I’m coming up on my 7th anniversary living here in Paris as an adult… but I’m coming into my 11th year living here in total.
I first came to Paris in 2004 and finished high school in one of the city’s bilingual schools…
And that was that.
I had fallen in love and was smitten for life.
In the interim years, I moved around a bit, always with the intention of eventually moving back to Paris.
In 2018, a full decade after my first stint here, I finally got the chance.
My husband and I, plus our dog and cat, all hopped the Atlantic and settled into Paname (the local nickname for Paris).
Six years on, we’ve had two daughters here, survived Covid, invested in real estate and agriculture in Europe, pursued residency and citizenship, and created a life here that we intend to build on for decades to come.
Having lived here previously, I have the unique perspective of having seen Paris change over the last two decades. As much as Parisians like things to stay the same, things have indeed changed—and, in many ways, these changes have made the city more accessible to foreigners.
As my husband likes to say, “America is inevitable.” American culture has been exported around the world, and Paris—as much as locals would vehemently deny it—has embraced it as strongly as anywhere else in the world.
Back in 2006, when Nicolas Sarkozy was running for president, he made the tabloids for jogging… they called him an American puppet, running around in pointless circles just like Americans like to.
No self-respecting French person would have jogged back then. Today, though, you’re likely to be run off park paths by the hordes of joggers that run at all hours of the day.
When I lived here as a teen, there could be no greater humiliation than being seen in public in a baseball cap, in shorts, in sneakers, or any kind of loungewear.
These days, most women wear tennis shoes to work with dresses, skirts, and suits… Baseball caps are more of a fashion statement than a sports statement… and you’ll see plenty of folks on the streets in yoga or sportswear as they make their way to a class or a gym.
Gyms, incidentally, were a rarity back then—there was but one chain with a few locations in the city. Nowadays, there are just as many choices as you’d expect in any U.S. city.
When eating out, you’d be looked at like an alien if you asked to take your leftovers to go, and there was no infrastructure to provide you with a to-go box or bag. Partially, this is due to how people eat here—portions served are reasonable, meant to be finished in a sitting. Since Covid, though, takeout food and delivery services have flourished, and now any café is ready to wrap up whatever can’t be finished.
All these little concessions to American culture may seem insignificant, but they add up. My husband had far less culture shock after moving in 2018 than he did when he came to visit in 2008.
That’s not to say moving here will be a seamless transition from North America… there are still plenty of things that you’ll need to adjust to…
If you’ve ever fantasized about a life in Paris, I can tell you that it’s not only possible to live here—as a working family, as a student, as a retiree, or anything in between—but that life here won’t disappoint on that fantasy.
Paris is a working city. People make fun of Parisians and their never-ending routine with the joke motto: metro, boulot, dodo (metro, work, sleep). And depending on where you live, this routine can be a bedrock of life. If you settle in a working district, or even just in a building that’s mostly commercial with a couple residential units, you’ll see the pattern of this daily grind.
But Parisians work to live—it’s cliché but it’s true. Parisians go to work late, they take a leisurely lunch, often with wine, they end the day early, and they enjoy their evenings with friends and family. Their work hours are regulated by a law that mandates a mere 35 working hours per week.
Shops stay closed on Sundays, often work only partial Saturdays, if at all. School holidays take place every six weeks (for two full weeks), and the entire country closes down for the month of August when everyone takes vacation. And all of this in a major world city. It doesn’t matter to a Frenchie if they can make extra money working during “off” hours or that to be closed for lunch is somehow unprofessional in our modern world… they prefer their personal time to extra cash.
Non-working hours are truly sacred to the French. And that’s one of the things I love most about living here—I love that they value work less than personal time and that this idea is reinforced at all levels of society.
All that said, it’s important to really scope out a neighborhood before making any commitment, because the feeling of each quartier is unique and you might not get a real sense of it until you’ve spent a couple of full days and nights.
Generalized descriptions of an entire arrondissement won’t mean much when it comes to a particular area or even a specific street or building. You’ll only be able to truly know a place by spending time there yourself.
It was important to me to find a neighborhood that felt residential—one that felt like a community. In a more working part of the arrondissement, most of the population commutes in for work and is out by 7 p.m., and there’s a feeling of exodus. No sense of permanence, like you could get to know your neighbors and become a known regular at the café. I took care to make sure the part of town we settled in is residential—perhaps a little too much so at times.
Think Paris sounds like the city for you?
If you’re a city person at heart but still appreciate a more traditional, less streamlined way of life…
If you want to go to the opera one night and a local produce market the next morning…
If you love being active and walking everyday…
If you never tire of museums, architecture, and history…
If you live for a spontaneous café lunch…
If you want to easily make expat friends after arriving…
If you want to hop around Europe, exploring every country on the Continent…
If any of the above sound like you, then Paris might be your Shangri-La.
Whether you’re retired, working, raising a family, or are just a kid, Paris’ lifestyle will suit.
Between the food and the wine, the museums and the monuments, it’s easy to fall in love with Paris at first sight. But if you think you can stomach all the little quirks and annoyances, too, the love might last a lifetime…
Bonne route,
Kat Kalashian
Editor, In Focus: Europe
