"La patience est mère de toutes les vertus"

I vividly remember my first French teacher as being stern and one of the most sophisticated women I had ever met. She was passionate about teaching us her beautiful language and when our attention inevitably dwindled, a yell en français, put us back on course. I remember that classroom with it’s green tiles and unfortunate proximity to our deputy head teacher’s office, who would randomly make an appearance whenever we got a little too noisy.  I don’t think she appreciated 20 schoolgirls ‘murdering’ the vowels.

My first-ever trip to France was at the age of 14, when I decided that come hell or high water, Paris was going to be my home. I recall the smell of the boulangerie as I walked by. I A country with shops smelling like that, is exactly the country I need to call home. Over the next 14 years, I travelled to Paris several times a year, though never really discovering it. What I knew was perfect, surely there was nothing beyond that. I found myself travelling to curious, exotic and hectic cities and despite the fact that I could have moved to Paris at any time, it just didn’t feel right and so I continued with my travels.

When I met my then-boyfriend in 2008, he’d already been living in London for some years and as we became husband and wife, Paris was a natural choice as  mon amour is French, and raised in Paris.

So here I am, living la vie française ! I’m not going to tell you that it’s been all   pain au chocolat and trips to la Tour Eiffel, because that would be a lie. I put so many expectations on what Paris should be, and now I’m learning to accept the world’s most beautiful city for what it is and discover a deeper layer of French living.

I started blogging when I moved to Paris. I knew nobody, which was hard and wanted to stay in touch with the English-speaking world. Initially my blog was fashion, fashion, fashion!

As I started to find my way around Paris and to grow as an individual, I realised that my interests were much more diverse and my blog became what it is today: a lifestyle blog. I write about my life, style, culture and of course, my baking. I generally just write whatever comes to me. As an adult, I’ve always put happiness first and never do anything that I doesn’t feel right to me, which is why my own blog is very important, as I have complete freedom.

The great part about my blog, Not Just Another Milla,  is that I get to share my world with other people and in doing so, I’ve met some truly interesting bloggers who inspire me to be a better person.

By far the best part of my blogging experience has been the opportunity to interact with people all over the world, people I wouldn’t normally meet, including an amazing woman who has become my penpal. Yes, people still write letters! I’m humbled by the kindness of apparent strangers and well, I honestly love this little blogging community. I’ve been to meet-ups with people I’ve spent months blogging and tweeting with, only to discover that they’re even more interesting in person.

I am constantly ‘dumbfounded’ by the number of people interested in Paris and French life, which only adds to my passion of seeing My French Life grow…