The Scriffiths

I am not sure if I knew about the existence of Corsica - at least not in any concrete way - before living in France. But every single French person has either been, or wants to go, on a summer vacation to Corse. And after months of hearing about how amazing the French island is, we also wanted to go. August is a strange time in Paris. Parisians leave the city for the month, or a good part of it; most tourists have finished their summer sejourn in the city of lights, trying to avoid the worst of the heat; and all the shopkeepers pull down the shutters for their own time off, or to do renovations. »

I have a love-hate relationship with Paris. And I have a love-hate relationship with my life in Paris. I think the place is mocking me. I spent the best part of my life defending all the generalised statements criticising the French, complaining about Paris and its inhabitants, and reducing the culture to overused clichés. But now I see it all. And worse, I see more. One of the challenges with emigrating is that one tends to compare everything to one’s country of origin, and that can go both ways. »

St Malo has quickly become one of our favourite places in France. It was a revelation the first time we went, and equally gratifying the second time. The first time we went to St Malo was at the end of our little tour of Normandy. As I wrote in that blog post, it was a spontaneous addition to our trip that we decided on to avoid going back to Paris, where the city was heading into its fourth day of temperatures over 40°C. »

While we’re living in Paris, we’ve set a goal to visit every region of mainland France, plus Corsica, before we move home. The regions of France comprise the 12 regions within “the hexagon” (mainland France), the Mediterranean island of Corsica, and the additional overseas territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion Island, Guiana). The regions of France I found a website describing each region with little slogans. I’m not sure if they’re better or worse than the numberplate slogans that the Australian states and territories adopted back in the day. »

After ten weeks of staying in an Airbnb in Paris, we finally moved into our own apartment. Our apartment - located on Cour des Petites Écuries - is in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. The name of our little street, which translates to ‘courtyard of the little stables’, derives from the fact that the passage is adjacent to the Rue des Petites Écuries, which was close to the site of the royal French stables before the French Revolution. »