Is Paris Overrated? (my thoughts after living here for 2 years)

this is me realizing i just got robbed at the louvre i'm out oh man this is also me discovering another side of paris a side that doesn't always get the landline so i am currently standing around tens of thousands of human bones and skulls i can't even believe i'm saying this right now the site of paris that you don't necessarily see in the movies every aspect about this place is romanticized down to the freaking rats come on remy you're adorable i've spent so much of the last few years eating walking dreaming of paris and so today i want to answer the question is this place overrated and to do that i'm going to show a friend at some of my favorite places in the city so i'm just waiting for him in a cafe right now i got some scrambled eggs ah they're so good i love this spot so much this is in momakh the 18th alan dismal the one and only i walked up a lot of stairs the metro you know what i'm talking about yeah i do i do i did that on purpose man sorry but look at the view behind you man this is insane this is great this is a good spot there is no getting around the romanticization of this place i am guilty of it too i love this country uh i love france and i have been public about that this whole area is super nice at night when people are out drinking there's usually people you know somebody playing some music typical french accordion yes i mean it's touristy but not overly you know like look how chill it is right now that's true we're the ones that are being touristy that being said i do think a lot of this romanticization comes at a very high cost it is so bad in fact that it has caused people physical illness i'm not making this up okay check this out this is insane it's called paris syndrome that's the term used to describe a person suffering from very real physical or psychological symptoms of illness caused by the disappointment of getting here to paris some of the symptoms include confusion dizziness anxiety or in worst cases depersonalization acute delusional states hallucinations fainting and vomiting believe it or not paris syndrome is huge in japan where like in many places around the world paris is idealized i'm not laughing about this like i think it's a very real thing i think i'm just laughing about the fact that like here i am japanese people must think i'm insane for voluntarily choosing to live here i need a six word sentence about paris in three two one i think paris has a lot of things to offer and i think so do you see my dilemma here um on one hand i feel enthusiastic about this place i'm an enthusiastic person in general and on the other i feel like i'm contributing to a problem contributing to this delusion this false ideal so what i'm going to try and do in this video is offer a nuanced view there are definitely things i dislike about this place and i think you should know take it or leave it let's dive right in i went on a date in this like right here when i'm like back in these spots i feel warm i'm like oh yeah you know even though that date went horribly did it go bad it didn't go well it did not go well yeah i'm sorry yeah it was weird we it was like we were having two different conversations the whole time weird you know when that happens yeah and this spot yeah in this spot i know it's like you're like this is romantically perfect i feel badly in this spot well she was like really into astrology okay i apologize to all astrologers out there if i offended you in any shape or form i'm just being a snarky libra this is a very expensive city and obviously i knew that before coming here i don't think this comes as a surprise to anybody but you know you feel that it's a little bit you know ah you know when you see the prices six euro coffees somebody please explain that to me and i'm getting punished for ordering oat milk which is a euro and 50 on top of the cost of the coffee just so i can avoid gastrointestinal problems really i'm doing everybody a favor here and the cost obviously extends to pretty much everything i filmed portions of this video a few months ago in my old apartment which i no longer have and now i'm trying to survive with temporary solutions like airbnbs while i search for a new spot to live and it's killing me i'm spending an ungodly amount of money for a space that's barely big enough for me to walk in right there you're looking at most of the apartment i'm not even going to dive into the details of what it's like to search for an apartment here it is so ridiculous how hard we're all fighting each other for 150 square feet so this complaint is not unique to paris okay i'm mindful of that but still there is always construction work going on you know what let me film this not in front of construction work even like right now it's happening in the apartment right next door or above or i don't even know where it's coming from literally about to start recording and of course it started up again i'm gonna have to wait now i guess [Music] what is with the customer service here they're angry at you before you've even said anything before i've even opened my mouth and of course this is a separate issue but uh if you ever forget to start with bonjour hello uh it's game over you might as well have spit on their ancestors i mean le monk de keem the air conditioning situation here is rough which is to say that there is none and it wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that summers get pretty hot here and elevators are semi-rare so if you live on a high floor like the fifth floor as i did for a year and a half it's a little hike up to your apartment you are not making it up to the fifth floor without being completely out of breath and that's not all though they are beautiful the roofs are made of metal