I can’t believe this is the final week here. I only have 4 more days in Paris and I don’t want to leave. I am not leaving Europe then but I am going to miss Paris. In the time I’ve been here I have fallen in love with the city. This last week is making me reflect on my time here and question my future. For a while I have been thinking about moving to Paris at some point in the future. This experience has solidified my thoughts on this but it also made me think that I don’t want to live here forever and that I want to raise my kids and spend the majority of my adulthood in the US. I have been thinking that I might want to live here for around 3 years after my CPA is tenured. I know moving is going to be complicated and there is going to be a lot that I have to think about in relation to this in the future.
After the whole plane fiasco on Sunday and Monday, I slept most of the day. Later in the day I tried a restaurant near me called Hippopotamus. The food and beverages were really good.
After work on Tuesday, I met up with Justice and we went to the Catacombs. They were so cool and there is so much history. It was so interesting to walk through them and hear about all how they were made and how all of the people got down there. There are the bones of over 6 million people down there. There has been so much work/construction done down there and so many bones added over centuries. The first bones were taken from graves all around Paris and the rest are from people who have died in the catacombs or around Paris. Afterwards we met with the rest of the Americans at a restaurant to watch the French team’s soccer game. France ended up losing and the vibes of the whole city went down. The metros were also so crowded afterwards.
On Wednesday I met with Elise. We got Subway and ate it in front of the Eiffel Tower. We stayed there for a couple of hours and just talked and looked at the tower. It is so pretty and the vibes of the area are always amazing. When we were there, there was a proposal right next to us. It was so cute and I am so happy for those people. It was so great to just talk and chill.
On Thursday, we headed to the West Coast of France. Nico’s family rents a giant house there every summer and they are currently building a house there. Elise and I were in first class because there were no other tickets where we could go after work and on thursday. Nico was also on our train but in another cabin. On the way down we stop in Sable which is not a planned stop. There were a lot of cops and firefighters outside the train. After over an hour of being stopped there, the train was evacuated. It then also started downpouring and storming like crazy. We were sitting in the train station for many hours. We were hearing little updates as it was going on. 17 people ended up having chemical reactions and I think a lot of them were anaphylactic. There was a chemical leak in one of the carts. It was ruled as domestic terrorism for a while. It was overall just a frustrating situation. After an over 6 hour delay we were able to get back on the train but a bunch of the stops were changed from what they originally were. We got to Nantes sometime between 3:30 and 4:30. SNCF arranged for people to be able to get taxis if they couldn’t get to their location because of all of the switches. The taxi took over an hour to get to St Gilles. On the way there we had a delay since part of the road was closed because there was a car on fire. Apparently it is common in France for people to strip cars for parts and then burn them so they can’t get caught. Nico’s mom met us where we got dropped off in St Gilles. She picked us up around 5:15-5:45 and drove us back to their house.
The next day we went to the beach and just hung out for the day. It was a little cold out but it was still a lot of fun. That night we went out to dinner. Nico’s mom was busy so it was the 4 girls, Nico, Nico’s 2 brothers and Nico’s cousin. It was a lot of fun and great getting to know everyone. The next day we did a girls brunch and I bought a bathing suit because I had forgotten mine. Then we went to the beach again. It was overall a very chill trip and a lot of fun. We also played a lot of board games. Nico’s family was so nice, and they were fun to be around. It was a very enjoyable trip. On Sunday we went back to Paris and had no problems on the train. It was also Bastille Day, which I will describe more in my next blog.
Success in Paris is having a good work life balance. People here work to live instead of living to work. People work because they want to be able to do more with their life. I love this because I feel like the purpose of working is so you can have a better life and do more. In the US a lot of peoples’ entire lives are about work. They work all the time and don’t focus on other things that are important. In France someone is successful if they have a great life outside of work.