Chez Moi
The phrase “home sweet home” means a lot to those who grew up in an English speaking community. It evokes feelings of peace, comfort, and relief. In French, “chez moi” and “à la Maison” don’t pack the same punch. They are words that describe a place, not a feeling. Despite living in a city where the anglophone concept of home doesn’t exist, members of the AUP community have found ways to bring it here with them.
Omar Qureshi with framed photo of his parents. Image Credit: Tatum McDonald
USC student Omar Qureshi sits in a room in his apartment building that is bustling with activity. His roommates and closest friends move about the room getting ready for a fun night together. The tenor of their voices talking over each other and the bass of the music playing is just loud enough to push the noise limits of the hour. Sitting on a bright red couch with a grin on his face as he takes in all the action, he looks right at home in the environment.
Qureshi grew up in the Bay Area in Northern California with his parents, an older sister, and a younger brother. When asked what home is to him, he says, “home for me is always where my family is.” He brought a framed picture of his parents with him when he moved. The frame sits on his nightstand, so it's always nearby when he feels homesick.
But, a family isn't something that he thinks is only made up of blood relations. “That place where I’m with people who I love, people who I want to take care of, and people who take care of me,” he says, describing home. When talking about the people that fit into those standards, his friends and roommates are at the top of the list. Surrounded by his makeshift family, Qureshi looks peaceful amidst the chaos.
Myya Johnson with tarot cards. Image Credit: Tatum McDonald
Myya Johnson, a 20-year old visiting student from Agnes Scott College in Georgia, opens her door and the warmth from her apartment seeps out, fighting against the biting cold of Paris in the winter. Inside of her apartment, she heads straight for the tea cabinet that's nestled in one of the cookie-cutter shelves provided by comforts of home. She lets me choose from the many different options and drops a bag of lavender tea into a mug of steaming water.
Johnson grew up in Union City, Georgia and had lived in the state her entire life before coming to Paris. To her, home is where she can be comfortable. “I can wear my sweatpants and not have to worry so much about like looking pretty or keeping up appearances,” she says as she sits on her bed in a pair of soft looking sweatpants with a cup of tea in her hands. Her clean, warm room with her tea and her tarot cards is where she feels the happiest.
It's not just her own comfort that makes her feel at home, though. “Making other people comfortable makes me comfortable,” she tells me. After the interview, she offers to make me a slice of toast with peach jam, the only piece of Georgia she brought with her, and a tarot card reading, making me feel just as at home in her apartment as she is.
Professor Michelle Kuo Image Credit: Tatum McDonald
Michelle Kuo is a professor in the History, Law, and Society department at AUP. This is her fifth year in Paris, but she has lived all over the world. Kuo grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and Cambridge. She moved to England for school, worked as a legal aid lawyer in Oakland, and has spent summers in China and Kenya. To her, home is "a place where you feel a sense of belonging. Its a place where you feel you’re able to shape your community in some way.”
She tells me that, as the child of immigrants, she understands the struggle that her parents went through in shaping their community and finding a sense of belonging even more after she moved to Paris. She mentions that while Paris isn't the most welcoming city, she has still managed to develop a cosmopolitan spirit, taking the city in stride.
When I asked her what makes her feel at home in Paris, she hesitates. “To be honest," she says "not many things so far, but my husband, being around somebody you love, and my students because they’re fun and open and curious and it reminds me of what I should aspire to as a person.”
