How You Can Make the Most out of Your Paris Vacation

How You Can Make the Most out of Your Paris Vacation

How You Can Make the Most out of your Paris Vacation I feel as though every little American girl dreams of going to Paris. We marveled at the Eiffel Tower, recognized the romance of the city and imagined what the desserts tasted like. That dream came true for this American girl. I was lucky enough to celebrate my 22nd birthday in the iconic city of Paris. Everyone knows that Paris is a beautiful city, but there are ways to plan your trip to get the most out of your stay. With a little bit of planning, you can hit all the tourist destinations while navigating the city like a local.

Here are some of my favorite experiences—and how you can have similar ones, too.

FINDING A LOCAL BAKERY – BUILDING A CONNECTION

If you want to live like a local in a new place, it is imperative that you make connections with the people around you. A great way to do that is find a business to support and frequent that place as often as you can. Food is a great place to start, and in Paris, who wouldn’t want to routinely eat croissants and pastries? So, my travel companion and I found Maison Landemaine, a bakery that was one minute away from our hotel. We visited the bakery every morning Friday through Monday, and sometimes later in the day when we had a sweet tooth. We often saw the same employees, who were very kind and remembered us after a couple visits. Recognizing a friendly face in a new city instantly makes you more comfortable and feel less like a visitor.

TAKING THE METRO

In my opinion, routinely utilizing public transportation in a new city is one of the biggest steps you can take in order to feel like a local. Taking the Metro in Paris is not only extremely convenient, but you’re literally sitting side by side with locals. Instead of repeatedly paying for bus tickets or Ubers, buying a metro pass for as many days as you’ll be staying saves money when you’re hopping from place to place. For example, I purchased a three day metro pass for 30 euros, while a one time ticket is two euros. With going from museums to restaurants to tourist stops, this was definitely worth it.

 

*Tip = do not place your metro pass near your phone for long periods of time, this demagnetizes the pass. I learned my lesson with this at least four times and it was quite embarrassing to keep asking for a new pass.

PURCHASING A MUSEUM PASS

There is no doubt that Paris is an art lover’s dream. Because I love art myself and have been studying it for some time, I had to make sure to visit as many museums as possible. When researching tickets for various museums before my trip, I stumbled across the option of purchasing a museum pass. You have the option of purchasing a museum pass for two, four, or six days, and with this pass you are able to get into a vast array of museums and attractions throughout Paris. I decided to purchase a two day pass for 52 euros, and visited about eight spots throughout Paris where the museum tickets ranged in pricing from 10 to 15 euros. So, if you want to see a variety of museums, I urge you to take advantage of this. Plus, the pass allows you to skip lines, which in the tourist capital of the world is very nice.

FINDING A DINNER SPOT

When traveling, we all want to visit restaurants and eateries that not only have great food, but are Instagram worthy. I urge you to hop on to TikTok or Instagram and see what Paris has to offer, and make a reservation for the spots you find. I was in Paris for my birthday, so I wanted to have a nice dinner that night, and I found the restaurant, Bambini on TikTok. The restaurant was beautiful, the food was amazing, (the truffle pasta specifically was to die for) and our dessert came with a sparkler and four employees who sang happy birthday. It was a memorable experience that I will never forget that came about just from scrolling on TikTok.

SAFETY IN PARIS

Because Paris is a tourist destination, some people take advantage of tourists that are not familiar with the area, and pick-pocketing and theft is common. Stay off your phone, bring a bag that can be worn in front of you, and be mindful of your surroundings. Just by utilizing a few of these tips, a trip to Paris suddenly becomes a bit more seamless. Hopefully, my visit makes your future stay one to remember.

Live Smart, Die Old

Live Smart, Die Old

Younger siblings all around the world will surely understand the experience of having to ride on their older sibling’s reputations, as they followed in their footsteps through school. And if the discourse with teachers wasn’t “why can’t you be more like them”, then it was just a battle to prove that; no, our family name isn’t cursed.

 That said, I think I may be one of the few who ended up going to the same tiny university as their older sibling, which is a whole new can of worms, Especially when it’s the exact same major… 

So for my first few months at Webster, I was mostly referred to as “Nadia’s Brother.” Apparently she had left quite an impression, which is fair, seeing as she had won Geneva’s edition of Webster’s Got Talent.  It also helps that she was the youngest competing rower at the 2016 Rio Olympics at the age of 18. Now she’s 22 and her repertoire of crazy cool shit hasn’t stopped ballooning. 

