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As a French citizen, I am very shattered and saddened by the events that happened on Friday, November 13th at night in Paris, France. Terrorists attacked a theather, where a band was playing live, as well as a small restaurant where people were enjoying beverages and the sweet weather with the ones they loved. They attacked everything that is horrible to them: freedom, democracy, the sweet good life that we French love so much. They murdered innocent people who thought it was just a quiet night out, who never thought it will be their last, last night.

I feel sore and empty. As I watch the trees and the fallen leaves on the ground, as I watch beauty surrounding me, as I watch people's pretty smiles in the street, I can't help but ask them "Why?". Please, tell me why. Some people's hate is astounding, it rushes through their veins like some evil poison that they then want to spill all over us, the ones who want to live in peace.

I just want to tell them loud and clear. We will never back down. We will keep on living our lives normally and we will unite altogether, instead of fearing the other because of its religion or nationality. We will keep on writing, dancing, singing, going to football games, loving each other and screaming it out loud, for they will never ever break us down. This horrible event will always remain in our memories and we will honor the ones who lost their lives because of fanatic people. 

In any case, we will keep fighting for peace, and the least that we can do right now, is loving each other. Please Pray For Paris.

Traveling Far: Is It Worth It?

Hi everyone! I am so glad to be writing on here again! Today I would like to talk a little bit about my experience abroad, more precisely in the United States. It was a terrifying but amazing experience for a small-town girl like me who had never left France, and I would like to share with you some tips and stories that I feel are worth sharing.

First of, if you would like to do one, big long trip far away from your current home, think about it and list the pros and cons. I am a very realistic person, and I just hate seeing people coming back because their trip was not organized enough, or badly organized, and they end up disappointed whereas it could have been the trip of their lives. Doing a trip far away from your home is an amazing, ambitious and legitimate experience, it is a total dream. Before leaving, ask yourself some questions! Are you leaving at a good time of your life? Have you ever been on your own long enough? Are you okay with not seeing your family and friends on a daily basis? If your answers to these questions are no, that does not mean you are not ready. Sometimes you just have to take the great leap, but not everyone is strong enough and sometimes it's just not the good time. Positive thing though, don't worry it comes fast enough! You also have to ask yourself some pragmatic questions, do you have sufficient financial resources, especially if you are going on a roadtrip? Do you have a place to stay when you arrive? Money is super important. You'll need it for everything, food, car rental, going out, paying bills... Some people will say that it is okay not to know, because the taste of adventure is more thrilling. I do not really disagree, but yet I will tend to say that for someone's very first trip abroad, not knowing where you will land and not being sure of having enough money is one more stressing element. The more prepared you are, the more relaxed you will become and then be ready to enjoy your fabulous trip at 100%!

If you are still hesitating, remember that there are always a million reasons not to do something. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to travel, if this is what bothers you. Do not do it because the others are doing it, you should travel to accomplish yourself, fulfilling your dreams and if you can gain experience or improve another language, that is a plus. If you do want to travel on the other hand, then nothing stops you. Some people have asked me how I had managed to afford an 8-month trip to the United States by doing everything by myself. I have always refused to be helped by anyone including my parents and family. So I worked hard at a supermarket all summer while everyone was out at the beach or paradise islands. I worked hard and saved around 3000€, just the amount to book a plane ticket and be ready to face anything that would come up, but as I was doing a paid internship, I had nothing to worry about on a daily basis. So that's how I made it, and I am not particularly wealthy whatsoever. Everything is possible, so don't forget to ask yourself, why not me?

To talk a little bit more about my particular experience, I was a legal intern in an American law firm based in Houston, Texas. When I was first told the destination — I did not have the possibility to really choose — I was a little bit scared. I just imagined faraway lands, heat and people with guns. It turned out to be a wonderful city with a thousand of things to do, I had an awesome boss who would let me go on weekends and roadtrips so that I could enjoy the United States properly. When I first came I had no apartment yet, I had to stay in a youth hostel, with Hostelling International. It was late at night, my plane had landed around 10 p.m. and I had to wait for a shuttle because naturally, I did not know anyone yet to pick me up. I waited one hour at the airport surrounded by my luggage, a couple Asian students and one old man. Then the shuttle took me to Houston. I saw the skyline from afar, and I felt something I cannot describe. I was really tired, so I still didn't realize that I was 8000 kilometers from home, in another continent, another place of the Earth, where absolutely no one knew me or knew nothing about me. It was a really weird feeling. I then arrived at the hostel and was conducted to my room, a shared male/female room with already people in it, of course. For someone who has never slept in other things than fancy hotels, that was quite the shock. There were two people from Venezuela, an English girl, and one man from the US Army. I went to the upper bed, I put all my things down and I thought, "What the hell am I doing here". Well let me tell you something, the following day I had made five friends and had already acclimated to the environment. Don't be scared if you think such things, it is totally normal and trust me, the best is totally, totally yet to come. Also, do not be scared of all the paperwork. It can seem horrible and very frustrating but it is something you have to do in order to travel properly and carefree. I hope I helped you guys figuring out more a little bit about what you want to do, and to answer: YES, traveling far is totally, totally worth it.

