Posts Tagged ‘paris’

Paris, the city of lights. Some claims it as one of the world’s most romantic cities. Exactly a year ago, I had the great pleasure of stopping in on this enchanting city during a layover en route to Taiwan. Since I had been to Paris before, I avoided all touristy activities and simply took in the city for what it was.

The weather was surprisingly cold for May and a bit gray. It was a weekday, so not too many people were out. A friend who was living in Paris at the time wandered around the city with me. The walk up to La Republique revealed a breathtaking view of the city, even with a bit of the wintry weather. Sacred Coeur could be seen from afar. The city was quiet. I remember the fresh spring grass under my bare feet as I walked down the hill in the park. It was lovely.

The walk took us along Canal St. Martin. The austere of 19th century Parisian architecture reminded me why this was the city beloved by so many. The sidewalks of the Canal were sprinkled with kids playing with moms, dads, nannies. Traffic of the city began picking up as people were returning after a day’s work. Tiny European cars were snaking in and out of the streets. Still overwhelmed by the city after a year in a village, I had trouble crossing the streets. I enjoyed the contrast of traffic with the calm Canal and later the River Seine.

I spent the large part of my few days in Paris alone, and wandered the city rather aimlessly, without a map, letting feelings taking me wherever. The sun came out on the last day. I did a lot of people watching. Bought books at a few used book stores and the vendors by La Seine. Drank a coffee here, had a tea there. No particular direction. I wandered into a lovely café in the 2nd arrondissement and had a nice light lunch with a glass of wine and the latest issue of Vogue. A neighborhood café so charming and small that the darling middle age owner told me she couldn’t take my 50 euro bill. For a moment, I forgot I was in Paris and felt like the many times in Cameroon when vendors don’t have change for large bills.

The wandering continued after I refueled. I have no idea where I was, but I enjoyed being a complete stranger in a city and walking without any attention given to me. My last stop was the Centre Pompidou by the apartment that I was staying. The Sun was out and there were all kinds of people about – tourists, locals, musicians, skateboarders, readers, lovers – heaven for people watcher like myself. An ice cream in hand, I took in every last moment before heading to the airport to continue my voyage.

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After a long silence, Sciences Po Paris finally gave me an answer. They admitted me, and gave me a oodle of money from the Emile Boutmy Scholarship. The catch: they think my profile is better suited for the international affairs program in international political economy. Now the catch within the catch: this program is in French! I had to submit the Test de Connaissance Français (TCF – French Knowledge Test) result by May 4th. But the conditional offer allows entry in 2011 if I am unable to have the result by May 4th.

Oh boy! This was quite the curve ball and opened up a range of possibilities. I noticed that the Intl Affairs program also has a dual degree option with LSE. Excited by the range of options, I emailed them back immediately to see if LSE is part of the deal, and whether that oodle of money comes with me if I defer. My French isn’t good enough to begin a graduate program this fall, but the idea of taking a year to polish the language was appealing.

While waiting for an answer to my questions, I obsessively began searching all the options for this potential gap year: French classes at La Sorbonne in Paris, or at the university in Poitiers, or Geneva, Montréal or any other French-speaking country/cities. My mind was completely ADD with all sorts of possibilities. In the midst of all these research over the span of 3 days, I realized something:

I love searching alternative ways to live life.

I’ve found myself at various points of my life spending hours upon hours on the Internet, googling every different option for all kinds of things: grad school, career, travel ideas, etc. Sometimes I feel like a crazy person with the way my mind goes from one wild idea to the next. Other times, I feel the searching process is a huge waste of time because they often don’t amount to anything. But I adore the possibilities and the process of picturing myself in various situations.

After 3 days of obsessive searches and discussions with friends about various options, I received my answer from Sciences Po today. Unfortunately, to defer would mean that I would have to reapply for the scholarship next year, and also reapply to be considered for the LSE dual degree. Aaaand… that is way too much work, so we are back to the original decision of attending LSE for MPA.

BUT, this search led me to read an important fine print at the Sciences Po MPA website that states the program is not eligible for the Emile Boutmy scholarship, which now makes me reconsider spending the 2nd year there. Instead, the idea of going to Singapore for the 2nd year is settling in! In the end, the search was not all for nothing and if I ever decide to take a year to go frolic around France and perfect my French, I know where I’d go!

I am slightly disappointed that France does not hold a definite place in my life in the near future as of now. But, I see it like a relationship with a person – if it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. Ahh… it is nice to be young. I think of these obsessive searches as a brainstorming exercise. One of the many crazy ideas eventually takes shape. One must dare to dream, right?

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In the end, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with fellow Peace Corps volunteers. And when I returned, I found my first graduate school acceptance in my inbox!