Needless to say, there’s a lot to live up to. Nadia’s in bed with a nasty flu on the other side of the planet. So, in true younger sibling fashion, I decided to call her up and pester her a little about her very exciting life. 

Nadia transferred out of Webster to go to row on the UC Berkeley team, which she says is one of her proudest moments. 

“Webster was very good preparation for me, because I became very independent when I was there. It really provided me with a lot of tools to be ready for the states.”  At Berkeley,  she studied Film & Media. Nadia points out that in an alternative life,

“I probably would have studied environmental law because now I’m more interested in the logistical and legal side of fighting for the environment. but I still love the arts.”

These days, my darling sister is living it up in the San Francisco Bay Area as a UC Berkeley Graduate, working to save the wilderness, and teaching girls how to row a boat in the midst of a pandemic, and wildfires raging next door. I still distinctly remember how rowing took over Nadia’s life for about 10 years (and consequently our family’s,) but she embraced it. It consisted mostly of early morning trainings and late drives home from race events.

All the work paid off in the end when she found herself representing Egypt at the Olympics, and 

years after the fact, the hype lives on. 

“It’s more than I give myself credit for. People think I’m way cooler than I actually am. Everyone’s like “Wow you went to the Olympics” I’m like yeah I did and it’s cool but it’s not like I cured cancer. There’s still so much to be done” As I pointed out, she has done just that.

“Yeah I guess so. Sorry I’m so emo”, she jokes

“I’m working to help organizations advocate for the end of wildlife crime and environmental causes. So right now I’m  working with ADMCF,  an organization in Hong Kong. I work with their wildlife team, and make videos for them and highlight policies they want to change. They get pitched to governments and CITES, (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and hopefully change comes from that.” 

The next day, she announced to me that one of her videos was shown to the Chinese supreme court, and now the trafficking of wildlife is going to be outlawed in Hong Kong. Sibling rivalries are never easy, are they…

Personally, I can’t recall a moment in my life where Nadia wasn’t obsessed with animals, so the trajectory she’s taken in life is pretty on-brand. This is the same girl who once bit me so hard when we were kids that I bled because she was pretending to be a lion. Typical Leo. 

Along with that, she has also been working with Richard Blair, a photographer and nature advocate, digitizing his photographs from the ‘70s and running his Instagram pages, along with completing numerous other errands. She recalls: 

“I spent three days a week sleeping up in Point Reyes (a national park in Northern California) two kilometers from the fire. I had to pack up cars with my boss’s stuff and drive them up and down to a downtown center where we had storage. I had to help him prepare for fire, there was ash raining on me and I was basically inhaling smoke and ash for three weeks. Almost lost my workplace, but the firefighters came through and saved the day“ 

It’s safe to say that along with a  recent job she picked up  as an assistant coach at a rowing club,  Nadia needed a break. Unfortunately, the one she got hasn’t been the one she was envisioning, semi casually mentioning how I’m interviewing her on her “covid deathbed.” Although it didn’t seem like that at all when she video-called me wearing a bucket hat and basking in the sun.

“I have Covid and it really sucks so please wear a mask” 

I guess nobody is truly unstoppable, but that doesn’t stop her from seeming like she is. 

At this point, besting my sister in our little rivalry feels a little like trying to dig an elephant’s grave with a spoon. While my sister was sweeping wins at races and competing at the Olympics, I was busy doing absolutely nothing notable. What did I do at the age of 18?  I don’t know, probably vibing or something. The only thing I have on her is that I was objectively easier to deal with for my parents. So what’s the secret to her iconic determination?

She explains: “Live smart, die old. Do what you want because you’re the only one that knows how much you want it, and regret nothing because at the time you did it it made you happiest. That’s my last quote.. I’m gonna go have risotto and sleep”

The Rabbit Hole of Words

The Rabbit Hole of Words

The Rabbit Hole of Words 

An Interview with Amanda Callendrier

“I don’t care what anybody thinks about my writing, but my shoes, that’s really nice,” Amanda laughs at herself. 

Amanda Callendrier is an academic advisor as well as composition and creative writing professor at Webster Geneva. She’s also working towards a doctorate and is a published author. In 2017 she released her debut novel Camino Beach. She studied English and French before ending up at Webster, almost accidentally, after falling in love with a French man. “Life happens and you just have to go with it, but you also have to be open to it,” she adds. 

