While everyone else here at IES abroad Paris BIA was off traveling the world for Fall break I stayed here in Paris. Yet, in my opinion, I had the best week. You wanna know why? Because my mom came to visit. I had been looking forward to my mom coming more than anything. Even before I got here, I knew that was going to be one of my highlights of my time in Paris. Just the idea that I was going to get to show off this foreign city to the person I love the most was so flipping cool. I think knowing that she was coming to visit was what motivated me to go out and explore the city more so that I would have oodles of things to show her.
Surprisingly, the trip ended up living up to the hype I built. It was actually amazing. I mean of course, it was amazing to see my mom cause I missed her dearly, but also I realized just how much I know about this city and really surprised myself. I think mom was pretty impressed by how much I’ve done too.
First of all, it was an amazing feeling teaching someone to navigate the metro system. That is just like second nature to me now, I could probably do it in my sleep. Honestly, I've found that sometimes I absentmindedly go through the motions and suddenly I’m home and I don’t really remember taking every little step to get there. I know I’m the same way with driving at home so it makes sense, but I didn’t realize it was so routine until I had my mom following me. That wasn’t something I expected to master in my time here because public transportation is something so foreign to me coming from southern California.
Most of what my mom and I did was take the metro to a neighborhood and walk around so I could show her what I liked about the area. I realized how familiar I am with the layout of the city by doing this. Paris is massive and confusing, but I’ve explored a pretty decent amount of it and know my way around. Of course, there is still A LOT I still have yet to even set foot on, but my mom had pointed out how comfortable I was walking around these areas because I just know where things are now. It’s pretty cool. Maps weren’t always necessary, only when we were looking for a place that was new to me too.
That transitions me to the next thing, my mom helped me find things I had never seen too. Oddly enough, she booked hotels in areas that I didn’t go to often so we found some cool things to do around there that I wouldn't have found on my own. My mom and I are actually twins and like a lot of the same things so some of the stuff I was iffy about asking friends here to do I knew my mom would want to, so we just did them. I checked so many things off my list just knowing I had my buddy with me which was so much fun. Like walking into the Opera for the first time with my mom was so special and I’m so glad we did it. I got to show my mom a lot of my favorites, but she somehow helped me find some of the most beautiful views of the city that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
I had lists on lists of “Paris must sees” for my mom’s one week here. She didn’t have three months to take this slow and I didn’t want her to leave and miss a thing. We did so much Paris but at the same time, we did the perfect amount of Paris. At the end of it, there really wasn’t anything that made us think “shoot we didn’t do ___” which was not what I was expecting. This whole semester I’ve been worried that I wouldn’t see enough. That I would leave Paris and think about what I forgot to do. After this week with mom, I realized I have done so much. Yes, of course, there will always be more that you could do. If I was at home I could name a million things I haven’t done yet there. That’s life. That’s just how massive our world is. There is no way we could ever do everything. I don’t know why so many of us get upset when we can’t. If someone came up to me and said “pack your bags, you have to leave tomorrow” I wouldn’t really be that upset. Of course, there are more things I would love to do here, but I have done so much and believe I have really gotten a good taste of what this city is like. I would have zero regrets. Paris isn’t going anywhere. The city will always be here and a lot of these places will probably be in Paris for a while. I haven’t done everything in my little guidebooks and maps, but I can keep them and use them if I ever come back. Studying abroad truly is a unique experience to really live in a place totally foreign to you and I think I have really lived in Paris. I’ve done the touristy stuff. I’ve gone to so many under the radar places. I’ve even got some repeat restaurants, bars, and coffee shops that feel familiar and homey to me. That’s what I wanted to accomplish and I think I did a pretty good job.
I had so much fun sharing Paris, my city, with my mom. I think this will be one of the most special experiences we will get to share together. My mom is my best friend in the whole wide world and I couldn't have asked for anyone else to share my abroad experience with. If I could have had her stay for the rest of our time here I would have. Paris was really a dream for both of us. Neither of us had really ever left the country before this so it is this crazy and special dream come true. It was hard to say goodbye again but I am beyond thankful that she was able to come here. Now when she asks me what I’m up to for the day I can tell her and she can really visualize and know exactly what I’m talking about. I think that was the main goal of the trip. She was the best tourist to take around the city and I hope I was a decent tour guide.
