Something I really love about living in a city like Paris: variety of food! There are so many options and it’s honestly very possible to never repeat a restaurant.
Paris is a pricey city and I can’t eat out super often, but I love that whenever I can, it’s always something new. Most of the time our host families provide dinner, but once a week we have a free night to have dinner out in the city—it can be anything, from cheap street stand crêpes, to fancy tea houses.
Even on a budget, I’ve been able to have some really amazing meals. Theoretically, you could probably try and eat a different country’s food every weekend, but if you’re visiting Paris or a student living here, it’s definitely worth trying out the traditional French “brasserie,” even if just for the experience—they’re usually huge places, open all day long and always busy. “Bouillon Chartier” is a pretty cheap one on Montparnasse, and I definitely recommend it.
The cool thing about Reid Hall, the building where the Hamilton Program runs out of (HQ, if you will), is that they also have this big pinboard in the study room full of restaurant and café recommendations. And honestly, the best thing you can do to try and find a cool place to eat, is to talk to people! Other students and even the people who work at Reid Hall have tried all sorts of places, and chances are they’ll have some good tips. The building is located in the Montparnasse area, which is pretty touristy, but even amidst the pricier places there are a bunch that are very student-friendly.
One thing though: the Hamilton program doesn’t cover lunch, so you do have to hunt and forage for it yourself. There are student dining halls for university people scattered across Paris, and those are pretty cheap, as well as Carrefours in every neighborhood, so it’s pretty easy to find affordable options. What I like to do though, is do my groceries on the weekend and then just prepare my own lunch every day before going to classes. It’s easier on my wallet and this way I can actually eat somewhere cool on the weekend while staying within my budget.
