La Vie Parisienne en hiver
Coming from a sub-tropical country, the fast-changing weather and temperature in my current living metropole, Paris, literally have caused me to get severe cough and flu frequently. In this article, I wanna talk about the most unbearable thing for me during my first winter here and my personal suggestion for people who travel in Paris under about 0℃.
It’s well known that Paris is a city traversed by its great river “La Seine” which is one of the exact reasons that make this city having its singular charm and special image among those typical European cities. However, during the freezing winter along with nonstop raining occasion, I have to say that it’s not really agreeable to do cruising in such a severe season.
As a result, if you have a choice, please don’t travel here during the winter season.
However, I have to still admit that there’re certain interesting activities to engage In Paris during winter. XD
Découvrir les Musées à Paris
Yes, exactly, if you want to keep yourselves warm, please come to visit these valuable paintings and art treasures cherished by the entire world. Le Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Le Centre Pompidou would be such great shelters where there might have some special temporary exhibitions from time to time. Spending a rainy afternoon in a museum seems like a light-up for a gloomy day.
Café & Brasserie
This is my favorite part of the winter recreation recently. Since being an exchange student, I have lots of time during the day out of Sciences Po. So, when I am alone or have some school work to do, I don’t really wanna stay at my house nor go to the library.
For me, I prefer to stay in a cozy cafe while drinking a cup of Cappuccino along with a plate of any kind of dessert, which would always reenergize me from the hard work of Sciences Po.
Moreover, actually a cup of coffee “ sur place “ costs normally 4 euro, which is kinda the same as we go to a cafe in Taipei or even cheaper. For this reason, I literally enjoy my own solitude and typical Parisien impression almost every single day.
House Partying & Clubbing
I have to confess that in the winter, I don’t really want to step out of my house, rather, I would prefer to lie on my bed or just go to a friend’s for the company. Luckily, in western culture, they love parties and hosting some collective activities from time to time to connect the bound and friendship among them. I find it really interesting because in each “soirée”, I encounter different kinds of people who are either students or making their living in Paris and they all have their various life experiences and adventures which are so worthy to share and valuable to be served as a reflection for me to think more profoundly in regard of my future. In my opinion, I consider socializing is though pretty tiring sometimes but it’s frankly useful because you will never know if this person might help you when you accidentally bomb into some difficulties aboard.
BTW, there’s one thing that I am not gonna miss!! The Alcohol !!!! But don’t let yourselves pass out and vomit at your friends’. Otherwise, you might be sooo embarrassed as I was before.
Christmas Market
Here comes the most exciting period of the whole year in Europe! I always have the funny impression that Christmas Markets are so familiar with the night markets in Taiwan where you can always find a variety of local stands selling their hand-made specialties or Christmas decorating essentials and ornaments like light bulbs, little “sapins” and the figurines of “casse-noisette rois” and “Le père de Noël”.
However, my favorite is the so-called “vin chaud” — Gluhwein in German that helps me to recollect the warmth after suffering from the relentless, piercing and biting wind plus the frizzing cold air. I find it so difficult to adjust myself to the fast-changing temperature right here, especially during winter…. But it’s absolutely inevitable for an exchange student traveling everywhere in Europe like me to stay indoors forever. As a result, the alternative to keep my body warm enough is eating or drinking something hot in order to get sufficient energy for survival.
Last but not the least, if you are a person who is so afraid of the coldness and the annoying bone-chilling wind during the winter season but unfortunately, living in a territory embedded by a Temperate climate, you might find this article someway funny and there lie some reasonable points inside somehow.