We gazed at art in the streets of Monmarte, went window shopping on Champ-Elysees, watched the stars behind the Eiffel Tower in Champ de Mars. My sister and I went from the farmers market on Rue Cler to eating macaroons at Laduree, for two months, Paris, France was our home and well, we made the most of it. But unlike Serena and Blair at the beginning of Gossip Girl Season 3, we had to work as well as play in the city of lights. While I spent 9:30am to 5:30pm interning at an international law office, my sister, Amber, was a marketing intern at a real estate firm. Since we were in two different business worlds, and a half a world away from everyone and everything we knew, we both learned about the French culture as well as ourselves by the end of our summer. As a great teacher of mine once told me, “to discover yourself you must remove yourself from everything you know.” So I went from the coastal town of Santa Barbara to the city of love. I had never even seen a big city before, other than LA, of course so living in a city so huge was eye opening. Here are a few secrets I uncovered in the streets and offices of Paris:
First of all, the French do not live to work. Before you tilt your head in confusion, let me explain. My boss, a successful maritime lawyer at the firm in which I was interning took me out to lunch and told me the difference between being a successful woman in America and being one in France. To become a lawyer in America, one must accumulate enormous debt. In order to pay off those loans one must make a consistently large salary. Therefore, your life revolves around your job, especially since it is harder for women to rise quickly, and make equal pay, in such a cut throat industry. This isn’t simply because of pay inequality but for familial reasons as well. My mentor shared her colleague’s experience as a corporate lawyer in America and apparently a woman’s career would come to a screeching halt when they had a child. This barbaric mindset that women could not balance a family and a career still runs strong in competitive careers. She told me that in a seminar, female lawyers were told that if they wanted a successful career as well as a family they should freeze their eggs. Yes, the fact that this is considered professional advice shocked me as well. At this point I was confused as to why it was not the same in Paris? Then, the obvious was pointed out to me: college did not put them in debt. Therefore, personal success was not determined solely by how much money they made (how quickly they could pay off their debts) and they could value time with their family, vacations, friends and work as well.
After hearing this, I started to take notice of how the incredibly successful people I worked with took vacation, or as they call it ‘holiday’. They would take most of August to travel to the French Riviera, or the countryside, and to see family in Norway or friends in Sweden. The emphasis on the importance of travel was much stronger in France than what I had seen in America.
Last note of envy I will make about the Paris lifestyle: happy hour. No, I am not just talking about the discounted drinks but the atmosphere itself. After the work day came to a close and the floodgates of office buildings opened, and the sun marked 6pm, colleagues and friends alike headed to the outdoor cafes to drink and laugh in the Paris air. If they don’t fancy a cafe they bring a baguette and a bottle of wine to the park. The first time my sister and I saw the park closest to our flat packed with young adults lounging in the afternoon sun we stopped the uber who was taking us to a museum and joined the inviting atmosphere. In the summer the sun did not set until about 10pm so the laughter and celebration continued into the night, well because it was still light outside.
In conclusion, Paris is the city of love. It is the city of loving life, drinking wine, eating good food (lots of carbs), traveling around the world, and spending time with family and friends. Life in Paris was a dream that I am still trying to wake up from.
All Images via. Sabrina Lee