Embracing Every Moment: Learning to Make the Most of Life in Paris and in Philadelphia
By: Liam Umbs, CAS ’25
SA: Sciences Po, Paris, France
Liam, one of the Semester Abroad Global Correspondents, shares his experience abroad during the Fall 2024 semester. Follow along with the group of correspondents on our blog and look out for their images on the @pennabroad Instagram feed.
When I first arrived in Paris in August, I couldn’t help but feel like I was on an extended vacation. During the Welcome Week, Sciences Po organized an extensive schedule of activities for us to do each day, getting us familiar with the city of Paris and bringing us to the most important tourist attractions and the hidden gems locals know. Once school started the following week, I kept this same mindset and tried to squeeze as much sightseeing as I could between classes. I knew that I only had a limited time here, and I have no clue if I would ever be fortunate enough to have the opportunity to live in Paris again. So I wanted to take advantage of everything that I could. With Sciences Po being located in the center of Paris, and the metro making every corner of the city accessible in minutes, I found myself seamlessly blending academics with adventure. I could spend my mornings visiting the Louvre, heading to class in the afternoon, and finishing the day with a walk along the Seine.
It’s easy in a city as beautiful as Paris to just be completely enchanted by everything. Every corner seems to hold a piece of history and something special to admire. Even after being here for over two months, I’ve kept up this schedule and I’m constantly finding new things to see in and around Paris. This balance of structured study in classes and unstructured exploration in my free time has made me feel relaxed, unstressed and satisfied in a way I have never fully felt at Penn.
At Penn, it’s so easy to get swept up in the demands of classes and the hectic pace of campus, to the point where it felt like I was always running from one thing to the next without ever having a moment to slow down and think about what I want to do in the moment. This created an environment where it felt like I always needed to be on campus for one reason or another at all times, and trying to break out of this “Penn bubble” was more effort than it was worth.
I think that being in Paris has challenged my understanding of how to exist within the context of my university and the city I am in at the same time. With a city as obviously beautiful as Paris, this balance just came naturally to me. But just because Philadelphia may be less “beautiful” than Paris on the surface, doesn’t mean it is any less worthy. Philadelphia has world-class museums, beautiful parks, history dating back to the Revolution and before, and a diverse community to engage with – so many of these things I’ve hardly taken advantage of. And like in Paris, I’m only in Philadelphia for a short amount of time. While four years might seem a lot different than four months, the time is still ticking and it makes it easier to take all of it for granted.
As I prepare to return to Philadelphia for my final semester, I am determined to take this “vacation mindset” back with me. I want to make an effort to see Philadelphia as a place that’s more than just where I go to school. Embracing every moment in life doesn’t require a far away location, it’s a way of life that I can cultivate anywhere.
The Study Abroad (SA) program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to study in a new global community through extended study for a semester or year. Penn Abroad partners with top institutions around the globe and collaborates with Penn’s undergraduate schools to offer programs for students across academic disciplines.