Surprisingly, the trip ended up living up to the hype I built. It was actually amazing. I mean of course, it was amazing to see my mom cause I missed her dearly, but also I realized just how much I know about this city and really surprised myself. I think mom was pretty impressed by how much I’ve done too.
First of all, it was an amazing feeling teaching someone to navigate the metro system. That is just like second nature to me now, I could probably do it in my sleep. Honestly, I've found that sometimes I absentmindedly go through the motions and suddenly I’m home and I don’t really remember taking every little step to get there. I know I’m the same way with driving at home so it makes sense, but I didn’t realize it was so routine until I had my mom following me. That wasn’t something I expected to master in my time here because public transportation is something so foreign to me coming from southern California.
Most of what my mom and I did was take the metro to a neighborhood and walk around so I could show her what I liked about the area. I realized how familiar I am with the layout of the city by doing this. Paris is massive and confusing, but I’ve explored a pretty decent amount of it and know my way around. Of course, there is still A LOT I still have yet to even set foot on, but my mom had pointed out how comfortable I was walking around these areas because I just know where things are now. It’s pretty cool. Maps weren’t always necessary, only when we were looking for a place that was new to me too.
That transitions me to the next thing, my mom helped me find things I had never seen too. Oddly enough, she booked hotels in areas that I didn’t go to often so we found some cool things to do around there that I wouldn't have found on my own. My mom and I are actually twins and like a lot of the same things so some of the stuff I was iffy about asking friends here to do I knew my mom would want to, so we just did them. I checked so many things off my list just knowing I had my buddy with me which was so much fun. Like walking into the Opera for the first time with my mom was so special and I’m so glad we did it. I got to show my mom a lot of my favorites, but she somehow helped me find some of the most beautiful views of the city that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
I had lists on lists of “Paris must sees” for my mom’s one week here. She didn’t have three months to take this slow and I didn’t want her to leave and miss a thing. We did so much Paris but at the same time, we did the perfect amount of Paris. At the end of it, there really wasn’t anything that made us think “shoot we didn’t do ___” which was not what I was expecting. This whole semester I’ve been worried that I wouldn’t see enough. That I would leave Paris and think about what I forgot to do. After this week with mom, I realized I have done so much. Yes, of course, there will always be more that you could do. If I was at home I could name a million things I haven’t done yet there. That’s life. That’s just how massive our world is. There is no way we could ever do everything. I don’t know why so many of us get upset when we can’t. If someone came up to me and said “pack your bags, you have to leave tomorrow” I wouldn’t really be that upset. Of course, there are more things I would love to do here, but I have done so much and believe I have really gotten a good taste of what this city is like. I would have zero regrets. Paris isn’t going anywhere. The city will always be here and a lot of these places will probably be in Paris for a while. I haven’t done everything in my little guidebooks and maps, but I can keep them and use them if I ever come back. Studying abroad truly is a unique experience to really live in a place totally foreign to you and I think I have really lived in Paris. I’ve done the touristy stuff. I’ve gone to so many under the radar places. I’ve even got some repeat restaurants, bars, and coffee shops that feel familiar and homey to me. That’s what I wanted to accomplish and I think I did a pretty good job.
I had so much fun sharing Paris, my city, with my mom. I think this will be one of the most special experiences we will get to share together. My mom is my best friend in the whole wide world and I couldn't have asked for anyone else to share my abroad experience with. If I could have had her stay for the rest of our time here I would have. Paris was really a dream for both of us. Neither of us had really ever left the country before this so it is this crazy and special dream come true. It was hard to say goodbye again but I am beyond thankful that she was able to come here. Now when she asks me what I’m up to for the day I can tell her and she can really visualize and know exactly what I’m talking about. I think that was the main goal of the trip. She was the best tourist to take around the city and I hope I was a decent tour guide.
xoxo
Julia Carrington
My first few weeks in Paris I was suffering from the worst case of homesickness. Starting that very first night sitting alone in my little chambre de bonne, I just laid in bed bawling my eyes out, texting my mom about how much of a mistake I thought I had just made by coming here. I had gone through the whole summer not preparing myself for abroad at all so everything about leaving home hit me like a ton of bricks in one moment. I remember my first few weeks here I couldn’t go more than six hours without bursting into tears, but at some point, it all stopped. I honestly can’t pinpoint when it was, but after a while, I didn’t have that overwhelming feeling of homesickness anymore. I couldn’t even remember what it felt like, it all became something of the past because I had finally distracted myself enough from it.
