Welcome!

The view from my first apartment in Paris

My very first blog post! Honestly I find this kind of scary, it's sort of terrifying sharing my personal thoughts with the outside world (especially since, I am often one to keep to myself)... I hope you'll enjoy and thanks for reading!

Ever since officially moving back to Europe almost 4 and a half years ago, I had people shocked to know that I was not documenting any of it (besides some photos and memories). It made me wonder if I should feel as scandalized as them (is this... like, really a bad thing?). So 1 year in I finally signed-up for Instagram to 'up' my documentation game, and only recently I started feeling motivated to take it a little further and make it something more. At the beginning of every new year I choose a word, in place of a specific resolution, which will define the focus of my personal growth for the year to come. 3 years ago my word was ADVENTURE, last year was CULTURE and this year is REFLECTION. 

I came to know that 2016 was the year of reflection sometime in late November 2015 when I suddenly felt compelled to create an interactive, layered map of all my favorite places in Paris, including a layer dedicated purely to touristic points of interest I could easily share with visitors. It felt unbelievably relieving to finally get all my favorite spots out of my head and 'on paper', rather than frantically trying to dig them up every time I wanted to recommend a place. As an unexpected consequence, I eventually found the map to be useful to base my plans off of - the ability to spatially see where I've already been allowed me to have a better idea of new places I needed and wanted to explore.

After sharing the map with others for the first time I was so pleased to receive so much positive feedback! It comes as a natural joy to share and help others discover all the treasures of this marvellous city, and it brings me so much satisfaction witnessing their awe and excitement when they do. If I can stay dedicated to maintaining this blog (*crossing fingers*), I hope that sharing Paris with you will generate a similar, positive response and inspire you to come and explore yourself. Enjoy :-)

À toute!