Some Friday evenings, an insidious sense of hopelessness invades my brain. I fail to feel relief and happiness over the prospect of the coming week-end. Instead, all of the things I didn’t achieve the past week come slapping me in the face. I didn’t write enough, wasn’t a dedicated enough teacher to my students, didn’t … Continue reading »
Two weeks ago, I met Rian, a blogger I’ve been following for 5 months even though she was a total stranger. Meeting her was an agreeable destination in my journey to “get” what blogging is all about. . Blogs are like millions of islands floating on the ocean. Some are small, others are huge. I … Continue reading »
When I was a child, my grandmother often drove me and my siblings between our various French-child engagements, such as accordion lessons and pétanque sessions. Where I grew up in Nice, looking for a parking space is maddening- cars are parked in and out of parking lines while disrespectful drivers try to sneak in front … Continue reading »
Summer is my favourite time of the year. When I was younger, I used to spend my summer days at the beach, swimming, summersaulting and playing in the warm mediterranean water. I could never get enough sun, salt and sea. I miss those hot days now that I live in Zurich. Fortunately, Nice, my hometown, … Continue reading »
Want to be a culture snob and impress your friends with your deep knowledge of French cinema? Hate mainstream stuff and wish you were a hipster? Loved Amelie and want more of the same? Then this guide to my favourite French movies is for you! Amélie is great but if it’s the only French film you’ve ever seen, … Continue reading »
“I’m gonna practice Swiss-German tonight at a party!” I announced proudly to Beat, the guy who valiantly tries to teach me Swiss-German. “Oh, you know, they can probably speak French or English too,” he said, looking slightly worried. During our language exchange sessions, he speaks slowly and I say a few words but we have … Continue reading »
Is there enough luxury in your life? In Zürich, you can find a watch for $200,000 and get fresh truffle grated directly on your plate for $10 a gram. School girls walk around in designer clothes with the last $3000 ‘it bag’ and Chanel diamond earrings. This kind of luxury never attracted me. However, I … Continue reading »
Sometimes, I feel like a master at male psychology. When Nick refuses to help me proofread one of my post drafts, for example, I start whining endlessly until he caves in to make the noise stop. I’m the Sigmund Freud of nagging. However, I’m sometimes puzzled by men’s behaviour, speech and beliefs. The power of … Continue reading »
After I cut my hair last week, my so-called friend Andrew said: “I think you looked better with long hair. You look like a 6 year-old now.” I had to kick him on the shin to help him understand how rude and mean what he’d just said was. He replied that cutting hair was as revealing of … Continue reading »
A little sugar came my way in the form of the One Lovely Blog Award. Fellow blogger Jessica nominated me among 15 other cool blogs. I recently discovered hers, Defining Wonderland, and immediately liked the concept. Go check it out! So I’m really happy for the attention and all… but the problem with this kind of … Continue reading »
I moved into my flat only two years ago and I already have too much stuff: piles of papers I’ll never attend to, old magazines I’ll never read, clothes and jewelry I’ll never wear. I’m not a hoarder, I often enter give-away/throw-away sprees and I try to consume reasonably. But I still have too much stuff … Continue reading »
I have a mean voice talking in the back of my head. She intrudes when I make a mistake or when I drop something to tell me: “Quelle idiote!“ Yeah, my mean voice speaks French. Her favorite words mean: “What an idiot you are!” or “How stupid!” or “You’ll never get it right!”. Sometimes, I … Continue reading »
I love when bloggers or magazines illustrate articles with a drawing. I draw myself a little bit but it never occurred to me that I could illustrate my own articles. It was something I thought reserved to the more talented. But then I realised that an illustration doesn’t need to be technically impressive to convey … Continue reading »
Looking French doesn’t require much effort. You may even have to give up some of your beauty habits to achieve Frenchness. But first, let’s define what it is, or at least what I think it is… While I was in New York, I often turned up to parties in jeans and Converse. At first, I … Continue reading »
Bad moods hit me like summer storms. They’re sudden, devastating and usually short. I’m a roller coaster type of person, with sensational highs and frightening lows. But what my unconscious tries hardest to avoid is boredom. As emotions are addictive, I unconsciously prefer to feel down rather than neutral. Another option would be to seek happiness … Continue reading »
A year ago, I wrote a post called Why I try to be a vegetarian. I had just read J. S. Foer’s Eating Animals and I was convinced that eating meat was cruel, bad for the environment and unhealthy. I was determined to give up meat and no cow would block my way to righteousness. A year … Continue reading »
Spring is here! Every green leaf and sunbeam brings me a rush of positive energy. New season, new projects: I decided to post photos more often. I’ll start with 2 things that make me happy in Zürich at the moment: chocolate and blossoms. Below is a sweet selection from my visit to Le Salon du … Continue reading »
Switzerland gave me my first real job. Not a summer job, not an internship; the job that would pay rents and bills. When I arrived 3 years ago, I suffered from a kind of French disdain for work. Working was something annoying I had to do while preserving my energy for my private life. I … Continue reading »
After a difficult start as a website Café Correspondent in Zürich, I wrote the second article about Nordbrücke with my Swiss friend Beat. Check it out here! A few people wrote to me from the site to suggest places and I will try to meet and write about all of them. It’s great and exciting to receive such positive … Continue reading »
When you have a blog, there is a feature called “site stats” that tells you how many visits your blog received and where they came from. In a year of blogging, I am up to 8,000 views which is much more than I ever expected. Most of my readers come from Facebook where I put up … Continue reading »
