Paris unfiltered. Appreciating the REAL Parisian experience.

Chiara Benedetto came to live in Paris with an internship in a science field and has now built a life there. Growing up in a simple Italian town, Chiara always felt connected to French culture and language, so it felt a natural progression to head to a Francophone country like Canada, Belgium or France for her work. In this Loulabelle's chat, I was fascinated to hear about Chiara's work, as well as her Parisian life - from the practicalities of sharing in university accommodation, to her own apartment, to having a "melting-pot" group of friends coming to live in Paris from all around the globe.

Chiara helps others now with the paperwork required when migrating to France. Her assistance is not based just on her own experience, but on the needs of each individual, as everyone's situation can be different. Chiara doesn't sugar coat the immigrant experience in Paris, but she describes how those who move and stay in France develop a "grit that no filter can capture".

Tune into this chat and escape to France with us xx

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Louise Prichard is the host of the Loulabelle's FrancoFiles podcast.
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Other Loulabelle's links:
FrancoFile Fix on YouTube
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Spotify Playlist
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles Instagram
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles website

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:11

Bonjour et bienvenue to the Little Bells Francophiles. Je m'appelle Lou and aujourd'hui, I'm welcoming you to episode 202. That's episode 202 in season seven of the podcast that keeps your Frenchie vibes fluttering, just to help Francophiles around the globe immerse in all things French and escape to France virtually wherever you're listening from today. Aujourd'hui, we are chatting to a woman who has lived in Paris since 2013 and now works as a consultant for expats living there in the French capital. We're going to uncover some more about her story of how she came to be there and her life in Paris now. So bienvenue to the Little Bells Francophiles, Chiara Benedetto. Ça va?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Hello, bonjour tout le monde. Ça va, bien merci.

SPEAKER_05 0:58

Oh, no problem whatsoever. Now, today I wanted to find out a bit more from you. Firstly, where were you born? Are you French?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Uh technically, yes, because I was born and raised in Italy, but I also have a French passport because I'm a dual citizen. Brilliant. So where did you grow up? I grew up in a small town in southern Italy called Caserta. It's not that far from Naples and the Mafi coast. And then I decided to move to Paris when I was 24 because I was simply pursuing my dream to become a scientist. And so this is what I currently do in Paris. I work in science.

SPEAKER_05 1:41

Oh, that is fascinating. Well, now you are living in France. Did you come there with a job or did you did science find you after you arrived in Paris?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

No, actually I came with an internship because I was part of the Erasmus program. So I held uh all the interviews in Italy and uh I found a Hoss Lab, HOSS laboratory from Italy, and um I spent the first uh eight months of my stay in Paris um doing this internship, and then I started applying for jobs for proper jobs uh when I was in Paris.

SPEAKER_05 2:16

Okay. So I know you came there for that work, but did you always feel connected to France or has it just turned out that way now?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

No, I always felt connected with France uh since I was a child. Really? I don't know why. I cannot explain you why, because um I come from a very simple, I mean middle-class family. Um, my parents didn't have the opportunity to travel that much uh when I was a kid. So I don't know where this uh innate law from France comes from. I always wanted to learn the language, I always wanted to visit Paris, to go to Disneyland, and so on. Then uh this love for French culture and for French language as well started growing when I was 13 because I started studying French with a very good teacher in high school. Okay, and then the consequence was quite natural because I wanted to apply these language skills. And so I started thinking, what about applying for jobs in a francophone country like uh Canada, Belgium, and of course France? And then my decision fell on France for uh it was destiny, it was um a matter of planet alignment. Uh, that the opportunity to come to Paris just happened, just happened, you know. And then this eight months of internship became uh 12 years of professional experience.

SPEAKER_05 3:46

Oh my goodness, that is brilliant. 12 years. 12 years. What area of science are you working in? Uh, it's life science.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Uh so I mainly work with uh cells models with DNA, RNA, molecular biology. So I'm basically what is called a wet lab scientist. Uh and I've been working in many, many different areas. For example, neuroscience, uh muscular disease, uh, cancer. And now I mainly focus on uh molecular biology and neuroscience. So the science of the brain, basically.

