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Way way back in LFF episode 2 we were all introduced to some terrific music by an unknown musician Romain Dupré who is also an old school friend of our favourite French correspondent Sarah Zwick.

Romain Dupré chatted to me in this episode about his life in France, about how Paris is changing through this COVID period, and about his hopes for helping his community to heal after this strange stage of history is over. 

Romain was concerned about his English, but I found listening to his strong French accent strangely comforting. To me it was as though there is something that this virus can't take away, and that is the strength and spirit of the French people, their stoicness, their Frenchness. 

There is a rawness in this chat that I don't normally find. Romain was clearly wanting me to hear about the REAL Paris. About how the world actually is for them all right now. I loved hearing about his first experience with rock and roll when his mother put on an album "The Best of The Doors" and how with a broken amplifier it was incredibly loud with the music actually shaking his little child body to its core. He loved it and was sold.

Romain is a man who loves to visit his family in Bayonne even tough he's not a fan of travel. He adores and plays with his children, gives extra time to his students he teaches at high school and follows his heart with his music. 

It takes a lot of courage to do an interview in your second language, as well as a hefty amount of trust. I'm thrilled that Romain agreed to chat to me.

This is a glimpse into a real French life, which is rare. Not an ex-Pat, not a tourist, not a francophile. I find talks with all those categories of people to be wonderfully fulfilling and terribly important to our continued knowledge and understanding of France. However, this chat enabled me to see a different Paris, not the history or the excitement we all crave from France, but the daily challenges and conversely the triumphs. The ordinary and simultaneously fabulous.

I now more than ever can't wait to return...

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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