Galentine’s Day in Paris
Hi friends,
Valentines Day is notoriously a high stakes holiday. With love on the line and restaurant reservations to kill for, Valentine’s Day can feel stressful whether or not you’re in a relationship. Personally, I love Valentine’s Day. It’s a day to celebrate love in all its forms and a great excuse to indulge in something sweet.
Back in LA, I loved organizing little festive gatherings for my friends. From making pasta from scratch for my birthday to getting all dressed up to go to afternoon tea, nothing makes me happier than enjoying the company of my girl friends. When I moved to Paris, one of the things I worried about the most was making new friends. I did a deep dive into American expat vlogs on Youtube and one of the main struggles that many creators mentioned was how difficult it can be to make friends while navigating a new culture.
In the past, I was fairly introverted and I had a hard time adapting to change. I struggled to make new friends when I moved from middle school to high school and again from high school to college. Of course I always had my childhood friends and I was never truly alone, but it took a long time for me to settle into a solid circle of new friends once I moved to Orange County for undergrad. After hopping from job to job, I learned that friendships at work are absolutely essential to getting through the day and those that are in the trenches together are bonded together for life.
As a result, I have always cherished my friendships and I’ve learned to use my hobbies to create new opportunities to meet other likeminded people. Moving to Paris was like diving into a bottomless pool of uncertainty, but unlike other experiences with change this one was different. I had grown tired of the predictability of my life back in LA and for the sake of my personal development, I knew that change was vital to truly understanding my own potential.
When I moved to Paris, I only knew one person. A girl named Alexiane who I met virtually on Instagram. Through a series of video chats and messages, we developed a friendship and she helped me navigate some administrative things to settle into my new life abroad. The first day I arrived in Paris, my mom and I met up with Alexiane and her mom, Kedi, who would later adopt me into the family. From there, I was introduced to Alexiane’s circle of friends and my network of friends only grew from there. At school, I managed to make friends with people from all over the world and lately, I’ve become close with a handful of girls who are also content creators. To celebrate my new friendships, I decided to host a Galentine’s Day cookie swap. Everyone was asked to bring a cookie or sweet to swap and I served hot drinks with fresh baguette and cheese.
As a little extra surprise, I bought beads and jewelry supplies to make friendship bracelets. Seeing all of my friends sharing sweets and creating personalized beaded bracelets together brought me so much joy. I am so grateful to have a space big enough to host my friends and I can’t believe how many amazing people I’ve bonded with after only living in Paris for six months. Though I’m always thinking of my friends and family back home, I have so much gratitude for the community of friends I’ve made so far. Living in Paris has helped me discover not only a whole new world beyond my LA bubble but it has also helped me redefine what loves means to me:
Love is the precious moments we share together.
Love is the thing that turn friends into family.
Many thanks to all my lovely friends who attended my Galentine’s Day party. I love you all.
xx
Kiana
ps: I made chocolate chip cookies but I left the dough out too long and the butter melted. So really, they turned out looking a bit like pancakes. Still tasted good though :)