SPEAKER_05 4:22

Oh my goodness, Chiara, this is amazing. I am absolutely blown away by this because we often hear of stuff that's being worked on in other countries. We hear about the work that happens that's coming out of Paris or out of Germany or you know, wherever. And then to actually then be chatting to someone that's doing that work that is groundbreaking and life-changing for a lot of people. I'm very chuffed to be able to be chatting to you on the podcast today. This is really exciting for me. Now, oh, thank you. Thank you. So, what was it like for you when you first moved to Paris? Because you know, you moved there as a 24-year-old, you were doing an internship. What was it like for you at that time? Did they find you an apartment? Did you have somewhere to stay? Or what happened to you when you first got there?

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Uh same, I was quite liked because I immediately found um a place to stay. Uh, I started by sharing uh my flat with uh two other Italian girls.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

And then okay, my sal my salary started growing progressively, and I was able to live alone first in a university residence and then in a real apartment, I would say. Uh I don't know if you were aware of the fact that uh in Paris there's something called Cité Universitaire. Uh it's uh it's a huge university campus with residence for people from all over the world. Oh, no, I think. So I had uh I had a small room of my own. I mean, not that small because I had 16 square meters, which is considered quite huge for Paris.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Uh and my neighbor and my neighbors were from uh from France, from Lebanon, from uh uh which other countries, Tunisia. And so uh we only had a kitchen and some other common spaces to share. And this was where the magic happened, because where we all gathered together for dinner to cook our meals, to chat, and so on, we managed to create this international group of friends that uh okay, so mothers just left France, so I don't really have news from them. Some others are still my friends. Yeah, so this is one of my best memories about life in Paris because I was young, a bit maybe ashamed of my way of speaking or by my accents. I was quite shy. But this opportunity to really live every day in a melting pot uh was perfect to open up, just not to be scared about anything, and uh basically have friends from all over the world.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

So tell me, Chiara, were you fluent in French when you came to work there, or did you just have enough French to understand what you were reading and to talk there? And you weren't yet fluent?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

No, I was fluent. I was fluent. I was basically a B2, C1 level, but of course I didn't have the fluency I have now. I had no clue about the local slang, I couldn't understand people while speaking really fast, so I faced the the main struggles that any immigrant in in uh abroad faces. Yeah, because the French and English, as well, you study on books, is not the same that you heard on the streets. So it gets me like uh a couple of years to get used to this. And after two, three years, I said, okay, now I can feel Parisian because I I can speak their own language and understand what the heck they are saying because sometimes it gets complicated. Uh, it's not that easy. I know it isn't.

SPEAKER_05 7:57

Did you speak English when you were in Italy as well? Because your English is amazing. So, how many languages do you speak? Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Thank you very much. Uh, yes, I spoke English when I was at school, and uh the only occasion I had to speak English was my class or otherwise. I watched films in English, I listen to traditional music, so I always had a good feeling for abroad, for other countries, other countries speaking different languages. So nowadays I can speak fluently four languages: Italian, English, French, and Spanish. Spanish is amazing, and I'm trying to learn uh German and Danish as well. Oh, fantastic! Don't ask me why. I was just curious.

SPEAKER_05 8:39

You obviously have that kind of brain that just switches to languages quite easily, which is very fortunate for you. So you found your home and your job, and now you get to chat to people who are also expats or moving to Paris, or once they're there. How do you support people who are making that move to Paris as well?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Well, I mainly uh I mainly help them with the paperwork. Right. With paperwork and with uh job hunting, because this is becoming nowadays more and more complicated to get a good job in France and uh in Europe in general. Uh, you need to have the right skills, the right uh keywords. Um the CV must be written in a certain way. So, what I'm trying to do, and this requires me uh hours and hours of study, uh, I try to help them to find a good fit in Paris, so the good job, the good way of living, etc. And if they need help with the paperwork, so understanding how uh health insurance works, how immigration law works, uh, I try to help them from this point of view. It is not an easy journey because uh law change all the time. Law change all the time, and uh you always need to be updated with everything that happens, not only in France but in the world. Uh, and while helping them and finding the good uh solution for them, I realize how much my side job can be important for these people. Because uh, when I first moved to Paris, I didn't have a guide. I did everything on my own by looking uh on websites, by trying to ask people where I read in France, uh, how this works, how that works. But it was not easy because everyone gave information based on their point of view, but no one was able to uh to say things crystal clear based on uh not based on personal experiences. So, what I'm trying to do now is to really give a non-personal point of view uh for uh job hunt, for payroll work, and so on, because I believe this is what uh modern uh migrants need.

