58 questions

1. selfie since I don't have a smartphone, here's one from my webie.

2. what would you name your future kids? I don't know? I think I'll have to decide that with my future partner. But when I was little I LOVED Natacha.

3. do you miss anyone?  I miss my family!

4. what are you looking forward to? This fall. Vacation. Getting a new apartment (Hopefully). 

5. is there anyone who can always make you smile? Puppies! 

6. is it hard for you to get over someone? It depends on who I have to get over, but normally yes of course if there was a lot of feelings involved. I'm no ice woman- no matter what people may think.  

7. what was your life like last year? It was good. Mellow, nothing less, nothing more. A year of stabilization but also new experiences and getting things together…

8. have you ever cried because you were so annoyed? annoyed I don’t know…

9. who did you last see in person? Frida! 

10. are you good at hiding your feelings? I think I'm quite transparent, but can be a very good actress in real life as well...

11. are you listening to music right now? Yes! Karen Dalton.

12. what is something you want right now? New apartment!  

13. how do you feel right now? Normal.

14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you? Yesterday.

15. personality description independent, straightforward and happy!

16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t? Maaaany times.

17. opinion on insecurities ???

18. do you miss how things were a year ago? No I think they are better now, life just gets better and better. 

19. have you ever been to New York?  No, BUT SOON.
20. what is your favourite song at the moment? This one: 
21. age and birthday? 25, october 22d.
22. description of my current crush? haa. Too private.
23. fear(s) I have a strong fear of getting older and to grow old alone.
24. height  176cm
25. role model All Swedish strong feminist women who are not stopping the fight and keep on going no matter how much shit they have to take! My both parents :)
26. idol(s)  Isn’t that something you have when you’re like 10?
27. things i hate when people sneeze or cough in their hands! They never go and wash their hands after!

28. i’ll love you if… you make me laugh, you're spontaneous, have some kind of charisma going on and not afraid to meet new people
29. favourite film(s) I love many films but I recently saw Howard Hawks’ Bringing up Baby and I love it! Otherwise everything from Xavier Dolan and Christophe Honoré.
30. favourite tv show(s) friends, satc, girls, The walking dead, himym, OITNB
31. 3 random facts I'm a 8th part french and an 8th part British, I had a gap between my incisives up until the age of 14, I have a collection of blazers in my wardrobe, I had to sell some but throughout the years I think I had about 30 different…
32. are your friends mainly girls or guys?  girls. guys are good for other stuff…
33. something you want to learn better Photoshop, better in taking photos, better italian and spanish!
34. most embarrassing moment a lot of them! I tend to forget them after…
35. favorite subject Languages!
36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill? Make a documentary, buy my apartment, travel and work around the world.
37. favourite actor/actress Cate Blanchett
38. favourite comedian(s) Sarah Silverman
39. favourite sport(s)  Tennis
40. favorite memory When me and a friend traveled one summer in the south of France, Italy and Spain, it was the craziest week in my life!
41. relationship status  steadily independent.
42. favourite book(s) The unbearable lightness of being by Kundera
43. favourite song ever A te by Jovanotti
44. age you get mistaken for 27
45. how you found out about your idol  will not answer more questions about idols.
46. what my last text message says prego.
47. turn ons big hands, tall people, self secure and good language skills
48. turn offs  dirt under fingernails or biting on them, greasy hair, speaking while eating...
49. where i want to be right now on a beach in Italy
50. favourite picture of your idol what’s up with the Idols??
51. star sign Libra
52. something i’m talented at acting, languages, speaking up, getting shit done
53. 5 things that make me happy phone calls, compliments, nice words, seeing my family, achieving things in my work
54. something that’s worrying me at the moment not having enough money to do all the things I want to do this summer.
55. tumblr friends I don't have any tumblr friends yet but here's mine.
56. favourite food(s) pizza and pasta! and thai.
57. favourite animal(s) dogs
58. description of my best friend loyal, supportive and the kindest!

JE LE VEUX / I DO

Last week-end Erica, Jules and I left a rainy Paris for Le Vaumin and the wedding between Rosaleen and Pierre-Francois. R met PF when the 3 of us were studying french at La Sorbonne back in 2007. What started off as a flirt 6 1/2 years ago resulted now in a wedding invitation and a wonderful week-end on the french countryside.

