Student Bloggers

When I first received my acceptance to study in London for the fall semester, I was very excited to be in Europe. I was excited to be immersed in the vast histories and cultures that different regions had to offer. Specifically, I had always dreamt of visiting Paris. I don’t mean to sound like the stereotypical tourist with this blog post, but I found that visiting the “touristy” hubs was the best way to experience Parisian culture in the limited time I had in the city.

After my Friday classes, I met up with Jack, one of my best friends from Duke who is studying at SOAS through Arcadia Abroad. We caught an afternoon Eurostar train that left London St. Pancras International. A little over two hours later, we arrived at Gare du Nord. We were meeting two of our close friends— Haiyan, studying at Queen Mary through IFSA, and Irene, studying at Oxford’s St. Catherine’s College— at an AirBnB situated close to the Argentine stop on Metro Line 1. We found navigating Paris’ metro system to be quite manageable, especially with our experience with London’s tubes. A quick aside: we both highly recommend CityMapper for anyone traveling to a new city, or even if you just need to know the most efficient way from point A to point B; it has definitely saved us from a lot of stress and headaches all while we have been in Europe.

Leaving the Metro Station, we walked past the Arc de Triomphe and arrived at our AirBnB at around 9:15 pm. After getting settled, we decided to order dinner to the room since everything was about to close for the night. It was a fairly slow start to our weekend in Paris, but it allowed us to talk about the plans for the next two days. We had a little bit of time to sleep in the next morning, but we all aimed to go to bed before midnight— which is pretty rare for any of my college friends.

And though we had purposely scheduled our first thing to do at 1:00 pm after a long travel day the night before, we all had slept in until about noon. As you can imagine, it was a little bit of a scramble getting out of the door, but a few stops later, we made it to the Louvre right on time. I loved admiring the architecture, and I would definitely recommend getting there a little bit before your reserved ticket slot so that you might have more time to do the same. My favorite part of the exterior was the Pyramide du Louvre; it ties the entire museum together nicely and becomes the focal point of the site. At the Louvre, we first stopped at the Paul’s cafe on the bottom floor; we all recommend trying something new, or, at least, something you might not be able to get in your home country/ the main country you are visiting for study abroad.

Next, we made our way through the Louvre’s bottom levels to see halls filled with intricate sculptures. My personal favorite part of the museum was Napoleon III’s Apartments. In these rooms, it might make more sense that, before it was a museum, the Louvre was a palace. How fitting it is that its original intention of welcoming many from far corners of the world is still upheld and seen today. The Louvre was bigger than what all of us were expecting. I would not advise ignoring the many travel blogs’s warnings of possibly feeling overwhelmed at this museum. Perhaps to alleviate some sense of stress, we would advise to block off plenty of time for the Louvre only; for example, our ticketed slot was for 1:00 pm, and we did not leave until closing at 5:00 pm. Additionally, we didn’t really have anything else set in stone for the day. If you might want to see more of the city on the same day as your visit to the Louvre, consider scheduling this prior to the museum.

From this point, we had tried to kill some time before dinner spots began to open for the night. We tried crepes at a tucked-away cafe before walking around towards the Notre Dame Cathedral. And though construction was still happening throughout the structure, we managed to get a pretty good view close to the river and at the front of the cathedral. From here, we were situated further from the city center and across the river. We walked for about 10 minutes to the Restaurant Paul on Place Dauphine to get a taste of a Parisian dinner. I got the Risotto Crémeux aux Champignons et Parmesan, which is a rich, creamy pasta with truffles. We all thought that the dinner was amazing, and we would recommend the restaurant to anyone visiting Paris. After dinner, we returned back towards the AirBnB; we picked up wine on the way and called it a relatively early night.

The next day was also busy with an even earlier wake-up time. We had a time slot at the Musee d’Orsay. It was a beautiful museum— large and filled with many intricate exhibits that complimented each other well. Though it was busy, with a long queue outside, we found it to be a lot more manageable than the Louvre. Just like the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay had both sculptures and paintings. With these things said, I wouldn’t be able to really compare the two museums further; both had their own unique offerings. If you can visit both the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay while you are visiting Paris, I would highly recommend the two stops.

Afterward, we saw a bit more of the river, the architecture of the nearby buildings, as well as the Eiffel Tower. The hours that followed included more walking throughout the city. We even found ourselves at the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre while the sun was setting. We received the most beautiful view of the city below, and it was a great way to end off the night out before returning to the Airbnb. Because it was the last night we were all together, we decided to cook dinner. Well, Jack and Haiyan did most of the cooking: Gnocchi and Steak. Irene and I got to work with the charcuterie board. It was a nice way to end off the night and the trip with the people who made it all worth it.

The next day, Irene and Haiyan stayed in the city to explore more before returning to Oxford and London that night. Jack and I left early in the morning and headed to Disneyland Paris. I’ve never been, but Jack had fond memories of his first visit a few years ago. We decided to go to the two parks, Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios, and we enjoyed a full day of rides. This extension was made very last minute for both of us, but we don’t regret it. As college students, we don’t normally have much time to really appreciate the fun or moments that bring us closer to our childhood. I’m glad I got to enjoy this experience with my best friend, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit the city of love with those who bring so much joy to my life.