Mémoires de Ménilmontant: an ode to the 750(20)

Spending a year abroad can lead to unforgettable moments and unexpected lessons. From unique living arrangements to the ups and downs of sharing that small space with close friends, the experience leaves its mark. Along the way, you learn more about yourself, the people around you, and what it truly means to form lasting connections. From August to January, Alicia, Ellie, Alexia, and I shared a four bed flat in Paris, Ménilmontant in the twentieth arrondissement. From questionable plumbing decisions to drinks in a kitchen-turned-dance floor, we learned a lot about life, love, and each other. Whilst we might not have figured out how to fix everything, we certainly learned what it means to build lasting friendships.

We absolutely adored our little flat, and even more, the area we lived in. That being said, this flat did come with its quirks, that then made for some interesting stories. I hope that sharing some of these, as well as the love that living a small flat together between the four, and occasional five of us fostered will inspire others to think about their year abroad in this way too. During our time in Paris, I captured these moments, and the endless warmth and love between us, on my Pentax Espio 120 film camera with black and white film. Here’s a glimpse into those five months.

One of the most unusual details about this flat was its layout. It seemed that originally the toilet was in our ‘living room’, around which the landlord decided to erect some plasterboard walls. It served all usual bathroom functions, yet was also used for throwing up – sometimes simultaneously, much to the dismay of anyone unwilling to detach themselves from the toilet floor. But hey, we had a balcony, even if you did have to walk though Alicia’s room to get there, and the view was of a wall that resembled the set of The Maze Runner. We also often had a fifth lodger when Maggie, despite having a much lovelier, cooler, and more central flat in Saint Michel, came home with us. She would crash in one of our beds and leave the next morning in a pair of far-too-short Cambridge tracksuit bottoms and borrowed underwear. Pictured, are her and Alicia embracing after a night out. Not pictured are the chips from our favourite local kebab shop strewn across the bed.

One of our favourite areas of our flat was the hallway. It is worth noting this was also our kitchen. Nonetheless, the space was also used for pre-drinks and dancing (Ellie and Maggie are pictured doing so). In the background you can see the floor to ceiling mirror. In reality this was a plexi-glass mirror poorly stuck to the wall that proceeded to give all of us a sense of body dysmorphia as it produced an ever so slightly convex image of you every time you entered the flat.

The next picture was actually taken in Maggie’s flat, during a Halloween getting-ready-session. It does not offer an accurate representation of how the night ended – with two far from sober girls sat by my side in an Uber that insisted on playing Earth Wind & Fire’s Boogie Wonderland on full blast. Of course, Maggie stayed over that night, which worked perfectly as Ellie was off in Kraków for the weekend on an Eat, Pray, Love trip to find herself. This, however, prompted an entirely ‘hangxiety’ induced panic over whether we should tell Ellie that Maggie slept in her bed, or whether we should keep it as our little secret. This was completely absurd and of course Ellie did not mind at all. Especially because Maggie, in said panic, decided to wash and change the bedding, deep clean the room and put on several dishwasher loads of plates, glasses and mugs.

We ended up rarely having interactions with men in our flat. In fact, we realised just how little we had men around when one weekend, about two months in, we heard a knock at our door. I answered and was confronted with a man asking for donations for our area’s refuge workers. After this sobering interaction with the opposite sex, Ellie came out of her room looking shocked, stating that the sheer sound of a man’s voice had made her wake bolt upright out of sleep. At this point I think we all realised we may need to branch out and make some male friendships, perhaps we took protecting our peace a little too far.

On the last night that we had all together as a flat, we went around asking each other what we think we had learnt from our time in Paris. Aside from the obvious, our language improving, making new friends, mastering a new metro system, and figuring out how to fix our broken shower by wrapping bin bags around the leaking pipe, I realised something even more important. One of the biggest lessons I learnt was just how much I could learn from the girls around me. As Bell Hooks so accurately explains, ‘deep abiding friendship is where many women know lasting love’. Undeniably, I had some incredibly difficult weeks during this period, yet these women never failed to lift me up. This taught me that what we found, is indeed lasting love. I think this is often overlooked when discussing the year abroad experience but shaped us immensely and is something we undoubtably carry into the future. The final picture I want to share is this poorly framed selfie of us in the lift to our flat. I thank you meufs immensely.

Treasure Hunting My Way Through Paris