I lived in France for four years. In 2016, I received a job offer from ING to be based in Europe. So after nearly thirty years of working in London, I packed my bags and moved to Paris. With the kids grown up and off to university, this newly-found freedom from childcare made it possible for me to take on this job. The new job was pretty much all the things that I longed for – working within an innovative business, I would work with teams in five different countries and would need to travel. 

Why Paris? Well, I had a choice of options but it did not include London. The language would be easier as I could remember some French (mostly from lessons at school), but I was keen to learn more. Paris is a vibrant city and promised so many new experiences.  Also, it was an easy two-hour or so train journey back to London on the Eurostar and so not too far from family.

What did I find? An exciting adventure. Paris was noisy, confident, and ever-changing. I found a home in the Third Arrondissement, in the Marais, with a classic view of the rooftops across the city and I watched the Eiffel Tower twinkle every night in the distance (quite magical). The Beaubourg and Louvre were a walk away and culture was all around. Paris has the highest concentration of cinemas per capita of any city in the world and most films are in original language with French subtitles. The Marais is a bustling neighbourhood too with restaurants, boutiques, with enticing displays (with great artistry) of cakes, chocolates, cheese - which I often describe as sweet shops for grown-ups. Not to mention the cafes and bars around every corner. The streets are medieval, windy, and narrow and include some of the most beautiful classic buildings that I have ever seen. These extraordinary ‘Hotels Particuliers’ built by the French nobility before the Sun King moved them out to Versailles are a must-see and their grand courtyards are filled with many stories and a pervasive sense of history throughout.

For myself and my husband, our daily lives changed, now we were shopping in the food markets at the Bastille (instead of deliveries from Tesco.com) and strolling along the Seine on weekend mornings. The city is particularly beautiful first thing in the morning before the rest of the city wakes up. We lived through events, some terrible, like the Notre Dame fire or the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and some just bizarre, take the gilets Jaunes for instance. My French lessons with Phillippe, ‘le prof’ improved my knowledge of French culture and grammar, but these were largely friendly chats and I had to accept my limits with learning the language. My French became good enough for shops and restaurants, but I noticed too that the Parisians have made great strides in learning English. Paris is exciting, fun, and ever-changing and I appreciate that these experiences could only be discovered by living and working there. Work was busy too, my life also became a whirr of travel and which train or flight to take next and I rarely had a chance to take a pause and realise what was an adventure it all was.

All things have changed in 2020, which has been extraordinary not only because of Covid and the lockdown affecting all of us. Earlier this year, I transferred to a new role in the company which will allow me to move back to England. I have been in leafy Surrey during the lockdown, where I am enjoying being closer to my family and friends. It’s quiet and the view from my window is green. I work every day from home like many others and my day is filled with remote interactions on video and conference calls. A day out is a daily walk with the dog in the Surrey woodlands. Paris seems to be a distant memory and I almost wonder if it was all real. I feel a twinge of nostalgia for times there. I know it’s not far away and it’ll just be a matter of time when we’ll visit again, not as a resident this time, nor a tourist, but a familiar visitor loaded with memories from the past, a bit like catching up with an old friend from school.

Ling Stevens

(OI 1982-84)