Inside an apartment in Paris live exchange student Sheyda Parnianpour and her Maltese puppy, Martini. Parnianpour adopted Martini last February.  Parnianpour, a third-year student enrolled in King’s College London, was supposed to be living and studying in New York City this semester at The New School as a foreign exchange student, but because of the pandemic, her experience of “studying abroad” has taken a uniquely virtual setting. 

Parnianpour is an only child and currently lives at home with her parents and Martini, and noted the experience as “like having a sibling,” she said.

“In France, Covid is not getting better. We’re on our third lockdown right now,” Parnianpour said. “So at least I have someone to love and cherish. I only have my parents and my puppy.” 

The national curfew in France is enforced daily at 7 p.m., and Parnianpour said that she is grateful to have Martini because most of her classes usually end at 10 p.m. and she cannot really meet with friends during the weekdays.

“After [the curfew], I’m not allowed to leave the house and having my puppy to go to is the best thing ever. [Adoption was] the best decision I’ve ever taken.”

Parnianpour said that after classes she likes to talk to Martini, saying, “‘My baby! How are you? How have you been?’ It’s just really comforting. She’s always happy to see me. It’s not the case with everyone.” 

Martini, who is turning seven months old this May, has not seen the outside world that much, said Parnianpour. Since Martini is still “like a baby” and is constantly in need of attention, she tends to bark a lot during class, something Parnianpour did not expect when adopting her. 

“I’m just like in class and she just sits on my lap and just walks on my computer… She’s also very needy. She’s like aggressively licking my hand right now. She does that a lot during class. It’s very distracting,” Parnianpour said as Martini started licking her during the interview.

Though Martini can be distracting, she has also helped calm Parnianpour down during stressful presentations during zoom classes.

“I’m very much European. So doing American law is really, really challenging for me,” Parnianpour said, recalling a mock trial exercise in class. “It was super stressful for me. I’d never done anything like it before. And so it [was] my midterm and I was presenting, and she just came and sat on my lap and just started sleeping on me, aggressively licking me. And then she just put her paw on my thigh during my ten-minute presentation and that was just the cutest thing ever. It was so soothing. I took a photo of it. She was just on my lap and it was adorable.”

Like many dogs adopted during the pandemic, Martini has some separation anxiety, Parnianpour said, adding that “we’ve been home so much, she hasn’t had the chance to know what it’s like for us not to be around.” 

Parnianpour also noted that she, like many students, is only studying at home because of the pandemic. This means that she will not be spending as much time with Martini once classes are in person again. 

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the pandemic. So I think it’s important for us to look at her and get used to just being mostly attached to my parents and not me.” 

Fortunately, Paris is just a two-hour train ride from her college in London. When classes return back to in-person, Parnianpour is excited for Martini to visit her with her mom, who likes to visit Parnianpour every now and then when she’s in school in London, she said.

For updates on Martini’s Parisian life, follow her on @martiniinparis on Instagram.