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Oui, Pinch Me
– I’m in Paris!
Semester Abroad
By Maritza Moulite, University of Florida
"Bonjour mon ami! Maritza will be sharing her discoveries, joys and snafus while studying in Paris. Bon voyage!"
While most college freshmen view their spring semester as a check point to mark their success in the Fall and becoming more comfortable with their respective schools, I chose to embark on a whole new journey and start all over again. As an Honors student at the University of Florida – Go Gators! – I learned about the semester abroad opportunity my program was hosting in Paris. The requirements were that you had to have at least a 3.0 GPA and that priority would be given to honors students; once determining that I was eligible, I decided to apply. Technically I have sophomore standing (thanks to Advanced Placement and dual enrollment in high school – never thought I’d say that), so I didn’t have to worry about falling behind in my courses.
After attending as many informational meetings about the trip as possible and constantly hitting up my advisor for advice, I decided that I was going to apply. Other than one year in the eighth grade, I have been taking French since middle school—that’s six years. As the level of difficulty increased with each class, so did something else as well: my love for French culture. As a Haitian-American, French was unavoidable; Haiti’s language, Creole, even originates from it. My family’s background – along with my learning about France for so long – sparked my interest in visiting the country.
Things are pretty cramped with three girls’ possessions in this tiny apartment with little closet space. Yet, this all can be overlooked because from my window, I can see the Eiffel Tower right down the street.
Courtney in Versailles
Fast-forward to January. I tried to fit as many of my things into two huge suitcases, my carry-on and purse. I still ended up paying an overweight charge, transferring twenty pounds of my luggage into an extra bag I had to buy. As the plane prepared to leave, I knew my journey to France had officially begun once the translation that played immediately after the English announcements was not in Spanish, but French. Upon my arrival, I was a bit disoriented but excited to be in the City of Lights. Everyone was helpful and willing to show me the way around – if I spoke to them in French and looked like I was genuinely willing to learn about their culture.
Maritza at Normandy
After taking a taxi to my apartment, I opened the door to something a bit disconcerting: the French people place importance on different things than we do…and living space is not high on the list. Things are pretty cramped with three girls’ possessions in this tiny apartment with little closet space. Yet, this all can be overlooked because from my window, I can see the Eiffel Tower right down the street. After unpacking my things, I walked down the sidewalk with my new roommate to reach it; 20 minutes later we realized that it wasn’t as close as we’d guessed. Luckily, it started to snow and it was the first time I ever remember seeing it so clearly, a rarity for a Floridian like me.
Group
The food here is of course, amazing. Even McDonald’s tastes better! (I had to try it.) I go to a patisserie (bakery) every morning and get un drop. It’s a warm soft pastry with chocolate chips and butter; it’s incroyable (incredible!). Even with all the walking I do around this town, they’ll probably be the reason I don’t lose any weight. Even though Paris is generally an extremely expensive city, it is still fairly easy to eat well on a student budget and try a different culture’s food.
After orientation is over, I’ll have even more time to explore the city on my own and hopefully mingle with Parisians; as a group we’ve already visited many places including Montparnasse, Montmartre, le Musee d’Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral, the city of Reims for tours of cathedrals and a champagne tasting and Versailles, where I got to see where Marie Antoinette lived and learn if she really said anything about cake (probably not).
With all of the excursions and small classes, it’s apparent that the other 11 girls here with me will get to know each other very quickly. We live near each other and will definitely be visiting. As the youngest student here, everyone’s really nice and makes me feel welcome. I have two roommates; one of them is in the program with me and is quite the character (in a good way). Since most of the girls are juniors or graduating, I did not know any of them before this program; two or three of them are students from Florida State University and New College, but everyone else is from UF. With a school of over 50,000 students, most of us didn’t know each other either despite being from the same year and college.
I’ve finally settled into everything; I understand how to read metro maps, I’m starting to recognize my neighbors, and school will be settling down in a few weeks and I won’t have as much reading and homework to do. When that finally happens I’ll love this city even more.
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Maritza in Mont St. Michel
Mont St. Michel Street View