Paris (or Living Abroad part 2)

If you’ve read my previous post about living in Paris you would think I’d hated it there. However, that’s really not true, I was being a bit dramatic because I was feeling lonely. After that first month, my spirits have improved. Partly because I embraced my experience as it was my last month staying there, but partly because I had some visitors and a more active social life, which definitely had a positive impact.

What can I say after this experience other than that I absolutely loved it! I could definitely see myself living in Paris for good and I kinda had a shock when I returned home – a cultural shock that is. Of course, seeing my family and friends again has been wonderful, but I think that this is the only regard in which Bucharest wins over Paris. After living in a more developed city – in a Western culture – it’s very difficult to return to the East, where the streets aren’t so clean, the buildings and parks don’t really care about the symmetry and where everything is so gray. It’s like going a few years back in time. Sure, Bucharest has its positives, but it’s very hard to see them after you’ve lived abroad, especially in one of the most developed countries in the world.
By comparison, Bucharest is very small for the very high number of people living here and I can see now more than before how crowded it is. Sure, one would argue that Paris is crowded, but Paris is large enough to hold everyone and still give them room to breathe. Of course the main attractions are crowded, because there’s a lot of tourists, but if you avoid them or visit in moderation, you’ll have a lovely time. One day I walked through the streets parallel with les Champs-Elysees and it was very quiet and very few people – it was marvelous!

What did I love about Paris? Trick question: everything! ❤ I loved the quiet neighborhood I was staying in – Vincennes -, I loved the 20-minute walk to work every day, I loved the food, I loved the well-stocked supermarkets and the self check-out machines, I loved the fact that I was always 20 minutes away from the city center by metro, the unlimited access to art, entertainment and beauty, the parks, the buildings, the Seine, the streets and the freaking perfect and impressive Tour Eiffel! I felt safe there walking the streets (yes, despite the attacks from recent years), even at night, and enjoyed every walk through Paris as if it was my first and last time. I loved the Notre Dame, I loved the Tour Eiffel, I loved the Sacre-Coeur, I loved the Louvre and Parc Monceau the best! But I loved every other thing I saw and did in Paris as well!

I also went to the Versailles while I stayed in Paris and I must admit I’ve never saw such grandeur in my entire life! That estate is huge – the chateau, the gardens, the Trianons, the forests, the lakes, yikes! It was all very tidy and beautiful and symmetric (and you know how I love symmetry!), but it was all so large that a day wasn’t enough to see it all. I’ve seen the castle, part of the gardens, the singing fountains, crossed the land and saw Marie Antoinette’s estate and then metaphorically died from the pain in my feet. But it was all lovely! ❤

I would go back to Paris anytime and stay there forever! It will forever remain the dearest city for me, and not how most girls have fantasies about Paris, romanticizing it as they’ve seen it portrayed in movies. No, I saw Paris through different eyes than those of a tourist – I actually lived there and saw what that would be like and it would be wonderful! ❤

I love it so much and it is now my dream to go back! Until then, I will keep annoying my boyfriend by pausing all movies with a bit of Paris in them to tell him how I’ve been there and describe more than the film is showing! “I’ve been there!”, “I’ve been there as well!”, “Look, there’s Sacre-Coeur!” etc.