There’s no place like home: Embracing expat otherness

I have lived in Paris for almost exactly 8 years, and whilst itโ€™s fair to say Iโ€™ve long since been pretty damn parisienne, Iโ€™m clearly not โ€“ nor will I ever be โ€“ French. Iโ€™m very comfortable in this country; more at home than Iโ€™ve ever felt anywhere else; thoroughly assimilated in a culture that made more sense to me than the one I grew up in long before I even moved here. But I donโ€™t have the references of a native franรงaise, having neither been raised in France, nor by French parents.

Paris has changed. So have I.

Last weekend marked my 7-year Paris-versary (pronounced Pareeversary, in case you were wondering). Seven whole years as a parisienne; seven whole years since I made my teenage pipe dream of living in France a reality. Seven years of grappling with the trials and tribulations of expat life and language barriers and bloody french bureaucracy. Seven... Continue Reading →

Under the Tuscan Sun: Anglaise in Italy

WELL. This anglaise has been having all kinds of adventures recently โ€“ although for the most part, they werenโ€™t occurring in Paris, or even France, so I initially decided against immortalising them in blog form. However, a good portion of those adventures took place in Tuscany, and I feel that the part of my heart/soul... Continue Reading →

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