SPEAKER_05 10:53

Yes, I think that migrants do find things a challenge, not just in France, but globally at the moment, uh depending on where you come from, and especially for those people who are coming from war-affected areas in the world or um, you know, areas where there's political unrest. So trying to find somewhere where they can actually live peacefully and be able to find work. And if they don't speak the native language there, that can be problematic. I'm going to actually read a post of yours that you put on your social media, which I love because it gave me a bit of an insight as to what it must be like for some people when they're a migrant. And I'll quote you now. You said, let go of the outdated cliche of the glamorous expat with the infinity pool and the six-figure success. That's not the whole story, and you know it. Behind the windows of Houseman Buildings, there are those who walked away from everything and everyone they knew to be there. There are hearts that broke under the weight of distance. There's someone starting from scratch, cramped in tiny rooms and surviving on a minimum wage. Between the language barriers, the cultural shocks, and the soul-crushing bureaucracy, there's way more than sparkles and hollow smiles. There's a grit that no filter can capture. And I thought, oh my goodness, when I read that, I thought, when you put it like that, I wonder why would someone want to move to Paris? Now I know I have reasons for why I would like to move there any minute now. I could jump on a plane if it was possible to get there. Because I like the French culture, the food, the history, the architecture, and I could go on and on. But what do you find are the most common reasons for why people move to Paris?

SPEAKER_00 12:52

But I think that's first of all, they're fascinated by the dream of Paris, by the the Effort Tower, the sparkles, as you said, uh uh the promise of uh the dream of having a glamorous job. And it's true that Paris as a as a as a capital city uh gives you a lot of things, but also takes many things away from you. Because as I guess Melbourne, London, New York, all the big cities in the world, uh Paris is a chaotic city, is somehow polluted. Uh looking for a fancy job is not that easy because of the computation, because you have to be uh the high-skilled person, the perfect match to find for a certain job. So uh the reason why I like to post uh pictures and posts like that is not because I want to stop dreams, because I don't want to sell fake dreams. And this is what many people do, and I'm I'm totally um against it because uh I don't want to say that everyone in Paris will be unhappy at some point. I don't want to say that uh uh finding uh a high-paid job is absolutely impossible. But I just want to to make people aware of the fact that they might face uh good sides and many downsides. And this applies everywhere in the Netherlands, in Australia, in the US, because basically I've been living only in two countries, but I travel a lot, so I can see that things uh are not always that great as there are pictures in social media, in main media, and so on.

SPEAKER_05 14:37

I know social media does tend to make everything look like it's really rosy, and it might give some people a false sense of what's possible. They might feel that it's going to be easier than it actually is. So it's good to be real and to have that sense of realism about what's possible. At the same time, I love the way that you say you want people to be still able to chase their dreams. It's still important to chase your dreams, but to remember there's some realistic barriers and realistic hurdles that people are going to have to jump through, you know, whilst they're achieving those dreams. So I love that that whole perspective that you have. I think it's really a refreshing perspective because it's not just head in the clouds, but it's also not pushing people to say, it's all too hard, don't do it. I love that you're actually encouraging people anyway, which is great. With all of those challenges, though, that we've talked about and that I listed before. Why do you think people choose to stay there? So people have come there, it's hard, they are missing people, sometimes they're alone, they're lonely, um, you know, their family, they might have long-distance relationships, they might have all these other challenges. Why do they stay there, do you think, in Paris?

