It’s been a good week in Paris and despite my homesickness I’m trying to make the most out of every day here. The first few weeks of my internship, I would come home immediately after work and basically just stay in the homestay, aside from the nights I would spend with friends. Last Monday, I decided that I was done with that. 8 weeks is too short, and I don’t want my days to begin and end with work. So I’ve been trying to see more of the city. On Monday, I walked to Montmartre, the 18th arrondissement, after work – it is quite a hike, as Montmartre is on the top of a very long and rather steep hill. But I must say I would rather deal with that than any hills in Oakland. I hung out at Basilique du Sacré-Coeur and read my book (Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, for those who care about that sort of thing), before I realized that my phone was about to die and I needed to get home before I lost my source of navigation.
On Tuesday, I went to Tuileries garden. They’re setting up some sort of carnival there, so it’s sort of funny to see picturesque, centuries old statues next to a rollercoaster full of screaming kids. I might even go on the Ferris wheel sometime.
On Wednesday night, I ate dinner with the folks at EUSA and the other people in my program. It was really nice to see everyone again; I can’t believe that in 4 weeks we’ll all be headed back home. It feels like we just met!
On Thursday, I went to the Musée d’Orsay for the second time because there is a reduced rate in the evenings. I got to see a part I hadn’t checked out before – who knew they kept Degas and Renoir hidden on the 5th floor? Unfortunately, the museum closed after I was there for about an hour and a half, so I guess that means I have to come back. Oh noooo.
Friday, I went to the Louvre. For free – perks of being a friend of the Louvre. I chose to explore the Richelieu wing that day and it was absolutely breathtaking. I stumbled across the Napoleon III rooms, which I didn’t know even existed, and I was completely enamoured. I could have spent hours and hours there, if not for the huge crowds.
Speaking of huge crowds, on Saturday it was the long awaited Fête de la Musique, a huge free music festival in Paris. After 5pm, the streets of central Paris are filled with crowds of people dancing to live music, to celebrate the longest day of the year. The problem was the HEAT. I got brunch with my friends and ended up going home to take a nap because I just could not handle being in the sun. It felt a lot better to go out in the evening, and I didn’t have to worry so much about heat stroke. Me and my friends ended up meeting a group of German girls and one French guy, who basically adopted us for the night. It was definitely one of my favorite nights here, despite the claustrophobic metro ride back. Shoutout to the hero who shoved me out of the metro. I’m not even being sarcastic; I probably wouldn’t have made it out if not for them.
In regards to the new skills I’m learning in my internship – admittedly I haven’t been introduced to many new hard skills, unless you count improving my French? I have however started using GitHub for the first time and my coworker might be teaching me how to make a Figma, which from what I understand is basically a way to design a web interface.
As for soft skills, I’m definitely becoming more independent. Because of the nature of tech startups, I am basically 100% in charge of myself. I have to set up my own meetings and reach out to people all by myself. This is very nerve wracking as I am kind of introverted by nature. It’s awkward to walk into an office full of people, looking for someone so you can set up a meeting with them, when you have no idea where they are. Then you have to ask one of their coworkers in broken French and you feel like you’re being a nag, but by the end of the whole ordeal you’ve gotten results.
I truly do love the days when I get to work with the other people in our office. Because I mostly work with other American interns, this is one of my chances to talk with native speakers in a professional context. I do have to ask for lots of repetition, but they’re very gracious and patient with me – once again reinforcing my belief that the snooty Parisian stereotype is undeserved, but I hope I’m not jinxing myself. Maybe I’ll have some horrible experience with a rude Parisian and I’ll have to eat my words. Hopefully not.
