Already five and a half years ago, I created this blog when I had to move back home to New York during Covid during my freshman year at university in Arizona. I had no real expectation of what this would become, and honestly thought I would forget about it after writing maybe 5 blogs.

Somehow, 5 years and 100 blogs later, I stuck to it and love writing and sharing with you all! Seeing the engagement grow each month, especially over the last year has inspired me to keep sharing with you, and even dive into more topics outside of just traveling.

To celebrate this milestone, I thought that I’d take you all through my journey of how I started, and how my blog has evolved along the years!

Read through to the end to see what’s to come!

At a glance

Starting my blog in Upstate New York
Expanding to Arizona
Moving Abroad for the First Time
Post-Graduation Decision from Arizona State University
Pursuing my Masters in France
What’s next?

---

Starting my blog in Upstate New York

I originally started my blog when I was home in Syracuse during Covid as a way to share with others what New York State is really like, beyond the city. For most people, if they’ve heard of Upstate, they are actually referencing Poughkeepsie, which I wouldn’t even consider apart of Upstate.

I wanted people to see the waterfalls, farm lands, local markets and restaurants, rolling hills, and lakeside towns and wineries that for me is what New York is really about.

Even in my group of friends, I was the one that people asked if they wanted to visit a certain place or see a waterfall. They knew I’d have the information. So why not start a blog to share all of my knowledge!

I only had one real goal, share my little tips of how to experience all of the hidden gems of New York State as a local who was born and raised in Syracuse. Little did I know, it would turn in to something much bigger than that.

One thing I’ve learned over these past five years, is that despite thinking that I wasn’t a writer all throughout high school since I detested writing essays and anything to do with creative writing, sharing my experiences through this blog is actually a passion of mine.

Expanding to Arizona

When I moved back to Arizona for my sophomore year of college, I expanded my blog to writing about my experiences and adventures living in Arizona, as I was always going on hikes with friends and taking road trips up north towards Sedona, Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and the little towns in between.

I even worked for a local tourism company that had a similar ambition as me, and throughout the rest of my time there we traveled throughout much of the state, discovering secret places for others to explore as well!

My four years at Arizona State University hold some of my favorite memories, from the people I’ve met, to everything we’ve done together, which makes this state super special to me.

Moving Abroad for the First Time

My blog took another pivot during my junior year of college when I decided to study abroad in Lyon, France, to study the French language and travel outside North America for the first time.

Living here for 6 months, I immediately fell in love with the city of Lyon and the French way of life. Growing up, I never dreamt of living abroad or thought that it would be on my bingo card, but somehow it was exactly where I needed to be.

This was an incredible experience because by the time I left, I was able to hold full conversations in French, even if my level was only B1+!

During my study abroad, I also was able to visit 7 other countries during school breaks and before moving back to the states, which was when I had my first (and accidental) solo trip, and even slept overnight in the airport, twice.

These trips, and all of the people I’ve visited and met along the way made me realize how much I love traveling and learning about different cultures.

Post-Graduation Decision from Arizona State University

When deciding on what my plans would be after graduating from ASU, I was itching to move back to France. I had a full-time job offer from the company I worked at, but something in my heart was pulling me back to France, and I had to see why.

I decided to become a jeune-fille au pair, where I lived with a French family just outside of Paris and took care of their two kids, with the goal of improving my French. This experience brought all sorts of highs and lows, especially because working with kids can be challenging! But ultimately, it was incredible because I was able to improve my French to level C1, which I personally didn’t think would be possible!

During this year, I loved being able to learn more about French culture through my host family, which made my connection with this country grow that much stronger. I was also able to travel a bit, solo and yet also reconnect with friends in their cities, and even reconnect my mom with a long lost friend of hers!

Pursuing my Masters in France

Half-way through my year as an au pair, I already knew I didn’t want to head back to the States, and was weighing out my options for how I could stay in France longer. I decided that I would pursue my masters, as it was the best option in terms of visas when switching from an au pair visa. I will have a detailed blog on how I decided to stay coming shortly!

Pursuing my masters in a completely different language brought its challenges, especially since school here is quite different than from the US. But for me, it was all worth it because it allowed me to continue living in France, exploring, meeting new people, and learning about the world.

Besides diving into the world of digital transformations, marketing, and technology, I also really improved my speaking skills in a professional setting. Each week, we had to build a new digital strategy using the material learned from the various topics, which brought forth a new confidence in public speaking, not only in French but also English.

Though, I had a huge learning curve because when I was an au pair I was just speaking with the family and the kids all of the time, so the type of French I spoke was quite different!

This masters program also had an International Seminar in Estonia and Finland, where we worked with an Estonian start up company to build them a new digital strategy. I loved being able to learn about how digitally advanced Estonia is as a country, and also being able to step foot in two new countries while spend time getting to know my classmates better with this trip!

Stay tuned for a blog coming about this week in Estonia!

What’s next?

As you might imagine at this point, I still wasn’t ready to move back to the States. I don’t feel like my time here in France or abroad is done! I feel like it’s really just the beginning.

Following the end of my alternance, I accepted a full time CDI position with my company, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue growing with them!

As for my blog, I have lots of plans for the future!

From more niche topics about living abroad, visas, pursuing a masters, and obviously more traveling, to writing more about who I am, there is so much for me to share with you.

I’m also so grateful for all of you that visit my blog, whether you’ve only read one or have been here since the beginning!

Be sure to subscribe so you can stay up to date with what’s to come!

---

For now, here are my top blogs from these past few years!