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Uh, I think they're staying there because basically I believe the migrants are such brave people. They are so brave. So, in the end, despite all the downside, despite all the struggles, they managed to build their own life there. Some of them managed to buy a house or apartments. Some others had kids, raised uh bilingual families or multicultural families. So it's absolutely possible to see uh things you don't like in the city, but still be willing to stay. So I think that's the main reason why people decide to stay despite everything. Uh of course, there are also people that consider Paris as the perfect city, unable to see any any problem, any any downside. And I appreciate it, I respect, even if I have a different point of view. But this is you know the beauty of the journey to see people uh having different opinions than yours all the time, and uh able to build constructive discussion around this topic.

SPEAKER_05 16:55

Yeah, I agree. I think that's it's very important to be able to debate and discuss things from all different perspectives. What about for you? What's your reason for staying there? And clearly you love your job. What else is there for you in Paris now?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Well, I have my partner, I have a French partner in in Paris, but this is not, I would say, an obligation to stay because it's very open. It's absolutely up to moving to another country or to another city one day. Uh, of course, I have a stable job, but it is very important. But I also built a lot of habits and uh network of friends here in Paris. But again, um, I don't think I see myself living in the same city forever.

SPEAKER_05 17:41

You don't.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Because, okay, 12 years, 13 years, it's a long journey again, but it's not a reason to stay for staying forever. Because maybe one day I will be willing to try something else. I will be keen to learn from other cultures, and so maybe my journey will bring me to another country, maybe a subtle one, an older one, who knows? Yeah, I'm still open to any option.

SPEAKER_05 18:07

Oh, I love that. That sounds like there's a whole lot excitement ahead of you because it's not just the same old, same old. So tell me one of your favorite things about being in Paris.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

Uh, first of all, I think the importance they they give to culture, and this doesn't apply only to Paris, but to France in general, because France is one is a wonderful country. Uh, really, you can see beauty all over from castles, from museums, from food. I think French food, French cheeses, wine are amazing. And in Paris, it's it's really, really complicated to get bored because you have tons of museum theaters, uh, opportunity to meet new people. Unless it's raining outside and you really want to stay stuck in your house for three days, uh, there's no excuse that there are a lot of things to do. Uh, this especially applies for young people because when you are under 26, basically everything is free for you. Uh, the main national museums are for free. Uh, you have discounts on cinema, on uh on uh theater shows, and so on. So I think that really giving parcel to culture, and culture is essential to me, it's vital to me. And it's beautiful that uh you can still see many, many people reading books while commuting and not just being stuck on their uh mobile phones. There is one people love reading, and that's uh that's nice, that's beautiful to see.

SPEAKER_05 19:34

I know, I love that. I love seeing that when I'm in the gardens. I I love to go and sit in the Jade in Luxembourg with a book myself. I don't tend to bring one from home. I like to find one and I'll put off going to sit in the garden until I've found a new book and I'll buy one there in Paris and then go and sit in the garden and buy a glass of wine and sit and read. And I like doing that amongst other people who are sitting there and reading as well. And you never feel alone when you've got a book, not anywhere in the world. So when you're sitting with a book and you're reading, it's not like sitting on your phone and doom scrolling, it's actually like your brain is involved in a story that is somewhere else, but that somewhere else is also inside your head. And I think it's in the way that you can never feel lonely if you're sitting with a book. And I love the fact that in Paris and in France generally, you see that so often with people sitting in a cafe or on a terrace or a lot in the gardens. You'll see it in the gardens, but everywhere where people are sitting and reading and having a bite to eat sometimes on their own as well. So I never feel when I'm travelling on my own in France, I never really feel bothered by eating or doing anything by myself, but I especially feel I totally agree. But I especially feel really good in my own company when I've got a book in my hand because nobody's gonna come bother you when you've got a book. They don't think, oh, there's a person that's lonely and wishes they had their friends with them. No, they're actually involved doing something, there's a person that's reading. Right. What's the best tip you have for someone who's going to move to Paris?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Oh, uh, that's the best tip, I think, for anyone moving to any country in the world. Just be patient. Be patient because uh cultural shock happens. Unfortunately, discrimination may also happen, but it doesn't have to stop a person to pursue their dream, their dream jobs, their dream life, etc. And I will also say, I will also add it's not to not compare everything to to be at home. Because okay, France and Italy are quite similar from many, many points of view, but France is not Italy and Italy is not France. So, what's the point of uh saying that when I was in Italy, food was better, people were nicer. I I mean I'm in Paris, I'm in France. For many, many reasons. So even if there are some culture aspects that I dislike, the only way to survive at some point is to blend in and try to accept difference and uh live your day life with that. Otherwise, if after uh several years you realize that you really don't fit in the country, the things you dislike are are more than the things you like, then in this case, I will uh uh recommend to consider moving somewhere else. Because no one deserves to be unhappy when you have the uh the possibility to go wherever you want. So not all the people in the world are that lucky as we are.

