It's been nearly two and a half years now since I started my blog and moved to Paris. Part of me can't believe that I'm here; that I have a grown-up job, my own apartment, my own bills to pay and weirdest of all - I can actually speak French. But don't misunderstand, it hasn't always been easy and French, I guess, will never be 'easy'. If I'm entirely honest I didn't really become independent until the end of 2012. In my first year as an au pair I had a family to rely on, in a lot of my second; a French boyfriend who knew the ropes and finally in the summer of '12 everything suddenly became my responsibility. I can safely say that at first I freaked-the-hell-out and wondered how I would manage everything, I also seriously contemplated leaving and going either back to the UK or to another country altogether. However, with some amazing friends by my side and a bit of a wake up call I got my act together and here I am, bringing in the New Year with some great new friends, two little bar jobs and lots of new opportunities in my teaching job. 2013 feels like it's going to be my year :-)
So I guess I should tell you my resolutions for this year. A few of them are pretty typical and are probably a lot of people's resolutions but that's what New Year is all about, a new start, right?
1. Do less thinking about what I'm going to write and do more actual writing
2. Lose weight (standard resolution)...but seriously, I'm going to America in March and I don't want resemble a baby whale
3. Travel within France more. Sometimes I feel like I never leave Paris and I have a travel card so no more excuses. Book time off in the summer and go South.
4. Improve my French with my DIF hours. A lot of people say that my French is good but honestly it could be better. I speak well but I need to study more to improve my grammar :-/
5. Discover new bars and brasseries. When you know people in Paris you tend to frequent the same bars and almost accidentally stop venturing outside of the areas you know.
6. Run at least once, if not twice per week
7. Start playing the piano again
8. Go to Ireland/1
9. In the words of Bridget Jones "Will find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits and perverts."
10. Decide which country I'm going to next.
I know ten is probably a few too many resolutions to have but I have a whole year and I feel like the more resolutions I have, the more likely I will be to actually keep some of them.
Anyway New Year's Eve was great , Lydia and Chantelle were here and we celebrated in style. Lots of champagne, a few too many shots and good friends made New Year a perfect evening. It's very different to NYE at home, no fancy dress and sadly no Auld Lang Syne but we glammed ourselves up and had a fabulous night anyway. Cheers to 2013 :)
So I guess I should tell you my resolutions for this year. A few of them are pretty typical and are probably a lot of people's resolutions but that's what New Year is all about, a new start, right?
1. Do less thinking about what I'm going to write and do more actual writing
2. Lose weight (standard resolution)...but seriously, I'm going to America in March and I don't want resemble a baby whale
3. Travel within France more. Sometimes I feel like I never leave Paris and I have a travel card so no more excuses. Book time off in the summer and go South.
4. Improve my French with my DIF hours. A lot of people say that my French is good but honestly it could be better. I speak well but I need to study more to improve my grammar :-/
5. Discover new bars and brasseries. When you know people in Paris you tend to frequent the same bars and almost accidentally stop venturing outside of the areas you know.
6. Run at least once, if not twice per week
7. Start playing the piano again
8. Go to Ireland/1
9. In the words of Bridget Jones "Will find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workaholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits and perverts."
10. Decide which country I'm going to next.
I know ten is probably a few too many resolutions to have but I have a whole year and I feel like the more resolutions I have, the more likely I will be to actually keep some of them.
Anyway New Year's Eve was great , Lydia and Chantelle were here and we celebrated in style. Lots of champagne, a few too many shots and good friends made New Year a perfect evening. It's very different to NYE at home, no fancy dress and sadly no Auld Lang Syne but we glammed ourselves up and had a fabulous night anyway. Cheers to 2013 :)
