This past summer my good friend Lily O'Dare spent some time in Paris; upon returning home I was eager to catch up with her and hear about all of her experiences and musings abroad. I asked her to share some of those experiences with the L&L blog, enjoy! and don't miss her top 5 tips for visiting Paris which will be posted tomorrow morning <3
Paris is the city that I think about before I fall asleep at night. I think about it in hopes that I will dream about it. That maybe I’ll be lucky enough to fall asleep, and magically be transported to the place that I fell in love with this summer. I’ll dream about the way the rain in the city’s streets lit up in the night and danced in our eyes and how the wine warmed our hearts and the air chilled our arms. How the music gently hummed from the brasseries open doors, how the rues would wind and turn…
Paris is beautiful, of course, but many other things too. It’s historical and cutting edge at the same time, how can a place be so old and yet always so chic and ahead? It moves quickly and yet Parisians have perfected the art of slowing down with an espresso and a view of the seine or a blanket with wine in the park. It is romantic, the kind of romance that poets and musicians write about and 22-year-old girls try to dream about months later. It’s aromatic with patisseries and boulangeries on every corner baking baguettes, croissants, éclairs and pain au chocolat every hour. It can also be smelly and completely chaotic at times, especially at rush hour underground in the Metro- where you must surrender to the luxury of personal space. There are rose gardens in the middle of busy streets and beautiful grassy parks that overpopulate in the sunshine. It can be very rainy, cold, crowded and crazy, yet somehow remains magnificent. Parisians are mysterious, ambitious, witty, well dressed, romantic and have a huge appetite for life. The men have such great taste in fashion, from their pointed leather boots to their fitted black pants and well-tailored blazers. The women have equally as great style and their hair always looks effortlessly chic, short dos are quite popular with bold red lips or wayfarer sunglasses. The streets in Paris have electricity like no other, always moving and promising adventure. It is such a special place.
I had been to Paris once before this summer, when I was 18-but I had made a promise to myself that I would be back and hopefully spend a summer there. Four years later I signed up for a study abroad program and spent five weeks studying photography and French language at the Catholic University of Paris. It was the best 5 weeks I’ve ever spent, and my one regret was not finding a program that had me there for 5 years.
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