SPEAKER_05 22:37

No, that's true. You're absolutely right. We're very privileged to be able to have the opportunity to move somewhere else. I know that when I'm traveling in France, there are some times when I have heard people say, Oh, but at home we do this and at home we do that, and I think, well, you're not home now. You know, you're out you're actually somewhere else. So just go with the flow. Just, you know, it might be different to home. I did have one family that I saw once, and they were in a cafe, and I heard from them that the kids had been complaining about all the different foods, so they brought McDonald's with them for the kids to have while they ordered something from the bistro. And I thought that's you know, madness because I know that they then didn't have the kids complaining. So I get that, but I thought they're not really exposing those kids to the wider world, they're traveling with them, but whilst they're travelling, they're just letting them eat what they would eat at home. And I thought that's not really, you know, encouraging some kind of appreciation of difference, each to their own. If I had to listen to two kids whinging all day, every day, and I thought I'm just going to give you a happy meal, and then I can have my own happy meal, which is a French meal, then perhaps I might do it. But I think you're missing an opportunity to actually immerse in this culture that you've come to visit. Now you mentioned that France is not Italy, and Italy's not France. And I just wanted to ask you about that because Italy and France have got quite a lot of similarities. They both have amazing food cultures, whilst the food is quite different in the two countries. They both are really focused on family and connecting to family and staying connected to the family unit, and also about that connection of family around the table and with mealtimes and with traditions that involve food and wine. What is it that sticks out to you as being different between Italy and France?

SPEAKER_00 24:29

I think the main difference is how friendship happens. Because in Italy, um, even among adults, is quite spontaneous. Uh many, many often uh good friendship starts from uh a casual chat around coffee, a casual chat among colleagues. And I see, I see this after many, many years living in France, that this doesn't happen, uh this always happen in uh in France, at least not in Paris, because the culture is different, of course. The definition of friendship is different, is not the same as Italy, but it doesn't mean that uh one of the two uh ways of considering friendship is better or worse than the other. I just learned that uh I have to struggle a little bit more to be a to be friends with a French person, but it's absolutely normal because uh I'm 36 now. If I met uh if I had to met uh another uh 36 years old girl from Paris, probably a young mom raised in a family, already have uh, I don't know, friends from kindergarten, from school. I understand that it might get real complicated to uh to merge into her own group from scratch. And it will be the same for a French person coming to Italy and try to build a brand new own life as an adult. So I think it's a mix of cultural aspect but also adult life. Uh when you are a kid, when you are uh a young student, it's always gets easier to chat with people and to call them friends 10 minutes after. Uh when you are an adult, especially in Paris, uh, this doesn't work. It may take, you know, months, years to get invited to someone's house for coffee or for lunch, and that's absolutely okay. I have no problem with that because I have my own group of friends. I can count on my fingertips, but that's okay. This is what I need. And something I'm very proud of is that I really built a very nice built-in pot group because I have friends from India, from France, Italy, uh, from Spain. Uh, we have many, many friends in multicultural families and multicultural couples, uh, and that's beautiful. This is everything I ask for when I decide to move to Paris. Not absolutely have uh nothing but Italian friends or nothing but French friends. This is the kind of group I had in my mind, and I'm happy I managed to uh to get it.

