On Dec. 21, 2022, season three of “Emily in Paris,” starring Lily Collins as Emily, made its long-awaited debut. Alongside Lily Collins stars the respective French and British actors in her love triangle, the handsome Lucas Bravo as Gabriel and Lucien Laviscount as Alfie, as well as her two side-kick girlfriends she found once moving to Paris, Ashley Park as Mindy and Camille Razat as Camille. In this week’s Editor’s Pick, I will use my own Paris travel experience from last summer to record what exactly “Emily in Paris” gets right about the Parisienne culture. 

However, before I begin, I must digress to last spring –– that is, pre-Paris Grace –– and mention the show’s significance to me: “Emily in Paris” was a hopeful opening of an adventure awaiting me in summer 2022. My life dream had always been to fly to Paris. After winning a $5,000 travel voucher from United Airlines, that dream came true. (P.S. If in the event you are on a flight and the flight attendant announces, “We are looking for passengers who are willing to take a later flight in exchange for a [insert x amount of dollars] voucher, please come forward,” take it.) This series became my source of inspiration for my trip to Paris. I fervently observed the extras’ clothes (since Emily’s wardrobe is unrealistic to true chic Parisienne fashion), the city’s romantic air, Sylvie (who is Emily’s boss and the epitome of French women’s striking confidence and suave) and of course the classic French dishes like boeuf bourguignon and moules-frites that Emily often orders at the local brasserie. 

For two glorious weeks in Paris, my mom and I embraced the Parisienne culture, similar to Emily’s experience when she first moved to Paris from Chicago, and walked nearly 20,000 steps each day, exploring the city and the countryside. Our Airbnb in the Latin Quarter was directly across the street from the      Sorbonne, a historic university that has produced philosophers and skilled doctors since the 12th century; a three-minute walk from the Cluny Museum, which is home to “The Lady and the Unicorn” and “The Heads of the Kings from Judah”; a ten-minute walk to the magnificent Notre Dame; a four-minute walk to the Panthéon, which holds the tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau; and a 15-minute walk to the Musée d’Orsay where, among other paintings, Monet’s “Water Lilies” is kept. The feeling of experiencing with my own eyes landmarks and paintings of the highest magnitude in the world alongside my mom is simply indescribable other than pure thrill. 

What “Emily in Paris” gets right is the French culinary culture and the gorgeous, intricate architecture. Throughout the series, Emily snaps away posts of the most delectable pastries, including the infamous croissant, macaroons, eclairs and blueberry tarts, when sitting either outside a patisserie or café (a wonderful tell of Paris’s café culture) or in one of the city’s quiet, tucked-away gardens. Each afternoon, my mom and I walked to La Maison d’Isabelle, a spectacular boulangerie in the Latin Quarter and a five-minute walk from Notre Dame, and strolled through Paris, like Emily, with –– naturally –– a camembert sandwich and pain au chocolat in hand. 

Furthermore, “Emily in Paris” film director Andrew Fleming does a wonderful job in capturing the beautiful Gothic architecture, spanning from Notre Dame to Sainte-Chapelle, as well as the French Baroque architecture, as seen in the Panthéon and Jardin du Palais Royal. In fact, Emily receives a call from her boyfriend outside of the Panthéon in season one. She also meets Mindy, her first friend in Paris, while eating lunch in the Jardin du Palais Royal.

“Emily in Paris” is catered towards an American audience and is not completely attuned to certain aspects of French culture such as its ethnic diversity and fashion and certainly reveals an unflattering portrayal of French stereotypes; yet, this critique is for another article. The series is an opening into the Parisienne culture that the hopeful American, who has dreamt of traveling to Paris, can see and vicariously live through, and the show certainly does a job well done in pointing to the bubbling and alive culinary, historical and architectural characteristics of the City of Light.