I’ve never been away from home before. Yes, I did move out of my home home for college, but the University of Redlands is only an hour drive right to my front door. I could easily get back home for weekends or even day trips. So with knowing I always had that as an option I never felt homesick in Redlands. Everything was familiar and convenient. I had familiar faces right away on campus because there was a handful of us from my high school who all happened to commit to the same university. I was alone then, but not nine-hour time difference, fifteen hours of travel time, and zero physical access to a single person I know alone. In Paris, I found myself in a totally new place, by myself, with no security blanket to hold onto.
I was too afraid to go out in the city on my own and at the same time didn’t feel connected with any other student in the program. I spent the majority of my time alone and in silence, waiting for my friends and family back home to wake up so I could text and call them. I constantly felt depressed and anxious and I was so afraid that the feeling wouldn’t ever go away and follow me all the way home. It was a bad place to be. I wasn’t giving myself the chance to adapt and was just hiding from the reality that I am living in Paris and the flight back home isn’t booked until December. I was afraid that it was going to be the longest 108 days of my life because the first four days alone felt like an entire month. I needed to get over myself and make the most of my experience. It’s not something that’s going to happen again later in life.
Study abroad was something I had always dreamed of. I get to be a student in a foreign country during this important time in my life where I’m still young and growing. Still not tied down by work, relationships, and bills. I have the freedom to travel, spend money on silly things, walk around exploring, and have fun. The opportunity I have been placed in is not something worth sulking and being sad during. I starting forcing myself to say yes to any social gathering with people and getting people's phone numbers so I could text them asking to do things. If I didn’t feel comfortable going out on my own at first, I thought going out with people would help me take the steps to feel comfortable. I started taking steps to help with the homesickness and it worked. I had to look back at old journal entries to even describe what I was feeling then because I have completely forgotten it. Thinking about how I was convinced that I would need therapy and counseling when I got home to deal with this experience is funny to me now, but it was so real then, and I totally get that. I was able to deal with never being away from home before and figure out how to live here and be happy, so I want to share what I thought helped with that for any future study abroad students who feel the way I did. It does get better and it gets better a lot faster than it feels. My week two journal entry was already doing pretty okay and by week three I didn’t want to leave Paris.
Go out with people. I knew I needed to connect with the people that I would be spending the next three months and two weeks with so I forced myself to get out there. It was silly of me to be afraid of this at first because honestly, we are all new here. None of us know the city or each other so essentially we are all going through the same thing just in our different ways. The first week was like freshman year of college all over. Testing out the waters. Everyone trying to get a feel for one another to figure out who the real friendships are going to be. It was madness, but it all settled eventually. It was also great to just talk to some of the other students to see how they were feeling and see that I wasn’t totally alone. Of course, there were some who really did feel super comfortable as soon as they got in Paris, mostly due to the fact they had studied abroad before or they moved away for school, but there were some who felt just as homesick as I did. I remember sitting on a park bench with one of the girls just talking for a few hours about how we felt and it moved mountains to help me feel so much less alone.
Now I’m going to contradict myself and say let yourself be alone sometimes. Going abroad is a growing experience for yourself. What you learn about more than the classes or the culture is about who you are and how you function as an individual person. I have always seen dating yourself and getting to know yourself as one of the most important things for us to do at this age in our life and this is another opportunity to do just that. I didn’t have wifi in my homestay room so when I was alone I had to find things outside of Netflix to do. I had to think and read and write and just deal with all of my emotions in a healthy way instead of pushing them back to deal with later. I was so afraid of that dead silence, but it’s what helped me get over the homesickness so quickly. A healthy balance of distractions and reflection is so important.
