Living in another country is a wonderfully challenging and exciting experience that I think everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime. Living in a foreign place that is not the United States is very different than just visiting while on a family vacation. This summer, I spent a month studying abroad in Paris, and it was a completely different experience than when I previously visited. I chose to do only a month versus a semester, because I didn’t think that I could handle being so far from home that long—a month seemed like the perfect amount of time for me. For those perfect 31 days I lived like a Parisian and had the chance to enjoy the city as both a tourist and a local. I wasn’t pressured to feel like I had to cram everything I wanted to enjoy into one single week, nor was I gone long enough to feel homesick. Most importantly, I got to really learn about a completely different culture.

Paris is definitely a Western, so there are a lot of similarities to the States; but, it was also starkly different in a lot of ways, which I continued to learn about throughout my time there. One of the main differences was that everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. I’ve found that in the States, everyone is in each other’s business, including the government, and in Paris, everyone just did their own thing and let others do whatever they wanted as well. In the States we like to impose our opinion on others a lot, while I learned that in Paris, it wasn’t really an issue. Along these lines, Paris is also very liberal with their alcohol laws. The legal drinking age here is 16 and there aren’t strict enforcements on purchasing or consuming. It is very common to see people walk down the streets carrying uncovered bottles of wine, or to be sharing one in the park out in the open. This was both shocking and refreshing, seeing as in the States we take alcohol so seriously and here, it’s just not a big deal.

You learn some other interesting tidbits pretty quickly while abroad, like how to not act like obnoxious tourists, don’t shout and point; how to dress better, simple is key; how to properly tip at restaurants, it’s very different than in the states; and how to navigate the extensive and revolutionary metro system. The metro system was one of my favorite parts of Paris because you could get anywhere you want in the city by using only the metro, which was extremely convenient as we tried to explore everything Paris had to offer. My other favorite part was of course the food. The food there is fresh, flavorful, and delicious. There are hardly any preservatives or chemicals used, which you can tell immediately when you taste it. The city as a whole was pretty healthy, due to the fact that almost everyone took public transportation and walked everywhere.

I love everything about the lifestyle in Paris and never wanted to leave. I learned to embrace and respect a different culture by being immersed in it, and I will carry with me forever all that I learned from my time abroad. I learned a new way of living and it was spectacular. Sometimes, we get too caught up in the place where we grew up and we think that that’s all that is out there, but when you experience other cultures, you realize that the differences should be embraced, enjoyed, and respected.