Flat hunting in Paris

Since my last blog post, I've mainly started working (yep, it suddenly hit me that I'll also have to work in Paris - so goodbye first "WAAAAAAAAAAA Paris is great, it feels like a holidayyy!! feeling" :). Anyway, I do really like what I'm doing and I'm already feeling the advantages of working in a smaller office: you actually get the feeling that you can get to know everybody pretty well, you get involved into all kinds of projects which you usually wouldn't even know about (very interesting given that I work as a 'chef de projets' or project manager and love to learn new things all the time)!

I've been intrigued by the French lunch habits. First of all, they hate eating a sandwich while sitting at their desk as much as I do, so that was a good start! Secondly, I'm amazed by what they eat for lunch! Most of my colleagues start with a small salad, followed by a sandwich (NO, not a triangle white sandwich - but a nice baguette with salad, tomato, mayonnaise (yes!) and tuna or chicken or ... whatever you like). The sandwich can also be replaced by for example a pizza-bread or a plate of pasta. And then, after the main course, they all have a dessert!! And trust me, those desserts look DELICIOUS! I managed to have just a sandwich for 1,5 weeks until I cracked last Friday and bought a 'frangipanne' - mmmmmmmmm, delicious! Btw, I still think the sandwiches are huge and need to do my best to finish them (that is without a pre-salad and post-dessert). Only ate my dessert around 4pm! I love the fact that lunch is really an opportunity to relax and chat with your colleagues!

Apart from working, I started looking for a flat in Paris as well. Even when there's an agency that would help me out, I thought I'd have a look at seloger.com, thé site for flathunting in France apparently. After a few hours, I had found a lot of potentially interesting flats, but one PERFECT one! The pictures looked great, the location was perfect, the price was within our budget (luckily we were already used to London prices, so not too shocked about the Paris prices for a small 1 bedroom flat!) AND it was furnished - which isn't very common in Paris. So, I decided to send all the links to the interesting flats to that agency, but called the perfect one myself! I ended up visiting the flat on Wednesday morning and really liked it, so after consulting my fiancé, we decided to take it! And if you think that would be it, think again...

Renting a flat in Paris is just, let's say..., something different! You mainly need to collect lots and lots of pieces of official papers to proove that you're a potential good tenant. And then, very often you need a 'garant', someone who can pay the rent in case you're not able to. So again, lots and lots of documents... French administration suddenly means something to me, when beforehand I always thought "why keep people saying France is a bureaucracy?". I think I slowly see why!

The other thing is that flats move quickly, VERY quickly! In London, we were able to negotiate the start date whereas in Paris it was more or less: you like it, you take it or someone else will take it first... Anyway, I was quick and took it and am very very happy about it! Our new flat will be in the 12th arrondissement, it's at walking distance from my work (about 15mins), 5 mins from bois de vincennes (good for going running in the weekend!), furnished with nice and new furniture + very recently redone so it all looks great! Obviously it will take a bit more time to finalise all the papers (or what did you think), but I'm already very excited about it!!

And finally, I just realised that I haven't even mentioned the fact that we are getting married this year! Yes!!!! Preparations are underway, but what we've done so far already is
- booked the venue and DJ
- church and priest have been informed of the date of our wedding
- found my wedding dress (!!!!!!) and Maarten's wedding suit and the wedding bands!
- created a draft list of attendees

It's so much fun to think about our big day and to prepare for it. And even when so many people say that it's sooo much work, it doesn't really feel like that. And NO, I'm not managing this as a project (this is, strangely, the first question my colleagues asked me when I told them I got engaged - yep...)

And finally, on Tuesday my fiancé joins me in Paris, so I can't wait to really start discovering Paris together!

So long, fare well, mes amis! Oh and let me know if you know people in Paris too!

Louise

Last days in London - first days in Paris!

Hmmm, should I try to write this one in English? Belgian people will be ok with it + my friends in the UK would finally understand a blog post of mine! Let's try it. Oh and just ignore any spelling / grammar mistakes, ok? Great, let's go!

Last days in the UK
Apart from working like a crazy person to try and finish off my UK work, I spent my last days in the UK trying to do things I knew I would miss after leaving London:

1) Go to the gym: Yep, tried out bodyjam, yoga and zumba and went swimming quite a few times! Done
2) English breakfast: this is the only English 'dish' I will miss so had one in the last weekend in Ealing
3) Cider: had enough of this during my leaving drinks :) Great evening with so many amazing colleagues who all came to say goodbye... I'm glad I'm not changing companies, so I will keep having the opportunity to catch up with all of them when I need to be in the UK from time to time! I have learned so much in my 1 year and 7 months in the UK, thanks to all of them!
4) Sushi and Thai food: went for sushi on my last night out in London with my 2 best friends who I will miss more than anything else! One of them actually taught me how to use chopsticks properly a few months ago, so I can finally eat sushi in a decent way! Had Thai for my last lunch in the UK, mmm
5) London: I have always said that I've never really been in Love with London, but that doesn't mean that I won't miss it. So much culture, so many great places to go, always something to do. In my last weekend before leaving the UK, we went to Hampstead heath to check out the view of London. A long trip from Ealing but a very rewarding view of London at sunset!