After first deciding to return to grad school after my two years in Africa, I tweaked my decisions a bit and ended up applying to the following programs:

London School of Economics (Dual MPA in International Development w/ Science Po)
Sciences Po Paris (Masters in Economics and Public Policy)
University College London (MSc International Public Policy)
Columbia SIPA (Masters in International Affairs)
Johns Hopkins SAIS (Masters in International Relations)
Yale (MA in International Relations)

With nothing but prestigious institutions, this was going to be literally a “go big, or go home” experiment. And after yet another mediocre performance in standardized testing, the fear of actually having to “go home” to St. Louis, Missouri was becoming a likely possibility. Tho the fact those three European schools did not require GRE scores did calm the nerves a bit.

In any case, I returned from Thanksgiving weekend and had received an email from the department chair of International Public Policy program at University College London personally informing me that he was recommending my admission to the University. This one-year program isn’t my top choice since it’s the least econ-focused program. Nonetheless, UCL is a great school, supposedly ranked 4th in the world in the 2009 ranking by the Times Higher Education.

Having one acceptance really takes a load off my shoulder, but also got me really thinking about where I would ideally like to be next year. Before, I was adopting the I’ll go anywhere that accepts me attitude. But now that someone wants me, I begin to think of options.

After a few weeks of thinking/stalking blogs about these schools and programs, I think Sciences Po Paris is the place I really want to be. The Masters in Economics and Public Policy program is the most econ heavy since it is first and foremost a masters degree in economics with a policy angle, where as most of the other programs are policy/IR degrees with some econ thrown in it.

My first encounter with both London and Paris was back in 2005 when I did a summer program in France, and a funny story led me to London. At that time, I didn’t speak any French and was your typical American in France – partied a lot, saw a lot of castles and churches, visited all the touristy spots, and drank a lot of wine. But other than that, I didn’t have any particular attachment to Paris or France. Though I did see the best firework of my life on Bastille Day at the Eiffel Tower.

London, on the other hand, I felt in love with. After weeks in France, it was refreshing to understand people again, albeit in a funny accent. I loved London and all its gloomy glory. And in 2006-2007, I got myself back to that fabulous city – first as an intern at the US Embassy and later as a wanderer in the financial district of City of London. Great memories were formed and adventures had, but in the end, I was ready to move on. London, to me, is now a bit of a “been there, done that” city.

My time in Cameroon surprisingly led me to a whole bunch of French folks with whom I’ve formed great friendships. My summer layover in Paris gave me a completely different perspective on the city. One, because I speak French now, and two, because I was with a local who actually lived there.  In a way, I feel after spending all these time with French people, I need to actually go live in France and find out for myself what it’s all about. Also, being in Paris is the only way I can continue working on my French. The minute I returned to the US or London, I know my French skills will be gone faster than I can say, j’aime bien parler français.

I’ve read various blogs on Americans who had spent time at Sciences Po Paris and reading them left me feeling excited but also somewhat terrified at the prospect of living in Paris. While I do speak French, I am not sure real Parisians will be as forgiving at my not-at-all-perfect French as Cameroonians. Yet, I do think it will be a good challenge.

Many Americans had written about the French inefficiency, some girls had written about the forwardness of French men, and other general attitude/mentality of the French/Parisians. All of those things made me laugh because compare to what I deal with here in Cameroon, the French are efficient and not at all forward! In some ways, life in France may just be the perfect way to integrate back to the “real world” after Cameroon.

We shall see. I am way ahead of myself. I probably should have waited until I got accepted to Sciences Po to make this comparison. I’ve really resisted myself to compare schools/cities until now. But now, I can’t help it…

In the end, things always work out they way they should, so, on verra!

Oh and if you couldn’t tell, my desire to return to the US is very little. Also further deterred by the high price tag of US education. One year at Yale/Columbia/JHU averages $40k in tuition as opposed to $16k at Sciences Po or $26k at UCL… you do the math.

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Not sure when New York Times and the International Herald Tribune joined forces to create the Global Edition of the New York Times. I discovered this recently and -wow- I love it. I am not sure why I love it so much. Perhaps it’s the “global” nature of it all? Every section of the news now has an international component to it. Must be the globe-trotting blood within my veins.

Reading the NYTimes has long been my distraction tactic, and now it’s that much more enjoyable! Recently I have been trying to curb my Facebook access and this is a perfect substitute. Instead of reading about my friends’ goings about, now I am finding out what role Paris played in Edith Wharton’s life and discovering an interesting book on the tumultuous historical relationship between Taiwan and China from a personal perspective.

Reading the NYTimes is also a perfect complement to the GRE studying – I am practicing reading comprehension, n’est-ce pas?

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