Melissa Regan expected herself eventually to move to New York, get a job in finance and enjoy “living in the big city.” But after signing up for a semester in Vienna, Austria and “accidentally” ending up studying in France in 1999, Melissa Regan found herself permanently living in another big city — Paris.
While she’d visited the French capital twice as a young adult, France wasn’t necessarily one of Regan’s favorite places. However, during that semester in the south of France, she gained an appreciation for French culture that “opened my eyes in a way that changed my life.” “In France, you will go to have a coffee and it was just like the world stopped for hours.”
On returning to her country, Regan signed up for an international MBA program that would allow her to spend an entire year in France.
Once she graduated, Regan was offered a position as an intern (实习生) at a company based in Paris in 2002, providing her with the opportunity to live in the French capital. “I thought that that was incredible,” she says. “And it would be an opportunity that would be silly to pass by.”
As she settled into life in Paris, Regan was mesmerized by its vibrant culture, particularly the city’s restaurants and museums, and “just how much fun you could have” there. She says that she initially anticipated living and working in the European city for a year or two.
However, when Regan fell for a Frenchman named Julien, who she married in 2007, her fate was seemingly sealed. “I had already been in Paris for three years,” she adds. “So I was definitely enjoying my life. And at that point, I had a group of friends. So it wasn’t even like I met him and it changed everything. But he became a major component of me no longer seeking to possibly go back to my hometown.”
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