Maybe Someday….
A French American Life
by A French American Life
7M ago
Voiles d’Antibes Summer 2023 The south of France has always called to me, even before I met the Frenchman I married. Fifteen years ago, we spent part of our summer in Antibes, just west of Nice. I went to a French immersion program at the Centre International d’Antibes (highly recommend this place!). We fell in love with the old city, the beautiful and rugged Cap d’Antibes, the light, the weather, the food, the Marché Provencal. We made dear friends who we’ve stayed in touch with. Last summer, we returned to Antibes for the first time. And I felt… at home. Like I was returning to a place that ..read more
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One Nation, Under Guns*
A French American Life
by A French American Life
1y ago
A couple of weeks after a gunman murdered 10 people in a grocery store near me, I threw on flip flops to pick a few things up at the grocery store. When I got there, all I could think was – why did I wear flip flops? I can’t run in these. We are One Nation, Under Guns. In restaurants, I always take the seat where I can have my back to the wall. I never sit with my back to the door. Because we are One Nation, Under Guns. In public places, I scan everyone. To see if they are carrying a gun. Especially at movie theaters. I once left a movie because a 20-something male entered, alone, with a large ..read more
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The Marshall Fires
A French American Life
by A French American Life
2y ago
We are not okay. I had a brief moment of relief and hope in November, 2020. Until this sank in: 74 million people in this country thought that four more years of the Florida Man was a good idea. And now, rather than gleefully believing they were “owning the libs,” they were furious and increasingly unhinged from reality. Then, 2021 opened with the January 6 insurrection. With everything that happened during the former president’s 4 years in office, and with everything that has happened since, democracy is failing in the United States, the supposed bastion of democratic principles, the shining ..read more
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2020, You are Exhausting
A French American Life
by A French American Life
3y ago
I haven’t written for a long time. I’m working on entries about my language vacation, but I’m going to be honest – the state of affairs in my country has me beat down. A lot of my energy has been poured into activism and taking care of my family. 2020 sucks – I don’t think there’s any other way to look at it. It especially sucks right now in ‘Murica. It’s election season in the US, and in Trump’s America, that means we are being inundated with even more lies and propaganda than usual. It’s a scary time to be an American: an uncontrolled pandemic, deepening corrosion of our institutions, daily ..read more
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National Gun Violence Awareness Day – a uniquely US tradition
A French American Life
by A French American Life
5y ago
A brief interlude from my trip down memory lane…. Yes, you read the title correctly. This is a yearly awareness day we have in this country. Gun violence and the United States are synonymous. American exceptionalism. Only I don’t think this is what we envisioned with that phrase. It was inevitable. Me, being an activist. I’m following in the great American (and French) tradition of standing up and speaking out. I recently became a co-lead for my local Moms Demand Action group. We advocate for common sense gun laws and work to increase awareness of the epidemic of gun violence in the United Sta ..read more
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First Days
A French American Life
by A French American Life
5y ago
I’m writing a series of posts on a trip I took to France 15 years ago. This is the second installment. See the introduction here and the first entry here. My flight arrived in Paris the next morning, my third visit to Charles de Gaulle airport. The first two visits had brought me to tears, so excitement over my arrival was tinged with a touch of dread. I’d splurged on hiring a driver through the school for transportation to my host family’s flat. I exited the one-way doors into the waiting room where people clustered near the door, several of them holding signs. I spotted the sign with my name ..read more
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Getting There
A French American Life
by A French American Life
5y ago
Along the Seine I’m writing a series of posts on a trip I took to France 15 years ago. This is the first installment. Soon after I graduated from my physical therapy program and moved to San Diego, I met a group of French exchange students. I began to study French from a CD (which does not get you far, I quickly discovered) and managed to squeeze in a ten-day trip to visit them in France. There were four of them, all male, one of whom I had a brief, whirlwind romance with. I joked that my visit was my own French ElimiDate (does anyone remember that show?). Having four great-looking French guys ..read more
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Springtime in Paris
A French American Life
by A French American Life
5y ago
Fifteen years ago, this month, I quit my job and set off for Paris. On March 19, in fact. It was everything I dreamed it would be. And more. A lot led up to that trip. Like many who work in the health care field, I was Burnt. Out. I was angsting my way through a quarter(ish)-life crisis. I hated the idea of turning thirty and being in a situation that felt closer to hamster-on-a-wheel than to the bright future of a rewarding career and the balanced life that I’d envisioned in grad school. In high school, I signed up for French as my second language but my mom refused to sign my electives form ..read more
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