Hard to believe it, but I only have about 5 days left in Paris. The weeks really flew by, and it’s somewhat strange to think that I don’t actually live here. I’ve become accustomed to the neighborhood and walking down St. Michel Boulevard, and taking the RER B train to another part of the city. I’ve become accustomed — perhaps a little too much — to going out to eat, a favorite French pasttime. Choosing which cafe/bistro/restaurant/brasserie to eat at entails meandering down just about any Parisian street where you’re bound to find dozens upon dozens of choices, often the waiters standing in the street beckoning you inside. You may like the look of one cafe in particular, or the fullness of the outside tables (all patrons facing out towards the street, so that while you’re getting a good look at someone’s meal, they’re getting a good look at you). I’ve even gotten used to making weekly trips to Monoprix, a popular grocery chain, to pick up some pain au chocolat (bread with chocolate) and light snacks for my room.

I’ve also become accustomed to the freedom and possibility of everyday, though there’s still so much to see and experience in Paris, and not nearly enough time. You can attempt to cram in la Basilique Sacre Coeur, Père Lachaise cemetary and the Champs–Elysées all in one day. But that attempt is invariably impossible, and the reality is you’re going to have to schedule in rest and naps to take up your time, particularly after climbing the 300+ steps of Sacre Coeur. In such short time it’s not feasible to do it all, and perhaps, not recommended to try. There needs to be time too, to be a real person. What I’m trying to say is, I have become familiar with a certain sort of rhythm of life in Paris — but that rhythm is still rather ideal and touristic. I am sure living here would be vastly different to staying for a month as a student. Certainly one wouldn’t be going out to eat for every meal, or having an openness everyday where the hardest decision is which monument or museum to visit. But one would have time at least, to take everything at a more leisurely pace, and not feel the slightest bit guilty for taking an extended nap over a scenic promenade, or foregoing a night out on the town.

Which is not to say that I don’t enjoy the idealized life of a tourist — I will miss the unreality of it. I will miss the impossibly productive days, and the excitement of another one the next day. I will miss Paris. It isn’t a question of if but when I will be back. As a college grad, with my new and official laurels of independence, I hope to see more of the world, far and wide. It is a cliché because it is true that you learn not only about the world and other people in it through travel, but also about yourself. This relatively short trip has opened my eyes in a lot of ways, from bigger life questions, to minute banalities of everyday life. One of the simplest things I’ve learned and confirmed: Paris is one of the most wonderful cities in the world.

Paris is the city in which one loves to live. Sometimes I think this is because it is the only city in the world where you can step out of a railway station—the Gare D’Orsay—and see, simultaneously, the chief enchantments: the Seine with its bridges and bookstalls, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Tuileries Gardens, the Place de la Concorde, the beginning of the Champs Elysees—nearly everything except the Luxembourg Gardens and the Palais Royal. But what other city offers as much as you leave a train? -Margaret Anderson