so it turns your apartment into an oven and you are suddenly slow cooking like a buffalo it's kind of a tricky one i don't really have an answer to this problem because i think north americans completely overdo it with air conditioning that's for sure the way that many parisians combat this is by closing the shutters during the day so that the light doesn't come in so the heat doesn't you know your apartment doesn't heat up but the problem is that if you stay at home then you're spending the whole day in the dark like it doesn't make sense at all the solution is just get used to sweating a lot because that's what happens here i am sweating so much right now because it is so hot in my apartment this obstacle bureaucratic french bureaucracy is a nightmare that is worse even than i can describe to you i will say this getting a phone number was a piece of cake uh i got a sim card with free mobile incredibly cheap 20 euros a month i get a hundred gigs and can call internationally it's incredible and that took me one day that aside everything else has been an uphill battle just getting a bank account took years off my life i had to try with like five different banks the only way i was actually even able to get it in my opinion is that i went in with a friend who already had a bank account at that bank because i think if not for that nobody would ever give it to me and they would never say it to my face either you know they just string you along [Music] construction work so i'm looking more and more like a parisian hipster by the day this situation here is the aftermath of the einstein video anyway i am going to dive into the things that i actually do like about living here because there are things that i do like about living here but before i do i wanted to talk about the sponsor of this video nordvpn vpns are a remarkably useful tool in this day and age i've actually been using nordvpn for over three years now and i got it way back then because i think i saw one of my favorite youtubers was sponsored by them so anyway there are many advantages and one of my favorite advantages is that a vpn can give you access to material that's only available in other countries on platforms like netflix or amazon prime so for example that's how i've been able to watch a lot of french material when i'm not in france this has been obviously useful for language learning purposes it's been a major tool that i've used every single time i've learned a new language it kind of makes things fun you know it's the best possible way to start learning how to speak like a native not only is the selection different but you can oftentimes get the same movies dubbed in other languages or with other subtitles but also a lot of services are not available in certain countries like for example hbo max is only available in the us so the only way i could watch anything on there from here is with a vpn i've really enjoyed using nordvpn it doesn't really slow down my internet works great on my computer and my phone so if you're interested you can go to nordvpn.com nathaniel drew and get a two-year plan with an additional month with a huge discount i'll link to it down below if you want to check it out thank you nordvpn and let's get back to the video on to the pros i think after the list that i just gave you of all of my complaints about living in paris you might go okay then why live there you know it sounds insane how does any of this make any sense and my answer to that is that the things that this city does it does spectacularly so i think your experience is very much shaped by how much you align with those things it's a cool place to know dude like to have this be a place that you know the streets you know where to go yeah you understand the culture you speak the language also just notice i mean bro it is like almost november yeah but look where we are this it's not flooded with tourists there are pockets that are touristy yeah but what i'm saying is it is possible to escape the tourism in the city it definitely is possible the food in this country is unbeatable honestly i think italians eat extremely well as well so you know maybe i mean i don't know i'm probably saying something very controversial here i'd say maybe on the same level this is so goddamn good i love i love love love love love the food here it's such a joy i'm always excited to eat in france and i think part of it is because they have a good sense of good ingredients so good ingredients you can't you can't screw up you know right oh man the cheese is insanity one of the consequences of eating cheese is that you just can't shut up about it this is anecdotal okay but in my experience it is so it has been so much harder to find good food in the united states i'm not saying it doesn't exist it just feels like there's less of a culture for food and also like the consumption of food you know sitting around and talking and being at the table for hours that's not a thing that i think americans naturally do the bread here it's not we shouldn't even be using the same word like bread here is unbelievable so uh important to note here that right there over there is an island wait that's an island yeah honestly i can't step outside without being blown away and this is still happening years into living here like this city really is probably the most beautiful major city i think i've ever been to probably another controversial statement but i just love it i just love it it feels like a hundred small towns smashed together and so you can walk through the city 100 times and see something different every single time so this is the square gala really love this spa it's a great picnic spot there's like so few people here i love this spot so much i really really love it it's so peaceful we're here exploring and