In a new series we’re calling “Notes From Abroad” our peers overseas share short insights from an outsider perspective. Our first installment comes from Tiffany Lam ’16, who’s spending her days in the city of lights and croissants.  

1. I haven’t been cat called by creepy French men nearly as many times as I have been warned of getting cat called by creepy French men.

2. Parisians eat cheese after meals. For dessert. I’m not complaining.

3. They have the best cheese.

4. And the best pastries.

5. And the best macarons. Pierre Hermé is as snobby and expensive as it sounds (how dare you pronounce the H in Hermé), but biting into their macarons is like taking your taste buds on a journey through sugar filled clouds and multiple mouth orgasms.

6. You cannot fool the French (or yourself) into thinking you are French (or not American). No, I’m not just saying this because I suck at speaking French.

7. What do you mean I sound defensive about my French?

8. What do you mean I can’t pronounce an English word with a French accent and call it French?

9. THEY THINK OBAMA IS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH BEYONCE. At least, my French host mother genuinely believes this.

10. Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris claims that Paris after midnight is ‘magic’ and you will be picked up in a car by writers from the early 20th century. I have found this to be true, if magic means heart wrenching fear and writers from the early 20th century means creepy French guys.

Stay tuned for more. À bientot!