My partners in crime for the week-end; Erica and Jules on our way to Le Vaumin. 

Waiting for the clams by the pond. 

At the dinner table I noticed to my surprise that I was going to sit next to Jean-Baptiste Isabel, his last name was Isabel. I could not stop asking questions and apparently he had family from Spain and it is a common thing there to take first name as last names? Imagine if we were to get married...

   

Then we danced till late in the morning when I got set up with a young french guy by his parents (#1?!). I got his name and his home adress (#2?!) on a little note. But that's another story. 

Gimme some lovin'

Hello everybody! Just bicycled my way through all Paris and saw the sunrise over the beautiful bridges over La Seine. What a nice way to start your day! I'm so sad I don't have my iPhone anymore (so I could have shown a post-card similar photo), it got stolen 3 months ago and I'm forbidding myself to buy one for at least one year :'( 

Now I'm kickstarting my day and the never-ending to-do-list. And to my new readers I just wanted to say that you can follow me on bloglovin' here. 

Paris eating

I've had my brother here for a couple of days, visiting from Stockholm! A lot of walking, eating and whine! One day we had lunch at this new little pearl that I recently discovered called Lucky Luciano in the 10th arrondissement. Lovely italian food, friendly and nice looking waiters and a pretty and modern interior... 1, Cour des Petites Ecuries in the 10th if you want to go. 

La Perle, the most flirt-friendly bar in Paris (or how to get some in this city)

The further into the night you get, the more people you will see standing on the sidewalk. 

If you’re an expat living in Paris, have a flair for the bohemian and artistic world and like the trendy nightlife this city has to offer you’ve probably heard about this bar on the crossing of Rue de la Perle/Rue Vieille du Temple in the 3d arrondissement called La Perle. Every week trendy young parisians (in Paris you’re young until you say you’re not) gather here for a glass of whine straight from the pichet and EVERYBODY is keeping their eyes wide open for their next victim de la soirée. And by victim I mean somebody to hook up with, what else? This is the place where you can be assured to get some... 

From the same group of guys who go there every week and every time you see them they’re there with a new girl (don’t know how they do it), to the nice and gentile poet in the back of the bar, sipping his drink slowly and taking notes. The swedish girls who’ve heard and read about this bar on numerous blogs and city-guides and are not afraid to talk with the straight-forward men. The always so happy group of italian guys, the graphic designer, the fashion people, the lawyers, the actors (famous and not famous) the lonely-guys and girls who will go there alone on a Sunday-evening, the beautiful waitresses who I think could be the most popular and appreciated in the neighborhood. But most of all this bar is full of men, and the best part is; they’re all yours’ ladies!

I think this is the best advice I could give my female readers if they ever want (and are in desperate need) to hook up with a guy in Paris. Go there, alone or with your girlfriends, order their 8€ delicious Spritz, make eyes to the ones you find attractive and then just wait, the guys will come crawling to you.

Otherwise, for those of you not open to a one-night-stand or looking for someone, this is also the perfect place to just hang out with your friends and start conversations with very nice, open and interesting men and women! Enjoy!  

/Isabel 

Swedish Mothers Day

Min mamma. Så många bråk vi haft genom åren, så många tårar, hysteriska skrattanfall och så många jag älskar dig över telefon.  Så många resor, så många uppoffringar, tidiga mornar och körningar. Så mycket ansvar att lägga på en människa, tre barn, hus, heltidsjobb och studier. Alla gånger det har krisat i Paris och du varit där på Skype eller i telefon, så långt härifrån. Du gav så mycket. Alltid. Denna starka, envisa och intelligenta kvinna som lärde mig och min syskon att man aldrig ska tänka på jobbiga saker efter kl. 22 på kvällen, att man aldrig behöver tvinga sig själv att göra saker man inte gillar och att man ska kämpa för att vara en ekonomiskt oberoende kvinna och individ. Tack för att du fortsätter att tro på och älska mig och mina syskon. Älskar dig mamma!