SPEAKER_05 27:07

It sounds just perfect to me. Just such a wonderful melting pot, which is what you say. I think that you can ask for nothing better. Now tell me, have you traveled in regional France? Because I'm always banging on on the podcast about going on road trips. I love getting out of Paris as much as I adore Paris. I love to get out of it and go into the country areas. Have you traveled much in the country in France?

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yes, of course I did. So I visited other cities in the Ile de France, uh, which is the Parisian region. I went to Brittany, uh and I'm going to spend my holidays there. I just can't wait. I went to I went to Burgundy, uh, Normandy, the south. So the region of uh Oxy, Occitan. I don't remember how to pronounce it. Occitanie, Côte d'Azur, uh, Provence. Well, of course, France is huge, so I don't think I will manage to visit all the regions of France in in a proper way. Also, because I travel abroad a lot. But uh I think I have a quite uh a quite nice picture of how other regions of France uh look like. And I have to be honest, uh some of them are even better than uh Parisian region. It's just to make people understand that Paris is not France, or to be precise, is not only Paris.

SPEAKER_05 28:29

Absolutely not. You're quite right. And I think some of those regions, some I do feel I prefer to Paris. You're quite right. But I don't know that any are actually better. It's just they're different, and sometimes they just connect with our hearts in a more complete way, I think. I love some of those areas where there's little tiny villages and they're so gorgeous and cute. But then I also love the big cities like Lyon and you know, going through Dijon. Dijon is one of my favourite places to visit. So there's lots of different places in regional France. Normandy lately, I've just can't get out of my head and I'm dying to go back there. I've been assisting a few people who are about to travel over to France this year who are going to Normandy. So I've been in lots of research on that area. And Brittany, even the food. Now, as soon as you said Brittany, I'm thinking, oh my goodness, I want a galette, I want some cider, and you know, I want to be sitting where I can see the rugged coast and some beautiful little French buildings and some gorgeous history. And that's to me is just a lovely way to spend a week meandering through those sorts of places. Where's your favourite place? You said you like Brittany, would that be your fave?

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Brittany? Whoo, hard to see, hard to see. I still have to visit a couple of highlights, and probably afterwards I will be able to see if it if it's my favourite. But probably yes, yes, because the nature, the surroundings are quite similar to England, and I love England. Yes. I think that's the reason.

SPEAKER_05 30:03

Yes, yeah. It is so pretty. In fact, that's why I think I like Normandy as well, because I love the southern part of England and that kind of region and the way it looks when you're driving through it. And Normandy is quite similar in its countryside, and which makes sense because they're either side of the channel, and in the natural parts of it, once upon a time, those parts were connected and the channel wasn't there and there was no water. So as they're you know, it's spread apart, you've kind of got the two on other sides of the channel, and they kind of look similar. And so to see those, but then for me to have the Frenchiness in that region of Normandy and Brittany is extra special. Although I do love, you know, Devon and Cornwall and whatever. Anyway, don't get me started on the comparison of France and England. Love, love, love both. Now, there are three questions that we ask in many episodes of the Ludabells Francophiles podcast. What is your favourite French food to order when you're out? Or I'm not sure if you have a kitchen in your apartment, but perhaps you might be able to cook it at home.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Uh I have two uh two favorite French dishes. Um Beeuf Bourguignon and the Blanquette de Vaux. Oh, what's that one? Uh Blanquette de Vaux. Oh, Blanquette de Vau, wait. Uh it's a yeah, with white sauce and bœuf bourguignon. This is so complicated and so long to cook. Uh, it has to boil like up to six hours in red wine. Well, my my partner takes care of this. Not me, not me. I don't have the patience to do this, but we prepare this type of dishes a couple of times, especially for family dinners or a Sunday lunch, you know.