First days in Paris
So my company had this really interesting job opportunity in Paris and I thought: that's where I want to go. Having studied French and Spanish at university, it seemed the perfect opportunity to combine my work experience in project management and my studies.

I left the UK on a Tuesday evening, after a last working day in the UK with lots of catch-ups with people who's feedback I value a lot. One big trolley, a bit too heavy for me, with all my clothes for 1 month and I was gone! I can tell you now that the London tube is no fun at all, especially around 17h30 when you're so much slower than everybody else due to the trolley... Finally made it to Saint-Pancras where I decided to buy a half price WHSmith book for the last time (why would you not buy a book if it's only 4£?) and a Time Out about Paris. After 2h 30 mins, the train arrived in Paris, where the journey was even more painful because by now my hands just really hurt a lot. Anyway, I arrived in our temporary flat around 23h and god I love this place! It's old but good old, with dark wooden floors and high ceilings, a television, internet, a bath and a dish washer! Pure luxury for me :) Of course I'm looking for a permanent flat now as this is just for a month, but I will make sure I enjoy the temporary luxury :) The area is nice as well, next to Gare Saint-Lazare, in 'le quartier européen'.

My first day 'in the French office' was actually like this: getting up at 5h30 (yes... and the night beforehand I actually went to bed really late because I'm one of those people who doesn't feel comfortable until my -huge trolley- bags are unpacked and everything has its own place... i know) - taking the train to Saint-Etienne, which is even further than Lyon, attending an all team meeting from 10 to 16h and take the train back! Very very intense but a great first day as I got the chance to talk to a lot of people and could present myself and the work I've done beforehand, in French (et oui!).

On Thursday and Friday I practised the art of switching between English and French without thinking about it (which is still a bit weird, because I also still have this third, Dutch, language in my head). It's going quite well! On Thursday evening I went out with the 'expats'. It's not just English people as you would expect, but actually a mix of Australian, Spanish, Belgian (ok, that's me) and English. We went to a nice restaurant close to Place Monge and for a drink afterwards, really a nice area (and evening!)

And yesterday I met up with a friend from university to go for a drink and watch a concert, which was just amazing so all I can say is that I love Paris already...!

First observations about Paris/France (in random order + only personal impressions so no general truths!):

• people are not as dressed up as in London (which is definitely a good thing, I think!) I feel a lot more normal now, which wasn't the case when I sat on a London tube on a Saturday evening and only saw girls who almost didn't wear anything at all - I still wonder why that is?)
• old brasseries and cafés are as cool as the fancy bars in London, even when they don't look like it when you first enter
• when you ask for a glass of wine in a pub or bar you get a really small mini-glass, but the wine is excellent!
• French people eat their salad first and only then they start eating their meat and potatoes/rice...
• Baguettes are really as delicious as you think they are!!! Same for the 'pains au chocolat'!
• People eat more lentils than in the UK and Belgium
• As my Belgian friend knows quite a few singers/musicians, I've already had the pleasure to go to a gig which I wouldn't have known about in a 100 years if it wasn't for her. In a small venue, 'La Java', close to metro Belleville, I've seen the band 'The effervescing paintbox' http://www.la-java.fr/#Scene_1 - great band, really cool songs, just a difficult name if you ask me!
• French people like you a lot more when you show that you want to make an effort to speak French, which is obviously really good for me as I really want to improve my French now!
• People are very friendly. Every morning, in the elevator (our office is on the 10th floor), everybody says 'bonjour' when you enter the elevator and 'bonne journée' when you leave the elevator
• When you arrive in the office you say hi to everybody individually, and if you wish, you give everybody 2 kisses. I've done it for the first time on Friday and secretly felt a little bit like a real French person :)
• The radio station 'Virgin' just plays music all day, English, American, French songs and even Milow today, heyy!
• In Paris, the 'Vélib' system is a real success. You pay a yearly sum and then you can just use any 'vélib' bike which you can find anywhere in town. As long as you don't use it for more than 30mins, it's free, you pay when you do more than 30 mins. My colleagues love it, my friends told me that it's sometimes really hard to find a spot to park them again (thus forcing you to pay as you keep it more than 30 mins)... Will have to check it out first before I decide what to do
• Paris is a lot smaller than London, you can get around so easily by tube but also just on foot (or indeed, bike)

Well, that's it for now, time to look at flats online! Keep in touch, people in London and Belgium!

Gros bisous,

Louise x