers me their seat. In Paris pregnant women, anyone with a small child, and people with disabilities have priority for seats on public transportation.
- I haven’t seen many homeless people. There are a few sprinkled here and there around the city. There are tents under bridges, and one whole shanty town right on the edge of Paris by the highway but nowhere near the level that I see in Washington D.C. or even Fredericksburg for that matter.
- life feels slower here. I don’t think it’s just that I’ve been away from home for so long that it feels like an eternity, I think that the pace really is just slower. The kids have been fantastic about embracing the lifestyle here too. People read books on the metro. Side note – there are as many book ads in the metro stations as there are movie ads (maybe more). We spend at least an hour and a half at restaurants when we eat out. The servers are paid a living wage and tipping isn’t a thing so they don’t have to turn tables around to make money. The kids actually have entire conversations during meal times here (they don’t want to be on their phones at the table lest they look like American tourists 😂). Even back at the Airbnb we spend more time together chatting than we do at home. We typically eat lunch out (super affordable at a local boulangerie-we can get pastries for $1/each and a loaf of bread for about the same) and then have charcuterie for dinner. It’s fantastic.
- if I were 20 years younger I might not go back
- I might not go back.
- oh, I also learned a LOT about design and city planning. I’ll post more on that later.
