Enchantée- Nice to Meet You

In French, to be “à l’étranger” means to be abroad. In English, this expression almost reads like “stranger,” which I certainly feel I am sometimes! I’m Emily, an American in France. As my 5th year of teaching and 3rd year of expat life come to a close, I figured I was long overdue for a blog. Thank you for joining me :).

As you can deduce by my tagline, living in France has been paradoxically lovely and lousy, dreamy and dreadful, wonderful and… crappy (sorry, I couldn’t find a good alliterative word with a “w”). In all seriousness, though, I am happier and healthier here than I was back home, and will hopefully be staying in France for a little while yet. I won’t sugarcoat anything in this blog, but stick with me and you’ll see that most of what I write about will be positive. It has taken a mixture of effort and luck to get to where I am, and I don’t take that for granted. If you’re reading this with the intention of living (or staying) in France, know that everybody goes about this a little differently. However, here is a little chronological info about my professional path from Midwestern Mademoiselle to Madame McLane:

• Bachelor’s Degree in French and History, Lawrence University Class of 2014 (Go Vikings! Kidding. LU is not known for its sports teams.)
• 2 years as a United States History Teacher in The Bronx (through Teach for America)
• Master’s Degree in Teaching, Fordham University. I did this simultaneously with teaching and was tired ALL THE TIME.
• 1 year as an English Teaching Assistant in Paris through TAPIF (The Teaching Assistant Program in France)
• 2 years as a Maître de langue, or Visiting English Teacher, at the University of Strasbourg School of Law, Political Science, and Management

And that brings me to where I am now! While my job keeps me relatively busy, I have much more free time than I used to. I fill that time with travel, singing, Netflix, reading, and drinking coffee or wine (depending on the time of day). From the glamorous aspects of living abroad to the day-to-day, I am an open-book and can’t wait to share with you. Please feel free to comment if you have any questions/requests or want to introduce yourself!

Bisous et à bientôt.