The Expat Life

Almost 8 months ago, I moved to Paris. I had a unique job which presented unique challenges. I had a boyfriend. I had a plan.

8 months later: I am officially retired from tourism. I don't have a boyfriend. I also don't have a plan.

But I also have realized a few things about what I want my life to look like. I have had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, in all different professions, in all different walks of life and places in their life and each person has impacted me by giving me something NEW to think about.

Some things I know:

- I love Europe. I love my lifestyle here. Going back to the US - to me right now - means giving up part of my freedom. My freedom to walk around in the middle of the night and still feel safe. My freedom to never worry about how I'm going to get somewhere (bike, walking, taxi, public transportation, trains etc). My freedom to figure out who I am and not conform to the expectations that Americans have of what life is supposed to be like after graduating college.

- I can't work for the proverbial "man" anymore. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs - no one in my family works in corporate America. No WONDER I can't see myself there. I can't get passionate about a bottom line. Non-profits, social enterprises or start up companies are much more interesting and personal to me.

- I want to be an expat. The expat community is unbelievable. No, you don't get along with everyone. But everyone challenges your perception - with each person I meet I am forced to reevaluate my ideas, values and beliefs. They don't necessarily change - but they are tested.

I'm not done with Europe. I'm not done with traveling.

And then there's the question that I'm dreading: what is it like to live in Paris?

I'm not sure if I can answer that question for someone who has never lived abroad.

Paris has been romanticized by art, literature and pop culture. It is the place of dreams and love and fashion and beauty. But to me, its where I learned what I want in life. Where I cried when my heart was broken. Where I walked around alone in a foreign city thousands of miles away from my friends and family. Where I worked my ass off. Where I craved Mexican food.

"Despite the perpetual rain, the sordid merchants, and the Homeric vulgarity of its carriage drivers, she would always remember Paris as the most beautiful city in the world, not because of what it was or was not in reality, but because it was linked to the memory of her happiest years." - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Paris is everything that you've imagined it is. Romantic. Magical. Perfect.

But until you live here, until you've been an expat somewhere, you can't understand it.

I started this blog to keep in contact with my friends and family - to help you share in my life over here. But as I try to put into words what its like to live here, as I try to summarize my time and what I've learned, and who I've become - I can't do it. It's unexplainable.

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