The question I always get asked when I return back home is “how was the US/Morocco/Paris*insert any other location*?” Since this is my last post in this study abroad series, I will dedicate the entirety of it to answering that, rather complex, question.
Paris is the beauty of the uniform Haussmann buildings and dissimilarity of bridges over the Seine. It is the Eiffel Tower with its rather prototypical features facing a rather out of place (and for that reason much hated by the Parisians) Tower Montparnasse… But all this ingredients of the Parisian beauty must be seen, my description won’t do.
Beyond the beauty that can be seen, however, is the Parisian soul. For me, the soul of every city is its people. And here, I must first state that in my personal experience Parisians are very friendly and polite people. I certainly can’t compare French hospitality to that of, for example, Georgians or Moroccans, but they certainly are much warmer than the common stereotype suggests. Studying at an institution like Sciences Po, however, allowed me to discover more… I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. It seems like in this four months I have discovered not only Paris but other countries and cultures such as Serbian, Turkish or Australian. As a student of Political Science, however, I was particularly appreciative of the fact that we shared the same passion for politics with exchange students of various backgrounds. Yes, Northeastern has a large number of international students and one always has an opportunity to be exposed to various opinions. It, however, wouldn’t be right not to acknowledge that all of the views of Northeastern students have a liberal arts education facet to them. For example, probably no one would question the term “Armenian genocide” or that Srebrenica massacre took place? Well, I must say that at Sciences Po I for the first time was exposed to an alternative viewpoint on those issues. I must admit, it made me uncomfortable at times, but it also made me a better listener and required me to revisit the A,B,C of intercultural communication.
Before I moved to Paris, I strongly believed that it would be impossible for me to learn a third language or at least to speak it as well as I speak English. Why? Because English is the perfect “safe zone.” For example, my Serbian friend Kristina has been studying Russian for more than seven years and English for a much shorter period of time. Needless to say that I still know Russian better than English. Nevertheless, we always communicate with each other in English. I believe, this is not an uncommon story for non-native English speakers. After several weeks in Paris, however, I have noticed that French make it incredibly hard for a person to “reserve to English.” When I just arrived to France, I first tried to use my limited French at the passport control, then gave up and switched to English. Representative of the border police looked at me and said slowly something like “Ma’am this is France and we speak French. You can, so please try.” Many foreigners call French snobbish for their undeniable love for their mother tongue, but I am endlessly thankful to them.
