10 Things I’ve Learned from Living in Paris for 24 Hours

Check out this sweet pano I took of a Parisian street!

Fun fact: this trip is my first international adventure. Naturally, anything that is different from my usual SoCal life stands out like a sore thumb – here’s a short list of 10 things that I noticed in my first 24 hours here!

1. French people are SO mean. 
I feel compelled to include this one in my list, simply because so many people have told me this… and it’s NOT TRUE. The French people that I have encountered so far have been so kind to me, I’ve lost count of how many people have helped me since my arrival. For example, my airport shuttle got canceled last minute (I’ll save this story for a future post), and so I had to rely on public transportation to get to my school. Long story short, it was a *dreadful* 4 hours of additional travel in which many a passerby offered me a helping hand. One person even walked with me for 3 blocks while carrying part of my luggage to help me find where I needed to be. Parisians are generally so nice!

2. French cars are really oddly shaped…
Have you ever seen a video of a snake eating a mouse? If you haven’t, imagine this: thin snake eats fat mouse, fat mouse body creates round lump in thin snake body. Now apply this image of a lumpy snake to a car and that’s what French cars look like to me. Contrary to the generally compact (as in low to the ground) cars I see in California, these French cars have really high and round ceilings. I can’t help but imagine a bunch of full snakes slithering down the road (see photo above!)

3. I thought LA traffic was really bad… then I came to Paris.
It takes serious guts to drive around in Paris. I was very surprised by how exponentially aggressive the traffic is here. There are a lot of one-way streets, angry drivers, brave pedestrians, narrow lanes, and tons of impatient honking. It’s amazing how many car-related incidents you witness by just walking down the street. For example, yesterday I saw a woman fiercely body-block a semi-truck so that she could cross the street. She literally stood in front of it and defiantly made a stop gesture as if to say, “no giant truck that can run me over, you shall not pass,” and then she kept walking across the street. Seriously, who does that?

4. Paris is a very practical and efficient city!
I don’t know about you all, but practical and thoughtfully designed products excite me! For example, the toilet flusher in the airport restrooms are located on the floor so that you don’t need to touch the grimy germ-ridden handle. The street crossing signals are GREEN when it’s safe to walk (because obviously GREEN means GO) and the school desks have little grooves on the side so that your writing utensils won’t roll away when you leave them on your desk. These minor details may be small in the grand scheme of things, but they are so useful, and they make life so much better!

5. Tap water can taste great!
Anyone that’s ever been to LA knows that the tap water is disgusting, and it isn’t much better where I’m from in San Diego. Yesterday at my orientation, I was super dehydrated from my flight, so I desperately drank the water from the sink… and let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the tap water. It tastes just like the bottled stuff I get from Costco! You go Paris, way to filter your water!

6. Hot water is a really valuable resource! 
I learned that most Parisians heat a certain amount of water at night to use for the next day. Unlike California, where you can pretty much get hot water at any time of day, Parisians live with a limited amount each day. That means that once you use all your hot water for the day, you have to wait until the next day for the water to heat again. This is because resources generally are more expensive in France, and it is much more friendly on the wallet to heat water at night time. There is definitely a huge benefit to a system like this, because it makes me more conscious of how much water I’m using daily. I feel like this sort of system would be very beneficial for California, especially during this drought season!

7. The sun stays out until 10pm!?
Long live long days! It’s so nice to have longer days because then you have more time to be outside and explore before things get creepy. I fell victim to jet lag earlier and woke up from a nap at about 10ish pm, and the sun was just starting to set. What a pleasant surprise! Now I feel like there’s so much time for me to be productive during the day… I’m definitely going to make the most out of the daylight to explore the city!

8. Sales are government operated!? 
According to the interwebs, sales only happen twice a year in Paris: once in the summer and once after Christmas. I’m not quite sure why it works that way, but it has something to do with government control over sale times. Since sales are so rare, shopping during sale month is supposedly very chaotic – think of the American equivalent as Black Friday shopping. I am really interested to see how rambunctious it gets during the summer sale season, which starts in about a week… wish me luck!

9. “Eye contact is an invitation for intercourse.” 
I am directly quoting my academic program coordinator here, no joke! Intercourse can have multiple different meanings… all of which are appropriate in this interpretation. Basically, it’s an invitation for someone to approach you. It’s very different from American culture where looking someone in the eye, for example in passing, is just a simple gesture of acknowledgement. Here in France, eye contact has a loaded meaning. Moral of the story: avoid looking at eyes to prevent unwanted attention!

10. Uber is illegal in France!?
Whaaaat!? Uber, aka the less expensive taxi service, is illegal in France!? Why? As I understand it, it’s illegal in France to provide any kind of taxi transportation service without a taxi-licensed vehicle. Apparently, you can get fined up to 40,000 euros for using Uber (1 euro = ~$1.12, you do the math!) It has become such a big issue here that the taxi drivers have gone on strike (which is why my shuttle got canceled!) Who knew?

—

So there you have it, my list of 10 things I’ve learned from living in Paris for 24 hours. What was the most surprising to you? Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your thoughts! 🙂