Why Not Paris

I’m in my room near Père-Lachaise listening to Erik Satie while cooking some spinach for dinner. I only have two days left in Paris before moving to the mountains surrounding Grenoble. 

I’m not fond of Paris. It’s loud (2,2 million people live in intra-muros Paris, 12,2 million in the surrounding geographical area, and an additional 18 million people visited it in 2018), you can’t take a walk without smelling piss in some corner, people feel way too stressed, and the prices are outrageous. I never stayed for more than a month here, but I’m usually satisfied after a few days.  

My friends are the only reason I go there. There are renowned museums, universities, bars, restaurants, clubs, and plenty of cultural events, but I’m not interested in this aspect of the city at all.

If you want to live there, you have to rent tiny shoe-box-sized places or live far away in the outskirt of the city. All in all, I don’t think it’s worth it if you don’t have the means to afford a secondary residence to escape to over the weekend. There are economic realities to consider of course (most of the best job opportunities are concentrated there), but I wouldn’t do it from a lifestyle point of view.