“What an immense impression Paris made upon me. It is the most extraordinary place in the world!”

Charles Dickens
photo of artist

We have all at some point, fallen a little bit in love with Paris. That fascinating foreignness of culture, language, and history, that still seems so familiar.

Hi there, I’m Nassie, and I’ve been living full-time in France for more than 10 years now. (Yikes, time flies!) I still remember my first trip to Paris at 18, with my parents from Canada.

I don’t know what I thought back then, but I definitely did not think that one day I would move to France and become a French citizen myself.

How I moved to France and became a French citizen

A few years after that initial trip to Paris, my love for travel continued. I went to university, trained as a CPA, and travelled a lot more. From solo backpacking to Contiki tours, I did it all.

But slowly, I realized that what I wanted out of traveling was changing. I didn’t care about ticking off every item on the “Country Checklist”, I wanted to really get a feel for the people and the culture. I wanted to stay longer in one place, not visiting another museum, but really imagining what it would be like to live there. The idea of “slow travel” was taking form.

And then I stumbled across that magical “open sesame”: the Working Holiday Visa in France. A year abroad with Paris as my base, to travel across Europe and the globe. Didn’t French people have this idea of Art de Vivre and slowing down, anyway?

A narrow street in Paris

I’m not sure where I got the courage from, but I quit my job, got the visa, and gave myself at least one summer in the City of Lights. One glorious summer in the sun, no expectations, and no crazy deadlines. If I got a job (it was a working holiday visa after all), “tant mieux” as we say in French. All the better!

As it happened, at the end of those 4 summer months, I had met my future husband, gotten a job in my field, and transformed into a “Parisienne“.

Like a movie, except it didn’t really feel that way at the time. It just felt like I could have been anywhere, with the additional requirement of a mountain of paperwork.

Fast forward a few more years and a couple of kids later (more paperwork), and I suddenly realized that with a French husband and children, I was no longer the cool expat wandering the globe.  

I had become a local. And a French citizen to boot. And to my kids and everyone else around, I was now just like all the other Parisians around. Paris is still the City of Lights, but those rose-colored glasses have turned much clearer.

Paris is a state of mind. Snippets of Paris
“Paris is always a good idea.” — Audrey Hepburn

How Snippets of Paris was born

I eventually moved on from that job, and plunged into my art shop Ainsi Hardi. Art had always been a “love on the side” while going for that “proper job”, which could also explain how I ended up in France! And while that is really interesting, I realized I couldn’t really explain some of my thoughts and inside jokes in that format.

I wanted to document some of the funny quirks and eccentricities that come with living in a foreign country, especially with my little Frenchies who have a completely different perspective.

And I wanted to pass on that same experience to other people who love to travel, to really be able to imagine what it would be like to live in France. I realized that the only way to do that was in a blog or online magazine.

Will you still want to live in Paris if you knew the usual routine of every day?

Nassie

No, my daily routine in France does not involve spending my mornings in a farmers’ market, then sitting at a terrasse drinking coffee and wine all afternoon, and finally going home to cook a large meal for 3 hours. All the while dressed in skinny jeans and a white shirt, of course. Not.

That romantic French ideal tends to take a sharp curveball when it meets real-life stuff like work, school, and kids. From conversations over the dinner table, dating to getting married, commuting to work in the morning and enjoying a few drinks on a night out, this is the sort of stuff I like to dig into.

And no, I won’t have any breathless reviews of new bars and restaurant openings in Paris. (To be perfectly honest, between working full-time and with my kids running around, by the time I get to that new restaurant, it will probably no longer be “new”!)

I do love history though, so I tend to write quite a bit about little historical tidbits I have come across. Because what is the point of coming to France and not uncovering all the stories of those who walked before on these same streets, in times gone by.

So let’s get real. Let me take you to what is now my home, the French version with the highs, the lows, and the not-so-pretty bits.

illustration of plane landing in Paris

Travel with me

Snippets of Paris aims to tell you what the locals tell their friends about, to go beyond the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower. My photos aren’t perfect, but I’ll share with you fun anecdotes about what daily life in France is like, so that you too can imagine yourself living here.

Does Paris continue to hold its charm, if you are living there, rather than visiting? Do you ever become fluent in French? And raising kids in France!? Ooh la la!

with love, Nassie xx

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Frequently asked questions

How did I arrive in France? What visa did I use?

I came on a working holiday visa, and then switched to Young Professional. It was a long and exhausting process (paperwork!) before finally becoming a citizen, so I won’t bother to write about it.

And the procedures change every 6 months, let alone 10+ years, so my experience won’t really be of use to other people looking to move here.

Do I like living in France?

Yes, for the most part. It has become home now. And I don’t believe in having only 1 home, home is where the heart is, Canada is my home too.
I don’t know that I always love the Parisian area, sometimes we debate moving south to Provence which is where my husband’s family is from. But for work reasons, we continue to live in Paris.

Will I ever move back to Canada?

Maybe one day, I never say never! As the Zen quote goes: “No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place”. (I like quotes, as you can tell!)

Have a question? Let’s keep in touch!

I’m on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, so don’t hesitate to message me. But I must confess, I don’t always actively post on social media. I’m trying to consolidate where I spend my time, and I don’t love their crazy changing algorithms that decide who gets shown what and when.

It is just so much simpler to communicate directly, so I usually stick to email (via substack) for updates and other fun stories from France.

A little different from the blog, in my newsletter I reflect on what is making the news here in France. From politics, current affairs, entertainment and sports, along with anything else that may come up in conversation around the dinner table. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with stories of what I ate or which boulangerie I visited today.)

You can get a taste of it here, in my newsletter archives. There’s a bit of humor, a bit of gossip, a bit of drama, and a bit of fun, all straight from the streets of Paris, France.

Sign up now to get to get all the news and cultural commentary directly to your inbox 😉

Wondering where to begin? Start here

Planning a trip to Paris?

For my recommendations on where to stay and what to do in Paris, please see my Paris Resources Guide. If you would like to explore Paris a bit more, allons-y!

Life in Paris?

Moving to Paris?

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