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It is Christmastime in Paris. How do I know this? My local farmer’s market on the Boulevard Raspail is filled with fishermen shucking sea salty oysters, butchers hawking creamy foie gras, and bakers selling the tiniest of toasts baked and cut specifically for Christmas party canapés. Pastry shops across the city have begun taking orders for their infamous “bûche de Noël”, a rich, chocolaty confection enjoyed by all of France on the 25th of December. The smell of pine wafts through the air—fancy flower shops and my local Franprix alike have begun selling the pointy green trees. Fairy lights have been hung across small side streets, casting warm glows onto the beige Haussmanian buildings. At night—if one is feeling particularly nosy—one can peek into apartment windows and see the majesty of... Continuer à lire →

One could certainly argue that Paris—and France in general—is home of the most beautiful (and delicious) food traditions in the world. It is common for families to have long lunches on Sundays “en famille”, it is a time for everyone to share with their loved ones anecdotes from the past week. Sidewalks are crowded during lunchtime year round, with friends huddled together under the heat lamps in winter and couples sipping cool drinks under the shade of café terraces in summer. France seems to be the country that invented—and continues to uphold—the notion that meals are meant to be enjoyed and shared with loved ones. While Americans—and particularly those of my kin, New Yorkers—have become increasingly too busy to spend mealtimes with their families and friends as much as the French do,... Continuer à lire →

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, five young women and their professor made their way through the Parisian chill and surmounted the very French grève to meet in front of the Assemblée Nationale (France’s National Assembly). As a part of our course for La vie politique française (or, French political life), our professor de Bellaing organized a trip for our small, tight-knit class to put our semester’s learning into context and sit in the gallery and watch the Assembly’s proceedings taking place mere meters away. We entered the back door to the Assembly, bustled through the metal detectors, and checked our telephones (no photos allowed!). Seated on the inexplicably tiny gallery seats, we whispered amongst ourselves: “Is that Marine Le Pen? Could that really be the Prime Minister in the flesh... Continuer à lire →

Toute l'équipe du Columbia University Undergraduate Global Engagement | Paris est heureuse d'inviter tous les étudant.e.s du programme qui le souhaitent à partager un repas de Thanksgiving avec les étudiants de Smith College Paris au restaurant.