8 years have passed since I studied abroad in France and since then so much has changed. Here are some changes I’ve noticed about Paris now vs. 2014.
1: You know what wasn’t popular when I lived here in 2014? Halloween and eating pumpkins! Every bakery and bank we walk into has a Halloween display up complete with pumpkins, plastic bats, and cobwebs. And pumpkin dishes dot the menus of multiple hip restaurants we’ve gone to.
2: More and more French people, particularly Gen Z’ers and Millennials, speak English well.
3: You can order oat milk in cafes now. As a person with lactose intolerance this is a blessed change.
4: Fewer people smoke cigarettes and more are now using e-cigarettes.
5: Rather than cracking open a book more folks are on their smart phones in the Metro (particularly on TikTok and Instagram). I think it’s because phones now have service down in the metro. That’s new too!
6: Peanuts peanuts peanuts! Peanut sauce, peanut-crusted pumpkin, peanut granola, and peanut mochi. The French have discovered peanuts and have embraced this savory legume with gusto.
7: Coffee has gotten really good here! They’ve joined the 3rd wave of coffee brewers and baristas. We’ve loved The Dancing Goat, the Peleton Café, Kawa, and Dreamin’ Man.
8: More and more restaurants offer online restaurant reservations and gone are the days when you would get your table at a restaurant all night. Most restaurants have instituted nightly seatings and, I think, frankly now enjoy better profit margins. But I do miss the languid pace of four-hour dinners here.
9: Public bathrooms have helped address Paris’ overall pee smell. No offense, Paris, but the City of Love used to smell a lot more like urine back in 2014. Now, thanks to a few more public toilets, the overall odor has improved.
10: Du jogging et des leggings: I’ve seen so many French people going for runs and wearing leggings (gasp) and sweatpants in public! I’ve also seen so many people carrying around yoga mats. This mentality around working out and workout gear was just catching on in 2014.
What would you say has changed about your home country in the last few years in the last 8 years? Can you take a step back and see it as a tourist might?
The Paris Project
I’m Sarah, a travel and wellness writer based in the US. Join me on my 30-day journey in Paris as I post something new each day. You can follow along here on my blog or subscribe to my newsletter. I’ll send a weekly missive to all my newsletter subscribers while I’m here of all of my favorite Paris discoveries and adventures.
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