The main problem with your essay is, I think, confusing "academic (ambition)" with intellectual. There are just not the same and do not necessarily go hand in hand.
Does having an intellectual conversation in cafe in Harvard happens as easily as it does in Paris. How are people of what's going on outside their discipline, or their country? Those are measure I would use.
Does having an intellectual conversation in cafe in Harvard happens as easily as it does in Paris. How are people of what's going on outside their discipline, or their country? Those are measure I would use.