My Erasmus: I discovered la ville lumière

Shared by: Kathrin
Erasmus Trip:  Genève Paris
It was:  2003

I spent 9 months in the fantastic city of Paris, and I just had a great time!!!

I lived at "Cité Internationale Universitaire" where I made lots of friends, mainly from Mexico (I had my room at the "Maison du Mexique"). I sang in a choir called COGE with about 100 other students, which was a great opportunity not only to spend time for my hobby, but also to meet a lot of very nice French young people.

My studies at Sciences Po were also very interesting, even thought they were very different from what I was used to at my home university.

You certainly learn to be flexible, to adapt to new situations, and to overcome all the little everyday problems which arise in a new city, new university, new flat, new country. 

Every week-end I visited Paris and Ile-de-France, with all the great castles, museums, cathedreals, parks, boulevards, I tried all the great French food, I hang out in cafés and restaurants with my friends, I went to concerts, theatres, operas, just great!!!

In june 2004, at the end of my stay, I didn't want to leave! I'm sure I'll always go back to Paris from time to time, even when I'll be 70 years old! Next year, I plan to visit Paris with my father, who lived there for 6 months in 1969 (!). Will be just great to compare the Paris he knew and the one I know :-)