Amanda is inarguably one of the coolest professors on campus. She sits down for the interview rocking Puma sneakers, skinny jeans, and a bright red fluffy jacket. It’s very bold, and I’m a little jealous. She turns in her chair and chuckles, the wall of books behind her in the Webster learning center is composed almost entirely of her own collection. She even grabs one to take back home with her. For Amanda, creativity and storytelling, in all its forms, is everything. 

“I think people who write or do creative things just always did. You don’t know when you started because you just always do it,” she says, reminiscing on childhood. Writing her own stories came as naturally as reading or writing, she doesn’t remember ever learning because that’s the way it always was. Inspiration came from everywhere; from watching way too much television to reading Roald Dahl, Stephen King, and Agatha Christie, even from a young age. 

So how does she manage to balance everything in her life with creative writing? “The short answer is I don’t,” she sighs, “And it weighs on you to have the things you want to work on that you can’t, but it’s really just finding a moment in between projects and deadlines where you can work.” Yet, writing finds a way to make time for itself. Amanda explains that even when she’s not actively working on a project, she’s still making progress. Just by existing, going places, and listening to people talk you can get inspired. Now she’s working on her second manuscript and wondering how COVID-19 will impact the future of writing. Will stories now have to be set in a post COVID world, or will we get tired of that? 

The labor of love that was Camino Beach took three years from idea to publication. After bringing a first page to a Meet the Agents event held at Webster, Amanda realized she was onto something. The agents loved the page and so she wrote the first chapter. The main writing took nine months and by the end neither the original first page or the first chapter had made it in. It then took months to get an agent who wanted to publish the book, but eventually she found one.

“Meanwhile, I decided I hated it and I rewrote the whole thing,” Amanda says. Like most writers she is never fully satisfied with her work. “Usually you go through and think, how could I have written this garbage? Then you get back to a point where you’re okay with it. You kind of have to find yourself on a good day and force yourself to stop. The good thing is I had a team who directed me. I admire someone who self publishes, and especially someone who self publishes and is successful. I don’t know how they do it because I needed a village.” 

For a lot of writers getting published is the ultimate goal. It’s the mark of success, ultimate validation, and proof to others that your little hobby can pay off. For Amanda, it was different. She quotes Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird, “If you weren’t enough before publication, you won’t be enough after publication.” Getting published was only ever secondary to the work itself. “It’s about the story and the work. The work has to be enough on its own,” Amanda explains, “but publication is great if it lets you do the work or helps you feel justified in doing it.” 

Though she remains proud of herself and her work, Amanda finds no validation in how well her novel was received. “I’m completely ambivalent of anybody’s opinion about the work,” she says. “It feels like it has no connection to me whatsoever. It leaves me absolutely cold.” She stays away from reading any reviews, and hasn’t even read the book herself. “I’ll talk about the story writing process for days, that’s tremendously rewarding. But the book itself? Those characters are dead to me, it’s done.” 

Writing is a hobby for some and a part of life for others. For Amanda it is clearly the latter. So, why does she write? “I have to,” she responds, without a second of hesitation. “If I could choose not to, I would choose not to. I think it would be better for me to spend more time at the gym or making new recipes. But I have to. There’s something interesting about going down the rabbit hole of words. I used to think you have to do it all the time. I think that there are points in time where you write a lot and times when you’re not going to write, but you’ll come back to it because one day the story will come up and you’ll have to.” 

Curando: The Journey of Healing

Curando: The Journey of Healing

HEALING

Here at 78 Magazine, we are all about sharing the creativity of our students, faculty, and even alumni. Well, recently we came across something sweet from a former Webster media student, Alexandra Rodriguez, that we just had to share with you.

Rodriguez, who attended Webster Geneva from 2010-2012, recently finished a Goethe Institute art residency (Salvador, Brazil) through which she curated a new exhibition called Healing (Curando in Portuguese). According to the exhibition press release, “Healing explores the process of healing personal and collective wounds – a process presented as an emotional and spiritual journey that seeks a re-encounter with one’s authentic self, and aims to establish a connection between humans beyond the three-dimensional experience.”

Curando showcases the work of 13 Brazilian artists and is split into two parts: Sanctuary and Transformation. Transformation explores the concepts of change, uncertainty, metamorphosis, movement, and rebirth. Sanctuary focuses on safety and comfort, which is shown through art pieces that portray love, peace, and well-being. The goal for Rodriguez was to make Healing an exhibition that acts as “a safe space that supports vulnerability, authenticity, courage, love, beauty, transformation, diversity, and growth.”

