I have sometimes reflected on when exactly I first felt truly at ease in Paris, or France as a whole; at which point the language barrier was reduced, when I was comfortably navigating the cultural norms, and when I actually felt this was my real home. The truth is that
It was a bright and sunny afternoon in Paris, the sun was streaming through the stained art deco windows of the charming and antiquated brasserie I was sitting in, and I was on a live Zoom call with my boss. My internet had still not been set up, and it
Onboarding - Key Account Manager Training The words loomed up at me from my Google calendar, practically glowing, permanently etched onto my schedule for Monday, and today was Friday. And I had no internet. Moving into my first “real” apartment in Paris had been relatively easy; my entire life’s
On June 14, 1940, German Nazi troops marched into Paris, and the city fell to German occupation. Only days before, the embattled Prime Minister of France, Paul Reynaud, had declared Paris an Open City in a last-ditch effort to save it from destruction, thereby allowing soldiers to march in unhindered.
There was a moment, at the latter end of the first six months of my life in Paris, when I woke up and simply began to cry. I only cried for 5 minutes, staring out at the cute little Parisian street view, wiping my tears and allowing myself this little
You knew this was coming. So much has been written about the bureaucratic processes in France; what an absolute nightmare the system is, and how it is virtually impossible to get anything done. I am happy to add to this discourse as I have some serious trauma. I find it
And I’m back! It is a New Year, and snow has descended upon Paris to the great delight and simultaneous exasperation of Parisians (the métro inevitably has major issues if it snows), and I would like to share with you a little holiday tradition I have with my boyfriend.
I am not going to lie to you, getting through the winter slog in Paris is really hard. Starting around November and certainly by the end of December, the days morph into a perpetual gray. Not only does the sun completely disappear, but the sky starts to feel claustrophobic as
It was the morning of October 12, 2019 and I was sprawled out on my spacious and quintessentially American queen-sized bed, very much still in the actual United States, wearing yoga pants and sipping coffee. I was about to go on a run and mindlessly scrolling through YouTube when I
In the spirit of winter and perhaps also piggybacking a little bit off my last posts, I am writing today’s post with two very sore arms, freshly vaccinated with the latest Covid booster (left arm) and this year’s flu shot (right arm). The vaccinations are widely available all
It was October 2021, one year and three months since I moved to Europe, and after much desperate job searching and taking on some short-term roles that led to nowhere, I finally landed a much-coveted CDI position in Paris. CDI, the most sought-after type of contract, stands for contrat à
When I was 4, my father had decided he wanted to try living in France, preferably close to Paris, and asked his company for a transfer, resulting in us relocating to Chartres. It was just in time for me to start French kindergarten at age 5. I immediately fell profoundly