My Adventures on the Paris Metro to see the Eiffel Tower
From sixth grade through high school, French classes came easy to me, but it wasn’t until I was a freshman in high school that I fell in love with Paris on a trip to visit relatives. We packed everything into four days, including the breathtaking views from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Shortly after the trip, my life took a huge turn. After years of back pain, I underwent corrective back surgery, which resulted in a spinal cord injury, paralyzing me from the waist down. My dreams about returning to Paris could have flown out the window, but my injury only motivated me more.
The spring of my junior year of college, I studied abroad in Rennes, France, the capital of the west coastal region of Brittany. After countless discussions with my family, study abroad advisers at Bowdoin College, and the Council on International Educational Exchange program, I took on the challenge and we made it work. I spent January to May living with a host family, attending classes exclusively in French, and traveling around Europe.
In addition to orientation, I had the incredible ability to spend about five weekends in Paris. I learned to find my way around the deceivingly inaccessible city, which ultimately gave me hilarious memories of the situations in which my friends and I found ourselves.
It can be a huge challenge making friends when in a new environment, especially when I’m unsure about how I will be perceived or accepted as a wheelchair user. I am lucky. I met incredible friends abroad by the first night.
Whether it was over-exhaustion and jet leg or pure Parisian excitement, a group of us decided to venture to the Eiffel Tower that first night. It was 10:00 pm and we knew it would take forever to walk there but the metro was completely inaccessible. My friends offered to bump me down the stairs, bump me into the metro, and bump me back up at our destination. I was on board; I didn’t mind as long as they didn’t. The metro has many, many stairs. After we (safely) arrived at the platform, we took a deep breath and searched for the timing of the train. Then we realized we had arrived at the platform going the opposite direction! Everyone rallied, and bumped me up the stairs, and then back down to the correct platform on the other side of the tracks. We nearly missed the metro, and everyone collapsed into their seats.
After a short metro ride, and an even shorter walk, we had arrived. The Eiffel Tower stood completely illuminated in front of us. It was my second time, but I was amazed as though it was my first. On our way back to the hostel, someone yelled for us to turn around. And there, on our first night in Paris, the Eiffel Tower came to life with a light show that made all of us stop and stare. The rest of my time in Europe would pass too quickly after that, but that feeling of friendship and awe would never fade.