Curator Alexandra Rodriguez

Diversity is a key element both at Webster Geneva and within the exhibition Healing. Rodriguez reminisces about her time at Webster, “The first thing that comes to mind that I associate with Webster is the multi-cultural aspect of the educational environment. One of the things I miss the most is the diversity. Cultural exchanges and cultural understanding is so important. Webster has always been a hub of internationalism, which is something I was looking to explore in this exhibition: making connections internationally.”

Artists were chosen from a variety of mediums including photography, embroidery, watercolors, digital painting, mixed media, and dance. Rodriguez explains that a lot went into her role as a curator and how she chose the best submissions. “The criteria of selection included different points, such as the quality of the work, disciplinary diversity and geographical diversity. Some artists are debuting their career with this exhibition, and others have a longstanding one with a significant international presence. The aesthetics and relevance to the subject were also other important aspects to consider when evaluating the submitted works.”

The online exhibition is available at www.cura-heal.com, and is accessible through November 15th, 2021. Visitors are highly encouraged to make donations that will help to financially support the work that Rodriguez and the artists dedicated to the creation of this independent artistic production, which was adapted and presented as an online project due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

While it would have been wonderful for these works to be seen in a physical setting, we here in Geneva are loving this opportunity to see high-quality work that we wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise!

TRANSFORMATION

Loretta Pelosi

Léo Lopes

Fabi Ferro

Clemente

Maíra Ortins

Igor Rodrigues

SANCTUARY

Fernanda Liberti

Rimon Guimarães

Raísa Inocêncio

Totonho

Raiça Bomfim

Lucas Feres and Lucas Lago

Tinderview

Tinderview

Dark and handsome, his profile read: 188cm, 420 friendly and loves to cuddle. I was instantly hooked, so I swiped right. Now he’s sitting in a mid-lit Mexican restaurant, sipping on passion fruit margaritas. His hypnotic eyes are staring at me with anxious curiosity across the table, past my open laptop screen. Aman Malik is about to begin his interview and enlighten us with his personal tinder experience, his advice and his insight into online dating.

Q: In what way do you use Tinder?

A: Generally, my goal in using Tinder is to make new connections, it doesn’t specifically have to be romantic. In fact, Tinder is a great way to meet new friends. Tinder dates are usually a fun way to spend time with people, there really shouldn’t be any pressures or expectations from both parties. It’s also surprising to hear for Tinder newbies, that using Tinder doesn’t mean dating non-stop. Most people rely on Tinder occasionally and casually, going on dates maybe once a month or once a weekend. In the end, Tinder is just a social tool not a way of life.

Q: Have you had any negative experiences with Tinder?

A: Nothing too tragic. I got stood up once on a date after she asked me to buy us wine. Sometimes I get ghosted. Of course, a common issue with tinder is that it can decrease a person’s self-confidence if, for example, you would get ghosted or a particular person didn’t swipe back. However, I find that keeping an emotional distance with the app helps me keep sane. It’s important not to take everything too seriously. 

On another topic, I would advise Tinder newbies to be careful with some unverified, unidentifiable profiles. It’s better to be safe and cautious as you never know who’s on the other side of the screen.

Q: In what way do you think Tinder changed/shaped society?

A: I think, primarily, Tinder really changed the dating norm, or more so, the courting rituals. Tinder has made it extremely easy to ask someone out, which to most, is the preferable way over anxiously anticipating the rejection of your current crush. That’s what it really does, it eliminates crushes and effectively ignores romance. 

On top of that, I think Tinder’s swipe function might have had some effect on society. You swipe on what you see and maybe a short profile description. But Tinder users are mostly focusing on the photos, which in my opinion could influence individuals to become shallow and more likely to judge people on their appearance. 

Q: How do you think Tinder will change in the future?

A: I think Tinder will make it even easier to find love. Maybe it will categorize people looking for serious and casual relationships. Maybe it’ll start providing vouchers for restaurants, cafes or events to serve as date inspirations. Maybe it’ll bring romance back. 

I can also imagine it becoming more socially accepted. I have met people that lie about meeting their partners on Tinder, as if it’s tacky or shameful. Instead I think Tinder profiles could become something funny to mention in a wedding speech or to show your future children.

Q: Did you enjoy this interview?

A: Yes (wink, wink).

To those still being precautious about online dating, think of it as a way to have more control over your love life. At least I urge you to try, if Aman taught us anything it’s that people you meet on tinder can be pretty cool. However, if you still feel iffy about it, I’ll give you a tip, tell them you need an interview for your Journalism class. (wink, wink)