Go ahead and buy those Oreos. Pack a few bags of goldfish to take with you abroad. My mom makes fun of me but these tiny little snacks from back home are so comforting. My favorite part of dorm life in college is having copious amounts of snacks at arms reach so just having some familiar snack foods with me in my Paris “dorm room” made me so happy. So if you are craving Oreos and McDonalds, go for it. There’s no pressure to eat French every day because there're so many days here. We don’t eat American food everyday living at home so why would we eat french food everyday living here?
Make yourself feel at home. I am that college student that had three massive boxes that I bring to move-in day every year that are purely dedicated to room decor. I need the space I’m spending time in to feel cozy and comfortable. I knew for a fact I would need to do that here too because white walls don’t do it for me. I brought a cork board and art prints to keep my walls happy. I have a blanket here from home that I sleep with every night because I’m convinced it still smells like home. Making my tiny little room into a space that is so me makes it so much easier to be in there. Feeling comfortable is so important. We are living here, we aren’t just visitors so you have to do something to make yourself feel a bit more moved in.
Find your place. Paris is so massive and diverse there’s something in this city for everyone. Find a place that makes you feel the most at home. Maybe it’s a garden that reminds you of the weekend jogs that you go on with your mom. Maybe it’s a coffee shop that feels like the one you go to back home to read or catch up with friends. Maybe it’s Disneyland because you’re from Southern California and have spent probably half your life walking down main street USA so that feels the most like home to you. Okay, my place is the Disneyland one. As silly as it sounds it felt so nice to be in a place that I feel so comfortable in. A place that I know how to relax and enjoy myself in because it's so close to my heart. Hopefully, your little plot of home doesn’t cost 60 euros to get in to, but I will say it’s nice to know you have that option to just run away to somewhere when you start missing home.
I survived half the semester without needing therapy. Honestly, I am so proud of myself for this accomplishment. I am happy in Paris. Now I’m not saying the homesickness is completely gone. I am still so excited to go back home. I think one of the many things I have learned about myself since I’ve been here is that even though I am a very independent and adventurous person, I’m still a big old homebody that’s very connected to friends and family. As I’m writing this post there're only 52 more days until I am back in California with an in-n-out burger in hand and on my way to the real happiest place on earth. But with that in mind, I’ve been here for 56 days and have accomplished so many amazing things that I would have never imagined I could. Just knowing I’m here and pushing through the hard and enjoying every little thing gives me so much hope for the future. I CAN do it. I have faith that if I ever choose to travel or live abroad again it won’t be as hard. I even hope to come back here some day and show off Paris to someone I love. Homesickness is totally natural and it’s just a reminder of what home really is to you. It sucked, but I’m so glad I had to just deal with the crappy feeling that is homesickness. I honestly feel like it helped me so much as a person and just that alone makes going abroad worth it.
Julia Carrington
Oh the irony that a majority of this book what read while on a train/metro...
When in a large city you use public trasportation.
When using public trasportaion you have a lot of time to quietly sit in your own bubble.
When quietly sitting in your own bubble you get bored and need to find things to busy yourself.
Some opt to stare at their phones or listen to music. I personally have found this to be the perfect time to get some reading in. I have at least an hour and a half worth of commuting time on the metro every day and then sometimes more in addition to that if I choose to bop around the city a little more. Since I'm not the one driving I just get to read and it's so relaxing.
This was an amazing novel to read during my little commutes. I missed out on reading Gone Girl because I had to see the movie for a class before I had a chance to read that book, so I was not prepared to let that happen again with this suspense novel. I loved this book. It was beautifully written and so much fun to read. It was one of those stories that was just hard to walk away from. I feel like I don't read enough suspense or mystery type books because my go-to is more of a romance or coming-of-age type story. I'm not going to talk about the plot at all because it is a suspense and therefore background shouldn't be shared. Yes, I know the movie just came out recently so it's not that secret, but humor me for a bit.
Also just one more book and I can be done with these silly little book reviews. A one year goal turned into a two year goal, but the 12 book total will be finished nonetheless.
