Once upon a time, a British girl called Emma Ly landed in Paris, wanting to follow Amelie Poulain’s foot steps.

From the beginning, it was love at first sight. Emma was starry eyed and found beauty in everything: the impressive monuments you can stumble into around the corner, the tremendous history interwoven in plain, everyday life, the delicious croissants you can get in the nearby boulangerie, and the improvised “aperos” beside les “Quais de Seine”. Her favorite French word is “flaner”, which means walking endlessly, with no direction or objective in mind. Just to enjoy the simple action of walking with Paris as a backdrop, this outdoor museum city.

Does the dream of Paris live up to reality? How does a foreigner adapt to French culture? Is Paris really like what we see in Emily in Paris?

Of course there are some downsides to living in Paris: the dodgy and dirty metro, the lack of safety sometimes when you go home at night depending on the district, or the roughness or complaining of its inhabitants.

Surprisingly though, Emma is not really put off by some of the Parisians’ bad mood, complaints, or rudeness. She finds people nice and welcoming. In the end, most Parisians have in them what we call “Joie de Vivre: this urge to enjoy every moment of life, this every day positive energy, and this attitude to embrace life. Would you be surprised if I told you that in France, pleasure always comes first?

She also loves the open-mindness of people, this very unique critical thinking that makes everything a topic of debate or discussion.

I hope this episode demonstrates that French people are really not that awful… And some of us truly speak and like English! So, lets go to Paris?