I loved Amsterdam for how walkable it is — and, though it is a capital city, it still feels relatively small, especially coming from a metropolis like New York City. I really love to walk, and, because of that, spent a lot of time exploring new neighborhoods in Amsterdam. By the end of my two weeks, I felt like I had conquered nearly the entire city: from the center to the outskirts, I’d spent at least a little bit of time in each area. I quite liked this, as it gave Amsterdam a slight homey feeling. I wonder if I’ll feel the same way here, in Paris. It’s a significantly larger city, with more variety and hustle and bustle. Amsterdam had four train lines with around thirty stops total; Paris has at least ten train lines with thirty stops each. Paris feels much more difficult to surmount in such a short amount of time, and though I love the experience of understanding a city in its entirety, I truly wonder if that’s something I’ll get here. I’ll do my best.
While I’m in Paris, I hope to feel wonder and accomplishment. I’ve been to Paris before, but it’s still a marvelous city with many secrets I have yet to uncover, which is where the wonder comes in. I want to find things that I didn’t expect and that amaze me. On the other hand, I would like to feel accomplished with regards to ENGI200 — I haven’t taken ENGI120, but I still feel capable to design, prototype, and create products through the design process. I’m eager to put together a product that feels usable and truly useful, and, hopefully, do a good job for the UN competition. I’d really love to make the finals, as Switzerland is my favorite place to be, and I’d love nothing more than to go to Geneva for engineering. I just want to feel proud and capable at the end of this course.
Besides the course, I’m most excited to explore neighborhoods I haven’t been in yet. For instance, I look forward to visiting the Roland Garros stadium — I am an avid tennis player and have always dreamt of attending Roland Garros (the tournament), but unfortunately missed it by just a week. Still, just seeing the tournament venue would mean a lot to me. I am also curious about visiting the more residential areas. As lovely as Marais and the Eiffel Tower are, I would like to learn more about what everyday Parisian life looks like.
I plan to reach these places (and any others) primarily on foot. Of course, I’ll take the Metro to a certain location, but from there, if I don’t have a specific site in mind (such as the tennis tournament venue), I plan to walk around with no real path in mind. I really enjoy wandering and just looking around, as that usually allows me to discover local gems that I’d never get the chance to see otherwise. Sometimes, even, I’ll just walk away from our hostel in a random direction, walk for a few hours, and see where it takes me. And, just for fun and out of curiosity, I will take the train out of the city a few times. I’d like to visit some small towns or pretty nature sites, get out into the countryside and see some variety of French life.
Finally, I’d love to make a memory of meeting new people. It doesn’t really matter who; it may be Yousra, or someone working at a restaurant, or someone in our hostel. I love to interact with strangers and learn about their life stories, and hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that in Paris, the same way I did through my interviews and public prototyping in Amsterdam.