Julia Carrington
Disneyland Paris. What a strange little place.
As you may or may not know, I have grown up a Disney kid. I believe most of my childhood was spent in the original Disneyland park is Anaheim California. So the parks have always been a big part of my life and weirdly helped me become who I am. Disneyland is my home away from home so naturally as I was beginning to miss home while here in Paris I thought a visit to their version of Disneyland would be a nice little treat.
Back in California I work at the Disneyland Resort and know the in's and out's of how the company holds their standards. I know every single inch of my parks, every single ride and show, and how the company runs the parks day to day operations. I have gone through Disney training and have had the Walt Disney company values slightly ingrained into my little brain. I was surprised to see all of the differences of this European park both as a guest and how things seem to run from the perspective of a cast member.
So the first thing I did was go creep on the cast members that work for the equivalent to the department I work for back at home. Hotel recreation is funny little department compiled of the cast members that create events for guests staying at the hotels and the lifeguards at the various pools. So I walked around all the hotels of Disney Paris for about two hours to see how they compare to our department at home. I think we hold ourselves to a very high standard in California because we pride ourselves in safety and a welcoming presence. I didn’t see this at all in Paris. The lifeguards weren’t doing their jobs correctly at all. I saw a guard slouching in his chair just picking at his fingernails, completely ignoring his water. It was so crazy to see, I started sending Snapchats to my coworkers back home and we all were surprised that they can get away with this behavior. If I did anything I saw here in Paris I would be fired on the spot. The other entertainment cast members were sitting behind a desk on their cell phones completely ignoring the guests. I was able to walk on all of the decks and none of them started an interaction with me apart from one guard who saw me taking a snap of him and started making funny faces at the camera, but that was one who should have been watching the water. It was extremely disappointing to see. I talked to one of the guys working there for a minute just to be friendly and see if this is how things normally are here and he was surprised to hear how differently we run things at home. So this was the beginning of a strange day.
I opted to check out their Walt Disney Studios next. This ended up being a great decision because I met a group of Florida cast members in line to get tickets and they were sweet enough to just sign me into the park with them so I got a free ticket for the day. When you walk into Walt Disney Studios you're in this little plaza area with just a few trees and a mickey statue in the middle with a building that resembles a sound stage in the back. It all seems small at first and a bit disappointing. Then you move forward and enter this sound stage building and it's a loud, crowded, and overwhelming room full of "Hollywood" style restaurants. When you exit this, you're finally in the park and it starts to feel like Disney. Right front and center stand the famous Walt and Mickey statue, hand in hand in front of the Hollywood backlot, similar to California Adventures. Now what's weird here is this statue is normally in front of the castle, both in California and Florida, so it was weird seeing it in front of the wrong backdrop in this park. Anyhow, as we move on the animation academy and Hollywood tower both sit comfortably in their place. Both on the right and left of this sound stage building are two different shows to watch. I went ahead and watched one of them called "Mickey and the Magician" and it lived up to Disney production standards. It was a creative and well-done show. I love shows back at home so it was so much fun seeing a show while here. What was interesting about this one was half of the show was done in English and the other half in French. It was amazing seeing these characters switch back and forth between the languages both in the songs and their lines. Now this park is split into two halves. The right side is all Pixar themed with Finding Nemo and Cars themed rides as well as Ratatouille and Toy Story themed lands. It was all very sweet and charming. The left half was a Hollywood film theme with action packed special effect shows and backlot tours. Apart from the central area of the park, it was unique compared to California Adventure which left me pleased because I think it's important to each have our special things.
Then it was finally time to step into the big guy. The Disneyland Paris park. No matter what park you're walking into, no matter what country you are in, as soon as you step through the gates of the main park you are in the same Main Street USA. That felt like home. Sitting on the edge of Main Street, watching the parade felt so nice, but made me want to get back to the states where I could do this with friends whenever I want. Now when I started venturing further into the part is where things started to get a bit disorganized and confusing. I can walk around my Disneyland with my eyes closed. The layout all makes perfect sense to me and is easy to move from one area to the next. This park was extremely spread out and things seemed out of order. Silly things such as Frontierland being under Adventureland rather than vice verse seemed so strange. There was no clear and simple path to take to move around the park in a smooth way. I felt lost which was weird to me. It all seemed familiar, but just every so slightly off. Thankfully most of the cast members still had that "Disney" personality. It's a special type of friendliness that is so specific to cast members and it was refreshing to see that carries over even across seas. It was nice to know, no matter how different the park itself can feel, the community that is Disney will still feel welcoming thanks to the people.
