What can I say? Time flies when you’re having fun. And I did, still do. I have always wanted to go to Europe and the opportunity given to me by my job to move and work in France was something that I could not pass. It has been a year since that momentous move. I’m still trying to cope with the culture and language, but I’m enjoying it.

One of the things I enjoyed doing was traveling. As a resident, I can go anywhere within the Schengen countries without worrying about visa since I’m a Filipino passport holder. Within a year, I was able to travel to Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Spain, and some parts of France. I have my favorites but that will be in another post.

Living in France is a challenge for an expat like me. Not only with the language, and the culture, but also with the bureaucracy. French offices love papers, a lot. I made sure that I accomplished all the forms that HR sent me before moving here last year. The company hired a third-party team to help expats get settled easily. In less than four months, I finally got my resident card. Before the year ends, I finally got my health card and social security card. By the new year, I finally had my own general doctor, dentist, ob-gyne – which are all very important to me.

Now that somehow, I’m settled here, I want to focus on the things I want to do on the side when I’m off from work. I want to be re-acquainted with the arts, say hello to my brushes and paints again. Also, to dedicate time to finish writing. Hopefully by the end of 2019, I was able to complete one original story and make it a book. I’m in the process of one right now. Perhaps when I have the time to share the progress, I will put it here. Right now, I’m trying to put my presence back in social media, starting with this blog, and then Twitter, Facebook Page and Instagram.

Looking forward to all of these!