A Little Update After My Last Post

Not the best quality photo I know but I figured that I would come on here and let you guys know how I’m doing after my last blogpost where I was feeling mentally exhausted and just drained from my bad experiences in Paris.

So many of you were so understanding and so compassionate and the kind words from all of you in the comments section and in private really encouraged me to keep going. I really can’t express how thankful I am for that.

In times when I feel like things are getting frustrating or difficult for me here I also go back to the things I love about the city. Paris is full of so many wonderful things so throughout the week I did my best to enjoy them again. Over the past week I didn’t post too much on here or on Instagram because I felt like catching up with friends was much more important from a mental health point of view. Blogging is rewarding and I love the dopamine rush I get from pressing publish but hanging out with french people and speaking their language really makes me feel like less of an outsider because it reminds me that the people that judge me for being foreign and for having an accent are only basing their opinion on such a tiny fraction of who I am. It’s a ballsy decision to leave home and move to a country where you don’t speak the language. People who turn their noses up at others for having an accent are just plain ignorant because they have no idea how hard it is to teach your brain to think and speak in an entirely different system of communication to what you’re used to.

There are rude people and idiots everywhere and part of being an outsider is learning to ignore them.

There’s a full on heatwave going on here so my little Irish body does not know how to cope right now with the almost 40C weather. If I was by the sea or had a pool to plunge into I know I would be fine but the heat gets hard to take in a city! I don’t have many summer clothes at the moment because they are all in Ireland but I recently grabbed this dress on the Asos sale from a brand I recently discovered called Honey Punch and needless to say I am obsessed with it. The silky fabric is everything that my heat-suffocated skin needs for the summer and the foulard that comes with it really helps to complete the outfit. In this photo I’m wearing it around my neck but I’ve been loving to wear it in my hair as well which is a trend I’m really getting into for summer.

The main places I love to enjoy the views of Paris as I say time and time again is from the café terraces. Even in spite of the weather I can always find sanctuary here whether I may be writing my blogposts or spending time with my friends. Even in the 40C heat I’m still drinking hot coffees everyday because iced coffee hasn’t become mainstream in France yet, at least not in the typical french cafés I’ve been to anyway.

It’s so funny that in Ireland people always talk to me about how advanced France is as a country but then on the other hand it’s so hard to find the usual things from home. So many parisians drink espresso and café au lait everyday so you’d think that iced coffees would be so common. I guess the opposite is true!

I realise this post was quite random and rambly but I wanted to post something a little more positive on here and let you all know how I’m doing. I don’t know if you like these kind of chill posts or if you prefer posts more focused on specific subjects but if you could let me know in the comments which you prefer that would be so helpful!

Anyway thank you guys so much for reading and for supporting my blog as always.

That’s all from me for now and I’ll see you very soon in our next post!

~Amanda xx