For the past few months I have had time to reflect on my experience in Paris. Walking around my campus, the old brick buildings of the 17th and 18th century don’t really resemble those that lined the “Grands Boulevards” of Paris. A small town like Williamsburg, although beautiful and quaint in its own respect offers a much different aura than the bright-light city of Paris. I often think back to the many great times I had in Europe. It is certainly an experience that I will never forget; and I encourage anyone that has the opportunity to study abroad to do so.
One of the things I remember most was hanging out on the Rue Mouffetard. I’m not much of a clubbing 
type of guy; I much prefer just sitting around with friends and talking over a few drinks. Almost every weekend I could be found at the Rue Mouffetard with friends I had made through my Sorbonne class or through the Abroadco program. The friendly atmosphere of the small bars, cafés, and crêpperies was warm and welcoming even when the weather began to get cold in the winter. In December, the Mouffetard was draped with bright Christmas lights that lit up the street like a Christmas tree. This was definitely one of the most fun places in Paris – it had the best crêpes; it was a short walk to Chinatown; it had cheap drinks; and it was gorgeous. I think everyone I met found their own favorite place to go. Some of the people I lived with loved to sit on the bank of the Seine at 2am with a bottle of wine and just watch the Parisian night. Others enjoyed exploring the Quartier Saint-Germain while snacking on amazing Italian gelato (near the Mabillon metro stop – worth stopping by). On nights that we were feeling particularly adventurous, several of us from the program would head out to a club near Châtelet where a lot of young French people liked to hang out. And on nights that we wanted to take it easy we would play French-English scrabble at Uri’s apartment.
I think that the greatest part about being in Paris was the friends I made. You are bound to meet Americans, whether they are study abroad students in your Sorbonne class or tourists asking you for directions to Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur. However, I didn’t just meet Americans. I made friends with people from England, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Turkey, and of course France. The more I socialized in non-tourist places, the more French people I met. The more French people I met, the better my French got. A few of my friends on the program met French rappers with whom they hung out almost everyd
ay. Because of that, their French improved dramatically in only 4 months. When I left for France, I didn’t know what to expect, but when I saw the opportunities to learn, hang out, travel, and meet people I knew it was going to be a lot of fun.
(Patrick, the author of this submission, is in the back row, far left)
The last thing I wanted to note was how tightly knit the Abroadco group was. There were less than 10 of us, all coming from incredibly diverse backgrounds, yet we got along extremely well. Of course, we went on a couple of Holly-days (you’ll get what I mean if you go to Paris) as a group to Mont Saint-Michel and Strasbourg. Both visits were beautiful, but what made it fun was being able to chill with friends while discovering France. Several people took their own trips together to places like Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Belgium. We got together many times for social dinners where everyone brought something to eat and we chowed down. I really do miss it a lot.
There are so many things that I could talk about, but this is getting kind of long, but I hope it helps in helping you make a decision about study abroad or just knowing what studying abroad is all about.
Patrick Perlmutter