Finally to talk about the rides in the parks. The thrill level compared to the Disneyland parks in the states was so surprising to me and came without warning. Disneyland is a theme park mainly aimed for children that adults can enjoy as well. With that in mind, I have always expected the rides to be fun and excited but still tame enough for an 8-year-old kid to go on. Most 8-year-olds I know are afraid of one thing on big roller coasters and that's the upside-down loop. I don't blame them, it can be scary and intimidating. That's why in California we only have one ride with a loop and it's very visible so you see it from anywhere in the park before you even get in line for the ride. Now I only went on three thrill rides at the parks here and 3/3 of them had multiple of these loops and I had no idea that they would until the moment it was happening. It was so disorienting! I have friends at home that would be so upset if that happened to them. I guess Europeans are more thrill seekers than we are after all. Another odd thing I noticed was that even the storybook type rides that you would assume would be the same across the board were very different than at home. Pirates of the Caribbean, a personal favorite of mine, was all changed around for absolutely no reason. The scenes that are meant to be at the end of the ride were at the beginning and the parts that are meant to be at the beginning were at the end. But why Paris? Points for California for having the better rides that Walt himself actually had a say in.
In the end, it was a great day. Disneyland is Disneyland no matter where it is or what it has compared to another. Paris may have a stunning castle and a dragon and bonus points for having Marie as a normal character because she's my favorite, but nothing compares to the original park that I've just been lucky enough to call home. And I can't wait to get back to that home and catch the tail end of the Christmas decorations. Yes, I will probably find myself back at Disneyland Paris to give it another chance and maybe get a chance to see what I missed this time. Whether that happens or not, this was my European Disney experience and I'm glad I can finally say I've been to a new Disneyland.
Until next time,
Julia Carrington
What a dream. To live in Paris during Paris Fashion Week. To be surrounded by beautiful clothes everywhere you go. To walk down the street and watch street style photographers snapping pictures of all the insane outfits that will be listed in articles online the next day. To casually run into famous celebrities and models. It sounds perfect in theory, but I promise you it is not the case at all.
Now I have always listed fashion on the list of things I love. After being around what the world thinks of when they hear fashion, I'm starting to think people might make incorrect assumptions about me. I honestly believe the people who participate in fashion week don't understand what fashion is. It seemed like these girls would layer on as much designer clothing as possible in strange enough ways and call it a "look" and people eat that shit up. Everyone else at these shows and events act as though they understand and love it, but inside they are probably just as clueless as I am. Yet, everyone keeps it to themselves and goes along saying it's revolutionary and inspiring. It's all code for "I don't know how to feel so I'm just going to say what everyone else is saying."
It's a week all about following the crowd. They trick themselves into thinking they are being individuals and daring but the reality is they are following the mainstream by being "different." Nothing seen during Fashion Week would be considered attractive outside of Fashion Week. The funny thing is all of their "different" outfits look very similar, probably because they are all subconsciously copying whatever the supposed trend is. Well isn't that what these fashions shows are meant for? They are put on to show the trends for the next season. We are letting these designers and journalists decide what the world is going to look like. The creativity of fashion then lies within just a few people because they have the influence. As much as I love clothing, this concept is something that I will always struggle with.
I have always seen fashion as a way of self-expression. It's our way of creating a costume to tell the story of the character that is you. The whole idea that surrounds fashion week and trending goes against my idea of fashion. So if you ask me what I like and I answer fashion, I by no means am talking about this high-end stereotypical stuff, but just creativity through clothing in general. My dream is to create a brand with those ideals in mind for girls who are intimidated by the world of "fashion" kind of like I am. I think the one good thing about being here in the middle of Paris Fashion Week is that it reassured that this dream is really what I want to bring to the world in my life.