J'AIME

-Beyoncé's and Jay Z's new video/film/shortfilm/trailer? Anyhow, you can spot a few cameo appearances of several of Hollywood's A-list actors like Sean Penn, Jake Gyllenhall, and Blake Lively  (who's had a great upswing lately- what did I miss? ) Directed by Melina Matsoukas


-France is surprising the whole world with a skirt-wearing day.

-This song by James Blake.

-That I can vote from a country other than the country I'm living in! AND that the feminist party in Sweden is harvesting votes and recruiting new voters everyday just days before the european parliament election on saturday. 

-This webpage: justlittlethings.

5 questions to a professional Don Juan

Sélim Niederhoffer is your perfect french seducer. He runs the website Artdeseduire.com and knows a great amount about flirting, le jeu de la seduction and parisian men. I asked him if he wanted to answer a few questions regarding my last posts about parisian men and he replied that he'd be happy to.  

1. Do you agree with the statement that parisian men like to talk a lot? 

No, not really, I know a lot of Parisian men who would be happy to shorten the dating process and to talk less !  

2. How would you say parisian men/women reflect upon infidelity in general? 

You can find two main sides about infidelity : the ones who know it is necessary and is not a problem as long as it remains a rare thing, and the ones who strongly condemn it. And then, the worst people, the ones who can not choose side : they say they are against infidelity but tolerate it when they commit it ! The divorce ratio in France is 1/3 (one mariage out of three finishes with a divorce), when it is 1/2 for Paris...  

3. If you were to give advice on how to best pick up a frenchie in Paris, but instead of giving it to men, it’s for women, what would that be?

Smile girl ! Love yourself, be selfconfident, be willing to try new things, and be ready to date men who will not commit !  

4. What does a feminist stand for in your opinion ?
Feminism for me is good  when it is used for fighting good battles : violences against women, excision, education, salary gap. I want my mother, my sister and my girlfriend to enjoy the same rights at work as their male counterparts... but I am fed up with everyone spending their time complaining. Things are changing, slowly, so let's be patient and let's all work together. PS : I read about an article about Sweden forcing little guys to pee sitting like girls, it made me laugh. This is a typical case of feminism going too far ! 

5. Last word, is there something you’d like to add to the conversation?  
I must confess I really liked your articles about dating a Parisian guy (which I am not, I was born in Strasbourg !), and I will be glad to continue this conversation with you on my personal blog, selimniederhoffer.com ! 

Sélim is sharing dating tips for men on www.artdeseduire.com on a daily basis.

 Do you agree with Sélim? Disagree? Leave your comment below!

ordinary life does not interest me

Hello everybody!
From the last post I got over 2500 visitors (?) !!! I've gotten so much good feedback and it really surprised me you were so many reading!  So thank you for coming in here and commenting! It's very interesting all these difference views. But to be clear I would like to explain a little as one of you said it's a bit harsh what I stated. Of course, it is harsh. I know. But these points are also experienced situations coming from someone who's not from this city but has been living, eating, drinking, working, studying, dating, falling in love, breaking up in Paris for over 6 years now. But ALSO someone with six years of discussing, observing, analyzing and sharing cultural views and differences in the back!     

New glasses from Monki - love 'em. 

And to assure you; I've met wonderful men in this city who are not big talkers, cheaters, liars or living at their parents' at the age of 25.  But they are rare pieces of pearls.
So with this I'm saying have a nice day and thank you for your opinions! And don't forget the interview with the parisian seduction-pro' tomorrow!  
"Ordinary life does not interest me"  quote by Anaïs Nin.

5 reasons not to date a parisian guy

La suite to my previous post about why you should date a parisian guy, here are 5 reasons why you might need to think twice...

1. They sure know how to talk your ears off, if you're playing the nice-girl-card, be prepared to do a lot of listening cause these guys are generally not the type who will ask questions.

2. If they're under 25 it is likely that they still live with their mommy and daddy...

3. As a swedish girl with a lot to say in this matter I've often found that it can be difficult to talk about gender equality with these guys, we're not really at the same place...

4. If you've been living here for a while and found your "entourage" and favorite bars and so on, you can be sure to date or hook up with one or two of your exes friends. Or just finding out that one of your friends recently hooked up with one of yours... Paris is very small.

5. You can never know if they're really single (no matter what they say) or not until you've paid a little visit to see their bachelor pad. And even then...