i just love the name of this street it's the blue dusha ducha it's the the cat that fishes and it's just a tiny little alleyway right here well gotta love it i would definitely describe a large portion of my time here as unusual in that i lived here through the pandemic and so i got to see this place without tourists wow let me tell you that was amazing that was incredible to be in the 18th only small you know like visiting these places and not having tourists it's it was insane but even then even now as things have picked up a lot i don't find it difficult to escape the tourists and that was something that i was very afraid of before moving here in montalita unique one thing i really like about paris is that it definitely doesn't try to be anything else it is its own thing this place has a distinctly non north oh my god this pla oh god i can tell that there's a big difference here between this place and like a north american mindset and for me this is a huge pro that was one of the reasons that i left people take weekends here they don't work on sundays you know it feels like a healthier balance in august which is right now i'm recording this at the end of august the city is a ghost town and most people leave because they're off on vacation i love this different rhythm i also really like new york honestly but it goes at a speed that just does not feel sustainable and i know a lot of french people might go like wow really you know you're calling paris healthier you know because for a lot of french people this is like the craziest place in france but even then yeah it's a big city a lot happens here but still it just feels like a more manageable balance there are a lot of great people here i've met some super cool artists that is not a stereotype you know this definitely still feels like a cultural center i don't entirely agree with the angry parisian stereotype there definitely are angry parisians but i haven't had to deal with all too many um i think maybe partially that is helped by the fact that i speak french but also i think it's helped by the fact that there are actually french people from all over the country here in paris as well as people from all over the world which kind of leads me to my next point which is i did just complain about the fact that it gets really hot here and there's no air conditioning in the city but that being said in spring and in summer the days get really long it's light out until after 10 and that is honestly wonderful i love it so much i think i forgot to touch on the museums and the the activities that you can do here which is also an awesome point so let me just add that right in at the end what do we make of this pros and cons list i don't know if this is exhaustive i try to do my best to brainstorm all of these different points and try to make this as balanced as possible obviously this is entirely subjective right these are just my opinions i think this was ultimately an excuse for me to just make a list of things that i like and dislike and share them with the world but and this is an important point i think you could make a perfectly exhaustive list of pros and cons and still be missing something when evaluating a place the feeling i feel like and there is something else about paris that i haven't yet shared that is extremely hard to put into words it's not entirely a place that lives in reality its mere existence puts people in kind of a weird romantic mood and of course i think it's partially because of this mysticism that so many people are disappointed by the city but even then you know i love that this is a place that makes me dream i love that a place like this exists and when i say that i mean everything that comes with it the good and the bad because there are definitely disappointing things about this place it is dirty you know things don't operate well necessarily my point is that there's just something about this city and paris happens to be that city that i feel like i fit into that i kind of belong to at least right now and that place could be a totally different place for you and so we go back to the ultimate question here right which is is paris overrated and my answer to that is not in my opinion or rather i should say not for me at least i think it's all about expectations and what you're looking for no place is perfect after all it looks like a sparkling apple juice is that what it is you see what is it oh cider yeah is it alcoholic yeah cheers it was great exploring it was that was good my final um consensus is i don't think paris is over is that the question is overrated kind of yeah no i don't think it is overrated i think there's a reason why paris is paris and i do like it mission accomplished your enthusiasm is what is contagious to me nothing left to say here be enthusiastic about your life and it'll get other people enthusiastic okay i'm expecting a lot of differing opinions in the comments section i would love to hear your thoughts do you agree with me do you not i mean this is all subjective i wanted to briefly just come back to the class that i mentioned earlier on in this video before i end this video just to let you guys know that it's out now on right trip it is basically a visual history of paris like i said i was robbed while making it uh but it still feels worth it because the result is amazing and it's really thanks to the bright trip team who helped me with research uh shooting this and also with the post-production and if you're interested i'll leave a link in the description below thank you guys so much for watching and i'll see you soon

Channel: Nathaniel Drew

Views: 1,000,497

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Id: rRgwis2kt9Y

Length: 17min 45sec (1065 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 03 2021