I'm happy Fashion Week is over now. The crowds of people are gone. I get my city back, free of pretentious "high-end fashion" tourists. No more secret fashion shows spread around the city. Just nice quiet Paris. It was an adventure, but I'm glad I got the Fashion Week bug out of my system.
xoxo
Julia Carrington
Now I have always listed fashion on the list of things I love. After being around what the world thinks of when they hear fashion, I'm starting to think people might make incorrect assumptions about me. I honestly believe the people who participate in fashion week don't understand what fashion is. It seemed like these girls would layer on as much designer clothing as possible in strange enough ways and call it a "look" and people eat that shit up. Everyone else at these shows and events act as though they understand and love it, but inside they are probably just as clueless as I am. Yet, everyone keeps it to themselves and goes along saying it's revolutionary and inspiring. It's all code for "I don't know how to feel so I'm just going to say what everyone else is saying."
It's a week all about following the crowd. They trick themselves into thinking they are being individuals and daring but the reality is they are following the mainstream by being "different." Nothing seen during Fashion Week would be considered attractive outside of Fashion Week. The funny thing is all of their "different" outfits look very similar, probably because they are all subconsciously copying whatever the supposed trend is. Well isn't that what these fashions shows are meant for? They are put on to show the trends for the next season. We are letting these designers and journalists decide what the world is going to look like. The creativity of fashion then lies within just a few people because they have the influence. As much as I love clothing, this concept is something that I will always struggle with.
I have always seen fashion as a way of self-expression. It's our way of creating a costume to tell the story of the character that is you. The whole idea that surrounds fashion week and trending goes against my idea of fashion. So if you ask me what I like and I answer fashion, I by no means am talking about this high-end stereotypical stuff, but just creativity through clothing in general. My dream is to create a brand with those ideals in mind for girls who are intimidated by the world of "fashion" kind of like I am. I think the one good thing about being here in the middle of Paris Fashion Week is that it reassured that this dream is really what I want to bring to the world in my life.
I'm happy Fashion Week is over now. The crowds of people are gone. I get my city back, free of pretentious "high-end fashion" tourists. No more secret fashion shows spread around the city. Just nice quiet Paris. It was an adventure, but I'm glad I got the Fashion Week bug out of my system.
xoxo
Julia Carrington
One of the cool things about the program I am studying abroad with is the opportunities and excursions they offer for us. There was one all inclusive weekend trip they took us on in France to Normandy and it ended up being so special and eye opening. It's hard for me to describe just how special this experience was, but for the sake of the blog I'm going to try my best. It was a highly emotional and humbling experience that I know I'm going to take with me.
I've always felt like I learned a lot about the World Wars throughout my educational career. It was a subject that was repeated over and over in history classes starting in elementary school and up until college history courses. It’s true that we had increasingly gone a little bit more into depth as we got older, but not nearly as in depth as I seemed to learn in two days of visiting museums in Normandy.
In the states, I would say that we learn the history of our country more than anything with brief bits of information for other countries. This makes sense because we as humans tend to look at things through our convenient scope of culture, so in history classes in America taught by Americans, it is no surprise that America will always be the main focus. The world has been around for a long time so of course there’s far too much history for any person to learn everything about everything. Topics have to be narrowed down to what is most "important" for everyone to know. WWII is something we learn a lot about. I have never been particularly good with history and even I could talk about WWII so obviously, it is ingrained into our minds through education. We learn about the holocaust and Nazi rule over most of Europe through historical references and reading novels. We learn a lot of information about the big events of the war and all of the accomplishments American made to help or how life was for the wartime efforts back home. But some are events skimmed over more quickly, I'm assuming because it isn’t seen as relevant to our country.
Apart from Hawaii, the states weren’t really touched and affected in the same drastic ways as a country like France was during WWII. We did have some struggles to help the war, but we weren’t occupied by Nazis. We Didn’t have german soldiers walking through our streets and being a part of our daily lives in that way. It’s hard for us as Americans to imagine that and relate to what the constant fear could have felt like. The French had to adapt to this. They had to figure out how to go on and continue living their lives. This absolutely amazed me that I had never thought about that before.
