How obvious is the title though? Nonetheless, I absolutely love it. How amazing it is to actually live my 'Emily in Paris' dream, no matter how cheesy it actually sounds. Well, as it might, just might, have crossed your mind, living in Paris is not all butterflies and rainbows and instagram posts going viral in the blink of an eye. You actually have to experience the harsh reality of living in extremely small spaces, watching rats riding on the back of dogs in the metro (how random is that?) and realizing your charming personality will get you no where (I was actually heavily relying on getting away with things by smiling and throwing some bad (hopefully funny) jokes), and getting rejected by so many jobs, of course.
This is life after all. However, I should not complain. I actually live in a normal sized apartment (kudos to my sister) and I have only seen one rat in the metro so far (remember that one riding on the back of that dog?). Apart from all those job rejections, life's not that bad right now. You (my only reader, I assume) are probably asking yourself - What is Fiori doing in Paris, wasn't she last seen in Edinburgh, having a mental breakdown because she had mice in her apartment? Well, dear reader (yes, in singular), you're right, I was last seen in Edinburgh stuck in my apartment alone (If you don't count Robert the mouse and his tiny little family) for three months because of a worldwide pandemic going around. Well, this was back in 2020 and things have changed quite a bit. For a good one year and a half I was back in my home country, Albania. For a while, I thought this was my greatest failure, since being graded with a 1.27 out of 20 on my first 'Introduction to Law' exam in my bachelors degree in France. That was a low I thought I would never achieve again.
I don't know why in my head, going back home counted as a failure. Probably because in every scenario of where my future would send me, I had never imagined living with my parents and staying in my childhood bedroom for a year and a half. No matter how tempted I was to do nothing and complain about my life and blame everything on Covid for the entirety of my stay there, I actually thought I would get up and search for one of those jobs that makes you earn money and not be a burden to your very lovely and understanding parents. So here my quest of building a career begins. And as far as I am concerned, it's pretty much still going on.
Being back was rough. Rough cause I had been away for so long. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who go on an exchange study program for a year abroad (is not even a year tbh - more like 9 months Josephine) and just 'cannot get the right word in' in their native language. I wish it would be just me being pretentious and sh*t. But no. It was actually me just going through a lot in my head (I am treating this post like a therapy session, cause I never had the courage to book a real one). I had projected my entire life plan to go on a different direction that's why going back to where it all started felt like a step back. Anyway, I had some amazing career opportunities and I took them. However, social-wise it felt like I skipped 2 years in my life.
My stay in Albania was positive in a lot of directions though. I got my driving license for once. Not that I know how to drive now, I mean I know how to drive in one direction, forward (this could truly be a slogan for a political campaign) - so no parking or turning left and right anytime soon for me. But you know, I have the license *yay*. To continue will all the good positive things during my stay, I would definitely count the opportunity to work and be part of exiting new projects and meeting an amazing team of ladies who were first my colleagues and turned into some amazing friends and people I truly look up to.
Now this post is called "Fiori in Paris' and I have been rambling about Albania the entire time. Let's get back to me telling you what I am actually doing in Paris. I decided to pursue a second masters degree and this time in luxury management ( Fashion and Beauty industry). Where else, rather than Paris would I be able to do this? (probably in a lot of other places, like literally anywhere, but it sounded really cool and nice this way).
I am now based in Paris, so prepare yourself/ves (trying to hype myself up that at least 2 people will read this post), for a lot of French content.
What exactly? I have no idea, but I'll probably go on a stroll around the Jardins de Tuileries in this beautiful weather we've been having lately (yes, living in Paris means I can just go to the Louvre whenever I want you suckerrr. Not that I am actually going though. My TikTok attention span has truly robbed me of enjoying anything for more than 30 seconds) and be filled with motivation and creativity .
Here's some random pictures I've taken in Paris this month and also look how cultured I look, heavily staring at a Van Gogh's piece. Now that it is settled that 'living in Paris' will be where my entire personality will be based upon, enjoy the pictures mom (she doesn't understand English, so I've put some pictures for illustration purposes).
À bientôt!
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