SPEAKER_05 31:44

Describe a blanket devote for people.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

It's quite similar toguignon, but uh the type of meat is different. It's another part of the of the animal, basically. And uh instead of the red wine sauce, you put a white sauce, made of cream, on very heavy cream, uh, carrots, potatoes, uh uh parsley, and I guess uh a hint of uh white wine. Beautiful. It's a very simple recipe, but for me it's so tasty. Uh, you can have this with some uh some white rice on the side and nothing more.

SPEAKER_05 32:21

Perfect. It's the slow cooking, isn't it, that really makes the difference. So beautiful. I like to cook quickly. My husband Paul is a fabulous cook and he cooks slowly and it always tastes better. I'm always in too much of a rush. So I don't do the cooking. A bit like you, I let that to my husband, and I just love the eating. That's a whole other podcast just about that. But that's also part of what it is to be connected to France when I'm not in France, which is quite nice. Now, a second question I often ask do you listen to French music at all?

SPEAKER_00 32:55

A little bit. Generally traditional French singers like uh Georges Boissons or uh Jean-Jacques Goldman, uh Claude Francois. Oh fabulous. From Time to Times. Uh to be honest, I'm I'm not really fond of uh uh current French music. I'm more into English and American music, but uh this couple of artists from ancient France, I still listen to them. And uh my partner loves to play Brassance on the guitar. Oh, fantastic!

SPEAKER_05 33:25

Well, I might choose a Brassance song to pop onto the Little Bells Francophile's fabulous Frenchie Spotify playlist.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

I will listen to because I don't have a favorite. Uh if I just asked Pick, it might be Les Copains d'abord by Georges Brassance.

SPEAKER_05 33:41

D'accord. We can put that one on there. Absolutely. Sounds fabulous. I don't think that that's on there already, so that's a good one to add. Now the last question I have for you, lovely Chiara, is describe for me your perfect French day.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Well, of course, uh it won't be um a working day because I'm working way too much nowadays. It's too late, my job, but I need to stop a little bit for a while. So it will be uh taking waking up, taking your time, hoping that it's uh it's sunny, have breakfast at home, uh having a chat with my partner, uh speaking about uh society, politics, arts, and so on, sipping our coffee, then going out for a walk uh for uh a museum exhibition, and afterwards uh go for lunch in a bistrot, not a fancy one, just a popular uh bistrot in our district. And uh, since I'm quite fond of uh cinnamon rolls and coffee, yeah, go to another cafe to have uh to have a snack and afternoon snack like this. And then I don't know if the weather is fine, still walking and walking around the city, just uh I will use the French expression flanneling, so walking without a destination just to enjoy the view, and maybe go to movie theaters in the night and then home, maybe having dinner around the bistro or just lined in in our place. For me, that's the the perfect uh Parisian day. Uh, no sparkles, no luxury. This is not the kind of Paris I like. I like a popular Paris or working class or working class and middle-class people. This is what I am.

SPEAKER_05 35:27

Yeah, yeah, I love that. That's beautiful. Oh, thank you for taking us with you virtually to Paris today because it's been lovely spending this time with you. I've loved feeling like I've had a little Paris escape as well. It was so nice to speak to you. It was so nice. Alors, c'est tout à fait aujourd'hui. That is all for another Little Bells Francophiles episode. I hope that you've enjoyed being transported to France with me and the lovely Chiara today. We are now into the seventh year at the Little Bells Francophiles, and in this season we have already had some fabulous chats, and there will be more across the year with more chateau owners, some more authors, precant hunters, Parisian residents like Chiara, or people who have made the leap and followed their dream to move to France, plus loads of other French stories via our podcast chats. To be notified when new episodes are released, subscribe on your favourite podcast platform, or follow the Little Bells Francophiles on Insta, and that's where you'll find lots of my personal French photos as well as some from our Little Bells Francophiles guests. Now, for all of the links from today's chat, including Chiara's Instagram, head to the Little Bells Francophiles website to blog post number 202. That's episode 2 Sant Deux. The website link is in the show notes for today's episode as well. Then come and join me next time on the Little Bells Francophiles and we can all escape to France together. Au revoir, Chiara. Au revoir, thank you. Merci beaucoup. Au revoir de moi, Louise Prischat. Bonjour et Abientois.