As I was walking through these museums we visited over the weekend, I couldn’t help but keep this thought in the back of my head. What life would have been like. How recent that all this was. My host siblings grandparents could have been alive during the war and experienced the Nazi rule. That would have to affect the family in some way or another. The way other countries learn about historical events like a world war is going to be different from how we do in the states. It’s crazy to think that although we share this history, we see it from two different sets of eyes.
Our last stop of the trip was to the American cemetery which was a shock to me to see just how many American soldiers gave their lives to help another country's safety. It leaves me in awe to think about how terrible and terrifying war can be, but these amazing citizen from all different countries come together to help for the greater good of our world. We walked through this massive cemetery and learned about some of the most famous men and women as well as some that were connected with past students in the IES Abroad Paris program.
Being in Normandy and walking on the beaches where our countries mutual history was made was something amazing that I couldn't explain without babbling and making no coherent sense. It was a perfect time to slow down, reflect, and put my toes in the ocean again. Our night in Normandy is going to stay as one of my most cherished memories from this semester. Even just being with other IES Abroad friends, walking along the ocean late at night and talking about life was so great because in Paris we all live in such separate places it's hard to all get together and connect like we did. I really loved my experience in Normandy and I think I would have regretted not going. 10/10 would recommend.
I've always felt like I learned a lot about the World Wars throughout my educational career. It was a subject that was repeated over and over in history classes starting in elementary school and up until college history courses. It’s true that we had increasingly gone a little bit more into depth as we got older, but not nearly as in depth as I seemed to learn in two days of visiting museums in Normandy.
In the states, I would say that we learn the history of our country more than anything with brief bits of information for other countries. This makes sense because we as humans tend to look at things through our convenient scope of culture, so in history classes in America taught by Americans, it is no surprise that America will always be the main focus. The world has been around for a long time so of course there’s far too much history for any person to learn everything about everything. Topics have to be narrowed down to what is most "important" for everyone to know. WWII is something we learn a lot about. I have never been particularly good with history and even I could talk about WWII so obviously, it is ingrained into our minds through education. We learn about the holocaust and Nazi rule over most of Europe through historical references and reading novels. We learn a lot of information about the big events of the war and all of the accomplishments American made to help or how life was for the wartime efforts back home. But some are events skimmed over more quickly, I'm assuming because it isn’t seen as relevant to our country.
Apart from Hawaii, the states weren’t really touched and affected in the same drastic ways as a country like France was during WWII. We did have some struggles to help the war, but we weren’t occupied by Nazis. We Didn’t have german soldiers walking through our streets and being a part of our daily lives in that way. It’s hard for us as Americans to imagine that and relate to what the constant fear could have felt like. The French had to adapt to this. They had to figure out how to go on and continue living their lives. This absolutely amazed me that I had never thought about that before.
As I was walking through these museums we visited over the weekend, I couldn’t help but keep this thought in the back of my head. What life would have been like. How recent that all this was. My host siblings grandparents could have been alive during the war and experienced the Nazi rule. That would have to affect the family in some way or another. The way other countries learn about historical events like a world war is going to be different from how we do in the states. It’s crazy to think that although we share this history, we see it from two different sets of eyes.
Our last stop of the trip was to the American cemetery which was a shock to me to see just how many American soldiers gave their lives to help another country's safety. It leaves me in awe to think about how terrible and terrifying war can be, but these amazing citizen from all different countries come together to help for the greater good of our world. We walked through this massive cemetery and learned about some of the most famous men and women as well as some that were connected with past students in the IES Abroad Paris program.
Being in Normandy and walking on the beaches where our countries mutual history was made was something amazing that I couldn't explain without babbling and making no coherent sense. It was a perfect time to slow down, reflect, and put my toes in the ocean again. Our night in Normandy is going to stay as one of my most cherished memories from this semester. Even just being with other IES Abroad friends, walking along the ocean late at night and talking about life was so great because in Paris we all live in such separate places it's hard to all get together and connect like we did. I really loved my experience in Normandy and I think I would have regretted not going. 10/10 would recommend.
Julia Carrington
