It’s been a roller coaster of a ride, living in a country 5000 miles away from home. But through a ton of hard work and stubbornness, slowly things are pulling together! I’ve made friends, I’ve started establishing “normal” things like bank accounts, and this week I got my residence card!! It had been such a huge stress, that having that done feels like a huge weight off my shoulders.
I was thinking last night, if I had been told last Christmas that I would be sitting in a house, living in France, I wouldn’t have believed it. So much can change in just a year! Here’s to another year of stories and adventures. To keeping stubborn and building lasting memories. Happy Holidays everyone!!!
The last couple of days in Berlin were such a whirlwind that I didn’t have time to write, but basically just know that I had an amazing time getting to see the city, go to museums, eating bratwursts and generally falling in love with Germany. I was so happy to be in such an amazing artistic city and I honestly would have no problem moving to Berlin. But one adventure at a time, right?! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. Note to self: Bring the long lens next time. Enjoy!
Wow! It has been a WH-ILE! Sorry for the silence on the blog front, but I’ve been trying to settle into the Paris life, and it’s taken me the past few weeks to even feel remotely partially through the process. Moving across the world is hard. Moving a second time, to live with a different family is (even though it seems like it should be easier) harder.
But I’ve finally started to feel like I’m ready to step off the wagon and start exploring my new home. And after unpacking, and getting into the rhythm of things, the dust is finally starting to settle.
So, here are the updates of my life!
Let’s talk spiders. No matter where you go in France there are Lord Of The Rings sized spiders crawling up the walls. That might be a slight exaggeration, but they are HUGE. I can’t even tell you how many of them I’ve killed, but I know that when I go back to the US I will most definitely be the braver for it.
I got promoted! I’m super excited about the ability to work with the website I’ve been a contributing writer with for the past year, except now I’m a *drumroll EDITOR! I’m so excited to start new projects and really be able to pour myself into writing, photographing, editing and traveling. There are some super cool projects coming up, so stay tuuuuuuuuned @TheExploress!
Church: The last couple of weeks I have loved being able to attend Hillsong Paris, which is absolutely amazing. I didn’t realize how much I missed being able to go to church, but it has been such an awesome way to meet other people who are living in Paris and from all parts of the world. My favorite thing, though, is that the sermons are in English AND French simultaneously. It really is just the most beautiful thing.
I’ve been illustrating! I’ve never really considered myself someone who likes to draw, in fact I used to tell people I hated drawing. There are a few reasons for this, including feeling like I’ve always lived with someone who was better at it than me, but now that my next closest artistic rivals are 5 and 8 I started following a path I’ve wanted to for a bit, with a combination of paint and pencil, which I’ve absolutely loved.
I’m going to Berlin next week and I couldn’t be more excited! I’ve wanted to visit Germany for so long and I can’t wait to visit such a beautiful city while on holiday. I’m lucky because for most of the holidays that the kids will have off from school, I will also have off to travel, so I plan on taking several more trips throughout the next year, trying to see as much of Europe as I can while I’m living here! If you have any suggestions for Berlin sightseeing, shoot them my way!
Every week I’ve decided to visit a museum, tourist spot or historically significant place. I have a lot more “every week” goals I’m going to be implementing now that I actually live in a place where I’m able to create an active schedule (aka a city that actually has a population under the age of 60) but I’m going to be adding them little by little. This week me and two of my friends decided to follow in Beyonce’s footsteps and visited the Louvre, which was amazing. Our adventure included singing (“Prince of Egpyt” in the Egyptian part, trying to sing “Hercules” in the Grecian part and “Les Miserables” in some French parts), getting temporarily lost in the museum and having in depth conversations about the inaccurate proportions of male figures both in painting and sculpture representations. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better time, or for better friends to adventure out with.
If you could have seen the man taking this picture on the ground…I love strangers, sometimes.
I would find a Scottish pub in Paris.
The weekend before I moved to Paris me and my friend visited Paris. Little did I know, it would be my home a week later. Life is a roller coaster and we never know what’s going to happen, but I’m ready for the next chapter and to see what beautiful things come out of this season. Paris 2014- 2015. Ready, set, go.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
So this is the post that makes little, if any, sense probably, but there are a lot of things that I have to get written down and it would be weird to make separate posts for everything. So, here we go – reADY? Great.
1. I’M ON VIMEO!
I’ve had a couple of people ask me to make some video updates of my au pair-ness, so here’s the first one. I couldn’t figure out Youtube, so it’s on Vimeo. Hurray!
2. Debit Card Emergency Averted:
Last week my bank decided to cancel my debit card and send me a new one, which I got in the mail but then wasn’t able to activate (so my mom in the US had to) it then turned out that the card’s PIN number was broken (or something like that) which I didn’t find out until I was visiting a friend in the middle of nowhere and needed cash for bus fare. Commence mad dash intercontinental scramble. Since I couldn’t text my mom I had to text my sister and cousin who told my mom the problem and after a couple of VERY STRESSFUL hours, phone calls and running back and forth to the ATM we finally got an old card activated and working so I could get money out and make it back home. A HUGE THANK YOU to my mom, sister and cousin for being responsive and proactive and awesome and for helping me out. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise.
