In Amsterdam, I was able to experience making friendships with the local UvA students. This was a lot of fun because I was able to learn about how they live life differently than people in the US and we created a friendship that will last for a long time. In Paris, we probably won’t get to experience this just because we are not working with any local universities. That being said, who knows what might happen and we might yet meet another group of international students to hangout with. Also, I feel like there might be less downtime here in Paris due to the more rigorous course schedule, however, I am very interested in the challenge so maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I really like the competitive nature of this class and the opportunity that we have been presented with competing in this competition. I am a pretty competitive person in general so I am looking forward to tackling this challenge and hopefully getting flown back out to Paris for the award ceremony (we’ll see though). In Paris, I hope to feel dwarfed by realizing just how large the world really is, and how different it is based on where you go. Amsterdam is only 503 kilometers away from Paris but the experience is completely different due to different cultures, laws, and traditions. Back in amsterdam, the city was much cleaner and the public transport was better organized, however the weather was horrible and city was rather small so you saw a lot of the same streets. In Paris, there is so much more to see just because it is such a bigger city, but you can’t go 10 feet without smelling cigarettes and the public transport is crazy. The metro doors here close so fast and won’t even stop for you. I already got stuck when I was packing into the metro with my big suitcases. The door just closed on me so I was half in and half out and I couldn’t move at all until it opened up. After coming from the Design Thinking course, I immediately noticed this as a Norman Door. I will say, I like Paris a lot more in the short time I’ve been here, just because where we stayed in Amsterdam was very touristy and felt more like Las Vegas whereas where we are staying in Paris feels more like an authentic experience. Outside of the course, I am most excited to explore the Catacombs because I like urban exploration. I plan to explore Paris how I explore any other city, by having no plan and just seeing where I end up. Follow your gut feeling on every turn and every time you’ll end up somewhere you want to be. I happy memory that I actually have already made is going to the Eiffel tower with friends as shown below. 
Tower was amazing and we even got to see it light up at night. There was a lot of scammers though, just watch out for that.