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