One week in Paris with my parents

When you are Erasmus and your parents can afford to visit you, they will sure do it. It’s always good to have an excuse to go on holiday and what is better than to say: “Our daughter studies in Paris, I will visit her”? Nothing! So, hop on the train or bus go to visit your children. They will be happy to show you around “their” city and their new life. At least that was the case with me and my parents.

My father has never been in Paris before and my mom was 18 years old, when she went there, so she was also curious to see how it has changed. From Munich, it is not far away and easy to reach with the train, so there were no excuses and they came to visit me in November. My parents can go on holidays only during the German holidays, which did not correspond with my holidays in France, so, sadly, I had classes during this time. But, it was not too many and the not so important ones, so I just skipped to have more time with my parents. They arrived on a wonderfully sunny Sunday and I awaited them at the train station. It had been sunny that whole week and that day it was almost 20 degrees. In November, just imagine that! We took a taxi to their hotel, which they had booked and which was located right next to my apartment. It was just five minutes on foot. First things first: they wanted to see my apartment, of course and see how I lived. They were satisfied, but only came back one more time, maybe because I lived on the sixth floor with no lift.

At that time, I already knew my way around Paris and wanted to show them everything and tell them what I knew, which was actually a lot. As the weather was good, we wanted to take advantage and because on the first Sunday of the month some attractions are free, we climbed the Arc de Triomphe (it was already the fourth time for me and I would do it again and again) to see Paris from above. The view was not as good as expected, because the sun was too light and we couldn't see anything. We continued down the Champs-Élysées to the Jardin des Tuileries, in which we went to see the paintings of Monet in the Orangerie, which was also free that day, together with another exposition. I loved the paintings of Monet, they were really impressive and I did not realize before how big they were.

Then we ate the obligatory crêpes and drank the obligatory Cidre in a sweet little Café in the Jardin des Tuileries. Afterwards, we went to see the Louvre, just from the outside because the weather was too good to go inside. At night, we found a good restaurant, where we had some delicious food, salmon tartar or lamb and crème brulée, the typical stuff.

The next day, I still had no classes (lucky Erasmus, with no classes on Monday), so we went to Montmartre and Sacré Cœur, which is one of my special favourites. The church is beautiful, the area of the city as well and normally, you have a really good view over the city, except the Eiffel Tower, which lies in the other direction.

The following days, I had to go to classes, but even so I managed to meet my parents every day for breakfast and dinner and joined them after classes, except one day, during which I had to study. We discovered many things, that I hadn't seen before, because my dad is even more organized than I am and he had looked up everything in advance. For example, we went to the cemetery in Montmartre to the grave of Heinrich Heine (the German poet), the Palais Royal, the Place des Vosges, the terrace of the Galeries La Fayette and some small, cute shopping passages. My father seemed to know Paris better than I did, without ever having been here before. He must have read every book or blog entry about Paris. Every time we arrived somewhere new, he said this was this and that street and this and that building, and I think, yeah that’s true, but I know that, because I have been here already for two months. And sometimes I didn't know it, or had completely lost my sense of orientation and was wondering, where we are or asked: “Oh, what nice building is that? ” and my dad always knew.

My parents seemed afraid that I wasn't eating enough, when they weren't there. All the time they asked: “Do you need something? ”, “Do you want something? ”, “Are you sure, you don’t need /want anything? ”, “Go on, eat a whole menu, so you will not starve. ” On their last day, we went together grocery shopping and they bought a lot of stuff for me. Now, I will have to look how I can manage to eat all of that, before it goes bad. At least, they helped me to carry it up to the six floors. To my parents: Thank you! It is so kind of you to worry about me, but I am able to cook my food and you will see that I will not starve. I have to stay fit anyway, to get up all the stairs to my room.

It was a nice, but exhausting week. We walked so much, but as in Paris you can get everywhere on foot, that is, if you have enough time, it's better than taking the metro, as you will be able to see much more. I wanted to show my parents as many things as possible and they were only staying one week, so we were on a busy schedule. My parents walked even more without me, when I was “relaxing”, at least physically, at university. My mum said, she would need some holidays from the holidays now. And I can completely understand her…

Language frontiers

I have to admit that I am very proud of my parents and of how well they can communicate in French without ever having learned it. They are both, very interested in other cultures and open-minded. During their holidays, they often asked, how they would ask or say something in French. My mum likes to order a Shandy and knows how to avoid the problem of the female and male article. If she doesn't know whether it is une or un panaché, she orders deux, which means two and one of us has to drink to other one. They can also ask for a table or the bill. One day I was very surprised: the waiter asked my dad something, which I couldn't understand because it was so loud. I just wanted to ask him to repeat it, when my dad had already answered. When the waiter left, my mum and me asked if he understood what he said. And he answered: “He probably asked how I want my meat and I just told him. ” I was so proud!

Saying goodbye

The last day, we went together to a market and they stocked me up with fruit and pain au chocolat and we enjoyed the amazing weather. In the afternoon, I accompanied them to the train station and it was time to say goodbye. I was sad, because we had an amazing time together and I had enjoyed showing them “my” Paris and my life here. I hope they did as well. On the other hand, I was happy to stay longer and have more time to discover even more things. I found some amazing friends here, with whom I wanted to spend more time. So, thanks for the nice week and see you soon!

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