3. FACT:
If you send me snail mail I will love you forever. To anyone who has sent me postcards or packages you are the best and it makes my whole day 100% better to get mail from home!
This week: THANK YOU VICTORIANA FOR YOUR CARE PACKAGE OF AWESOME!!
4. Today’s Inspiration:
Klara Harden
I’ve been super inspired, today, by this awesome lady who took a solo backpacking trip across Iceland. Having taken just a baby solo trip, compared to hers, I know it’s not easy but it’s so important to share these stories. One of my absolute missions in life is to prove, encourage and inspire women (and men) to travel internationally! It might not be individually, but it might be! Don’t be afraid to follow your dreams!
5. NETFLIX
Hold the phone, stop the presses, because there’s some news that’s more important. Netflix is coming to France. I’m so happy I could cry.
6. Dreaming:
So, I’m thinking I might get a GoPro camera because I think I can justify having one as someone who travels an absurd amount of the time. But here’s the thing, I don’t know anything about them! I’ve seen people using them, and I know what they are for/how they work etc. But I’m not sure about which model is best, features etc. Does anyone have one/know people who have one?? Let me know in the comments section! Thaaaaannnnk you in advance! ❤
Last weekend me and another fantastically awesome au pair, who lives in a town near me, went to explore the closest “big” city – Orleans, France! I’m not going to lie, it stole my heart. The city is stunning, and has a historical background to match up to it’s amount of awesome. Known for a famous battle, won by my childhood hero Joan of Arc, I loved being able to walk the streets and just simply marinate in the culture and beauty. Continue reading “Welcome to Orleans, France”→
Taking walks is a huge part of the culture here, in France. It’s the cutest thing to see all of the old people on their walks, or biking with their significant others. Everyone drives in Seattle, but here no one seems to mind taking the longer distance. I’m not sure that I’m onboard with the idea of two walks per day (I love walks, but maybe not that much), but I love grabbing my camera and taking some shots with the kids while we’re out and about.
Today was pretty magical. And even though I’m tired from running around, the fact that I’m tired from running around inside of castles makes the fatigue bearable.The castle pictured is the Castle (or Château) of Sully-Sur-Loire and was a medieval fortress for generations of Dukes in this area of France. I would go on and on about my day, but since a picture’s worth a thousand words, I’ll let you see the results, instead.
Flying over my beautiful Washington Mountains on my way to California
Getting ready to move halfway across the world is a process. In a perfect world, I would be able to pack up everything tomorrow and be ready to go, but that’s just not a reality. So, there are some basics that I’ve started putting together in order to get ready for my big move. This will be an ongoing list, but here’s where I’m at so far:
1. Phone upgrade: I haven’t upgraded my phone in a while, so when I went to the UK I wasn’t able to communicate with my family while I was gone ( iPhone 4 doesn’t have a slot for a simcard). Well, glory, glory hallelujah because I upgraded my phone and now will have communication via cell phone while I’m gone (INSTAGRAM!)!
2. Bilingual bible: As a Christian, the Bible is a pretty important book to me. And I love to read. So, it was pretty high on my list for me to get a bible that I would be able to start using now, and be able to take with me when I went to France. Obviously, I could have stuck with an English translation, but I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world to see both of my favorite languages side by side.
3. Dentist: This one is kind of weird, but really important nonetheless. I have no idea what my insurance/medical situation will be once I actually get to where I’m moving (and I won’t have my dentist whom I LOVE), so it’s really important for me to get everything in tip-top shape in case I don’t have access to one while I’m living there (or at least, at the beginning).
4. Postcards: Communication with my Au Pair family is so incredibly important to me. I really want to be able to build relationships even right now so that I’ll be able to make my transition that much smoother when I get there. My French family and I email fairly regularly, and this week I got a postcard which made me so incredibly excited! I love snail mail more than anything, so it was so fun to get it from Switzerland, where they were staying.
5. Getting rid of stuff: Even though I’m not leaving for a while, I’ve already started to go through my things and start donating/getting rid of things. I am going to be getting a storage unit (which is another “to do” on my list) but it’s still really important for me to get rid of all the random junk I own prior to that. Goodwill here I come!
6. Guitar lessons: I don’t play any instruments as of now, since I mostly focused on vocal stuff while I was growing up, but I’m moving to an EXTREMELY musical family. As such, it’s important for me to be able to contribute, and I’ve had a guitar sitting around for a bit, so I’ve been taking guitar lessons. I’m no Jimmy Hendrix, yet, but I am learning and I love it.
7. French lessons: Every week I get extremely embarrassed as I attempt to speak French in front of my French tutor. It’s hard work and sometimes SO FRUSTRATING, but I know that putting in the work now will be so worth it once I’m there. I just wish I could fast forward 3 months so I could see some real progress happening. Ha.
8. Drivers License: My license is going to expire while I’m over in France, so it’s on my “To Do” list to get it renewed and all set up so I don’t have to worry about being able to drive while I’m there, or when I get back.
I used to live footsteps away from the beach. (Newport Beach, California)
Today I realized that next year, about this time, this is what I’ll be seeing with the au pair family I’ll be living with. I can barely believe my life. I’m so excited!
Darkk Horse Travel 