I am French

For the season finale - YES! the last episode before we take a little break - I talk with the lovely Amy Carter who moved to France in 2018. She opened a gite - Le Bezy - with her husband James and then 6 months later lockdown happened. She tells us the process of setting up a gite in France and we talk about what it’s like to live and work with her husband. They are both passionate cyclists and it allows them to explore their new home and also meet new people. Amy talks about thei...

For this Australia Day, I sat down with the fabulous Andrew Prior of, wait for it...Andrewpriorfabulously! Well, I got tripped up by the teacher’s strike so it’s a day late. Note to self: get organised. ha!So, Andrew moved to France from Australia with his husband 4 years ago and after first being based in Paris they moved down to Nouvelle-Acquaitaine near Poitiers just before the first lockdown. We chat about life before he came to France and how he starred on MasterChef Australia. Hav...

Shannon Pratuch is an American who fell in love with France on a work trip and then strategically planned her move here over the following years. Having closed her business in the US Shannon made the leap to live in France and dove into the immigration and visa process all whilst setting herself up here in France. Shannon gives great advice about how to find the right home and area of France for you - not just the logistics and budget considerations but the emotional elements of how we naviga...

Amaka Azuka is a vegetarian Londoner who’s been in Paris for over 8 years. She teaches English, she’s a food photographer and when I found her IG page I knew I wanted her on the podcast. Amaka knew that she would live in Paris from the age of 12 and even failing her French exams didn’t deter her to bring her dream to life.We chat about how she started photography, how being a vegetarian in Paris has gotten easier and we look at France v England, Paris v London and city v countryside. Ama...

Whereas most of us caught a plane to get here or maybe drove, my guest this week has the most original means of arriving in France...by barge. Kate Hill is a cook, teacher and writer who has lived in Gascony, SW France for over 30 years. We talk about how she learnt French cooking, the language and how she has become integrated into her community. We talk about her identity as an American, where she feels at home and her ability to be ‘nimble’ in these trying times. Kate reflects on...

It hasn't escaped me that it’s been all ladies so far (and there are some lovely gentlemen coming up in future episodes, I promise.) So, voila! Here's our first man! Alex Barron, who found his love of French in... Australia, would you believe, joins me to discuss what we can encounter when we embark on learning a new language: Perfectionism, ego, trust, looking silly & getting it wrong, the language plateau, acceptance and setting goals. We discuss his coaching and online course...

Ajiri Aki hails from NYC, via Texas and Nigeria and after settling in France 9 years ago with her Swiss-German husband, 2 kids came along, she started a business and she now sees herself as a ‘lifer’ in Europe. Ajiri joins me to talk about her struggles in her early days in Paris, how she made friends along the way and how bringing people together is at the heart of her business @Madamedelamaison. We also talk about language, the complaining - ours as ex-pats and the French - and wh...

Tamsin Chubb is a yoga teacher, coach and ayurvedic practitioner and she runs retreats from her home in SW France. We discuss the role grief played in her decision to move here and how, after 7 years in France, she has been changed by the slower pace of life and by living so close to nature. We talk about how covid has changed her business, her journey of being a vegetarian in France and what Ayurveda is all about. We chat about finding community in French and in English, the French language ...

Elizabeth Hall - a Californian who once had a French flag flying outside her LA home - joins I am French to discuss how life has changed since moving to Paris two years ago with her husband and daughter. We talk about her struggle to learn French, how her daughter is her translator and with this dynamic how her role as a mother has changed. the differences between LA and Paris.her reflections on being American - this episode was recorded before the US election. ...

To start things off I’m joined by the lovely Laura Harley: a therapist and writer who moved to the Haute Vienne region of France in 2018. Through her blog, Frugal France Laura shares how she and her husband live in France on a budget. We talk about her work as a therapist, the internet and how things have changed because of Covid. Laura also shares the progress she’s making on doing up her house: including it being so ‘au natural’ that the weather reading can be made inside and a cr...