When coming to Paris...

When traveling to Paris, be prepared to do as the Parisians do.I think the most important piece of advice that I would give to anyone coming to NYU is France, is to find as much as possible to get involved in outside of school. For anyone interested in an immersion experience who wants to become fluent in French, it takes quite a bit of effort to leave the NYU community and meet French people. I have a lot of friends who never spoke French for more than 5 minutes and were never once isolated in a French environment. It can be scary and intimidating, but with a little bit of effort, taking dance classes, finding an internship, volunteering, having a language exchange partner, it makes a really big difference in your overall experience. I would warn anyone interested in France, that the French are infamous for their bureaucracy. Don’t expect things like opening a bank account, buying a phone, and signing a lease to always be easy, but NYU is very helpful in getting you started. I’m really glad that I stayed for a whole year because it made all of that work worthwhile. I know a lot of people who spent nearly half of a semester just getting a bank account open. I would recommend living in an area that has nightlife, like the Marais, Oberkampf, or the Latin Quarter, because the trains stop running at 1 or 2 and it gets expensive to get home late if you live far away. Also, these places have the best shopping, restaurants, and movie theaters so you’ll always have somewhere to go. Paris is a beautiful city, and all of the major sites are must-sees, but some of my favorite parts are a long ways from the open promenades of St. Germain des Pres or the spectacular monuments along the Seine. Explore the areas of the city that don’t attract tourists, La Goutte d’Or, the Algerian neighborhood, Belleville, the Arabic and Chinese neighborhood, the 15th arrondissement, with its chic new buildings and also Chinatown. There’s a lot more to Paris than just tradition, and your eyes, budget, and tastebuds will thank you. And last but not least, if you can only come for one semester, come in the spring. Paris is a very grey city so they’ll be a lot of winter no matter which one you pick, but the parks in springtime are not to be missed.