Sojourns in France

It is so crazy to me that it is already time for me to return home to the US. In a lot of ways, I feel like I am such a pro at a lot of things around Paris, but also in so many other ways, I feel as though I have barely scratched the surface. Just this afternoon I went up to the top of Montparnasse Tower to get some good panoramic shots of the city before leaving, and it was very validating being able to find so many of the landmarks of Paris and understanding so much of the history that I wouldn’t have been able to recognize or appreciate at the beginning of this trip. I had been trying to use this last week to hit a bunch of the last things I hadn’t completely finished exploring yet, and I think I found a good bit of gems. First of all, I finally got into the Opera Garnier, which was long overdue. I knew the outside of that was pretty great, but the inside of it was incredible! The people I was with said it was better than the palace at Versailles, which is a pretty heretical ide...

It is hard to believe that I am getting so close to finishing my semester in Paris. It seems so much like I just live here now, but I am also hitting so many “lasts” that is hard to ignore the end of my stay here. The biggest last was probably the last travel weekend, which I passed in Scotland. To be honest, I didn’t have many expectations for Scotland, and really didn’t know anything about it except for the fact that in the United Kingdom. I was blown away by how much history and personality Scotland actually has, and how beautiful (albeit cold) it is there. I went on a bus tour of the highlands, which featured a tour of a whisky distillery, a trip to Loch Ness, and a wealth of history and culture from our driver. The most fascinating thing I learned on that trip was the fact that many of the cultural icons that we know for Scotland, including bagpipes, kilts, and speaking Gaelic, were made illegal after the Jacobite rising in 1745, and the revival of Scotland as a distinct and inde...

I have a lot of mixed feelings about how soon my return to the US is. On one hand, I really miss a lot of my classic American comforts, and having no school for a month sounds wildly appealing. On the other hand, I am going to miss so many things about life in Paris. The city is so saturated with amazing art and inspiring locations that it is constantly overwhelming to try to absorb it all. After already having walked through much of the Marais last week, I thought there surely couldn’t be all that much more to see of it, but after spending the day in 4 different museums in the area, I learned that I was sorely mistaken. There was such a wealth of art and history, including a huge collection of Picasso’s works, elaborate renaissance manors, and even the Constitution of the Fifth Republic. There were a lot of strong moments in the Marais, and I am eager to explore even more in the area when I get the chance. Some of the other museums that I ended up at this week in different ar...