I hope this article was helpful to help everyone struggling with this horrible thoughts, "am I going or am I not going?". I apologize for the structure of it, it is kind of messy but I will definitely make other articles about other aspects of my particular trip or even other things that people would like to know, I am also from Europe — France, especially — and I will be glad to answer any types of questions for people who would want to go there. Thank you so much for reading this and feel free to let me know in the comments what you think! xoxo

How to feel fulfilled and balanced in your life.

How to feel fulfilled and balanced in your life?

Studies are loud and clear about this: the current's generation of people is described as generally more miserable that they used to be twenty years ago. People have much less faith in life than the previous generation — your parents, if you are born in the early 90's like me — and they feel less eager to succeed in life. Studies have shown it a thousand times, sessions at the psychologist are rising up, people, and especially the working ones whether they have high responsibility jobs or not, tend to be more depressed and usually related to the feeling of being "stuck" in their own life. We've all heard a good quitting story, or a good story of people leaving it all behind and tour the world on their own to feel the danger and the adrenaline. 

However, there is a new tendency that is just starting to arise. Indeed, people are beginning to pay more attention to their health as they are even more and more to buy fresh and organic food and take more time to cook for themselves. They also start to be interested in listening more to their inner self and body, by trying yoga, meditation and zen seminars in order to reconnect with themselves and try a brand new way of living. 

But at the time of a new era of technology where everything is facebooked or instagramed, at the time where you have a thousand of feeds to look at in order to keep up with your so-called "friends", it is so easy to be completely overwhelmed with these avalanches of beach pictures, people traveling all over the world whereas you are at home working hard for school or people who obviously have more money than you and are bragging about it. Fortunately, life isn't just about the others, and there 3 ways for you to feel completely fulfilled and balanced with your life. Let's review these together!

Eat healthy and take care of your body

I know, you've heard it all before but I can swear you that this is the best thing to start with if you really want to change your life and your way of seeing things. Because yes, the feeling of fulfillment and balance is only accessible if you change your way of viewing things first. Seeing things from another angle, if you prefer. People always say that if you feel better in your mind or head, the rest, or the body, will follow. I honestly disagree with that saying, and I really think that you should go ahead and treat your body like a temple. Nourish it, take care of it with organic expensive products, allow yourself to take a bath once every two days, listen to relaxing music, take care of your skin... We spend so much time buying clothes every month but we forget to take care of the body that is going to wear it everyday. Try to eat non-processed food, you might think that this is hard but it is getting simpler and simpler, to be healthy you do not need to eat too much! You should only eat when you are hungry, and small meals. Don't forget to drink a lot and your body will not need more. To sum this up, give your body good food and treat it like a temple.

 Live simply and be kind to others

I know that this is probably easier to say than done, but it is possible if you are willing to do it. It is not normal, in my opinion, that in this day and age it gets so complicated to do simple tasks. Forget about fancy expensive clothes and save some money to travel and see beautiful places. "Buy memories, not things!". It is better to buy a few quantity of very good quality clothes, with noble materials such as silk or cashmere, rather than buying a thousand of cheap clothes from Primark or Forever 21 that will do nothing but cluttering your closets and also destroying lives and jobs on the other side of the globe. Buy quality goods that you will keep for the long haul, in that way, in the morning, I swear you won't spend two hours in front of your 1,000 clothes wondering what you are going to wear. Trust me, I've been there before. A simple life is very easy as long as you do not own too much goods. If you find something pretty at the store, take a picture of it!

 Stop comparing your life with the others'

Honestly, this is probably the thing that I want to enhance the most. If you want to feel fulfilled and balanced in your life, acknowledge all the things that you have done already and don't ask yourself whether they are good enough or not. Here is the fact: someone will always do better than you. Someone will always have seen a place you haven't seen, bought something you don't possess, and most importantly, someone will obviously always been richer than you. That also goes for college, you will always find people smarter than you no matter if you've always been the smarter of your class. This is how it works, and you should make abstraction of everyone around you and not envy them for the things they do, for you have done your own things and they might actually envy you secretly for that. I can tell you for sure, that people who take selfies of themselves in paradise places are not this happy. Everything is about appearance on the Internet, and you should always remain focus on yourself and the people you love, by reducing the scope of your life only between the people you love and yourself. Everything else are chimeras, and it prevents you from moving on and feeling fulfilled. 

I hope these 3 tips will help you seeing things from a different angle. It worked for me, and I honestly am grateful that I have tried these out because now I'm feeling happier than ever! Feel free to let me know in the comments below what you think of it, and also what are YOUR personal tips that you would think would improve people to feel better.