10 ANS A PARIS.

Today I've been in Paris for ten years. TEN YEARS. Who's counting? You might say, recently I discovered a lot of people do! Most of my expat friends know exactly when they arrived. I plopped down at Dads place (he was living here back in the day) after months of traveling around Europe with Sophia <3 that's a whole long story in itself, but long story short - we had a blast, she eventually decided to go back to Stockholm and the day before my 19th birthday I landed in Paris! I did have a blog back then too, on a magazines website (Veckorevyn for you Swedes) sadly everything was removed without any real notice so a few years got lost :( The earliest I can track back is to February 2008, here's my header from back then. I was so proud that I'd put it together myself.  Back then I took French at Alliance Francaise (Dads only term for me staying rent free with him), find the Hollywood actress in my class! :) (no, seriously, Hollywood actress. Almost fell off my chair when she walked in.) I hung out with the Swedish crew (Hidaya, Ylva, Davorka - I'm looking at you!) and went out every single night. Discovered Café Oz, which would become a regular hang out spot for years to come. A cocktail in hand at some dancefloor, where you would always find me. Not sure how I handled going to school as well with this lifestyle? And shortly after this my first nannying job on top of that??  A decade of life in a place I never planned to end up in. I was supposed to stay for a few months, study some French, then move along. I've met so many people and made so many friends. Some I still hang out with, some with whom I've lost touch and a few that I've made the conscious decision not to speak to anymore. I don't regret a thing though. It sounds like I'm writing my own eulogy here, I'm just finding it hard to not get nostalgic today. Ten years is a big chunk of my life so far.  Now I'm gonna go make up the bed for guests who are arriving in an hour, then eventually wander up to school to pick up my little Thursday kids. Tomorrow is my birthday, and for possibly the first time ever I've got a bit of a knot in my stomach.  Breath.