When I moved to Paris almost 18 months ago, I knew barely a soul. My one Parisian friend was living her own story in Tel Aviv and all forms of human comfort aside from my Italian, were back in NYC. I soon met a few ‘friends of friends’ and very slowly began building a social network. Feeling the need to reach out into the world, as I had done during my travels, I started a blog. Also simply because my story of love in Paris was too unique and beautiful not to share. And, I love to write.
What would I gain from this experience of blogging? More than I had anticipated. Not only am I able to share pieces of my life from across the sea, and in so doing keep in touch with family and friends from home, in the shared language of blogging, I have met many new ones. I must add that Twitter has had a lot to do with it!
In the very early days of my Paris blog it was a woman named Andi Fisher who first reached out and somehow I felt less lonely in this quest for a new life. Since then I have come to know Andi through her misadventures, one of them taking her to Paris last October where I had the pleasure, along with many fellow Paris bloggers, to meet in person. It was an honor! (And yes, Paris bloggers rule!)
I had a chance to speak with Andi about her life and experience of blogging… and she had a lot to say! I consider Andi a mentor when it comes to social media and blogging. Soon I will share her insights.
Since that meeting I have gotten to know many of these soulful and charismatic bloggers on a deeper level as we share the experience of Paris through our online journals. These ‘tweet-ups’ as they have come to be known, provide a forum in which to share frustrations and celebrations, find support and simply enjoy the company of others living what can often but not always be called the Paris dream.
Via our shared language, I feel more at home and have a deeper awareness of Paris and it’s people, than I had imagined I could in so short a time. Here are a few of the many faces from Sunday’s much anticipated ‘tweet-up’, organized by Priscilla of Weekend in Paris, who was doing just that…
Melissa of Prête Moi Paris, Beth Arnold of Letter to Paris and Lily of Context Paris
Bellanda of Bellanda’s Creations, Karen of Bonjour Paris and Monique of Entrée to Black Paris
Shannon of Je Ne Sais Quoi Blog and Forest of 52 Martinis
Opal of Opal Blossoms, Sion of Paris (Im)perfect and Milla of Not Just Another Milla
Me, one of my Paris Collection bags, Bellanda and Priscilla of Weekend in Paris
Who have I missed? Until we meet again, may we continue to share the language of blogging…
you’re right – Paris bloggers do rule! 🙂 Seriously, it’s a really good bunch of people and i always have a good time seeing the ones I know and meeting the ones I don’t!
Thanks for this post! It really is such a wonderful community. I definitely feel like my Paris life became richer once I started blogging and meeting all of you fabulous people! 🙂
I so wish I could have made it yesterday! So glad you’ve connected with others who love Paris as much as you!
OOooh what a wonderful time it looks like you all had! I wish I could’ve made it!
I hope next time will involve after-work happy hour 😉
Would love to meet you next time! Will keep you posted!!
So lovely to have met everybody yesterday! It’s amazing how blogging has connected so many different people, with very different lives yet one thing – life in Paris – in common. Thanks to everybody for being so welcoming at my first tweet-up!
Great photographs. I’ll email you shortly about London.
So happy you are part of our blogging/tweeting world, and many thanks for your London insights!
How fun! Yay for Paris bloggers! I think a “province” meet-up is in order!
Let me know when you are in Paris! Taking a look at your French adventures….
It was wonderful to meet you yesterday. It was my first time meeting everyone and I had so much fun. Everyone was so welcoming – and so interesting! Yay for Paris bloggers, indeed. I can’t wait until the next one!
Happy we could provide a little expat warmth. Enjoy Paris and see you again soon!
Oh, I wish I had known about it ! Next time, maybe?
Take care,
Cristina
Will make sure you know about the next one!!
What a great article about the importance of reaching out to new people when you move to a new city. I think the tweetup concept is a fantastic one!
I loved the tweetup yesterday, but have one regret…it wasn’t long enough!
All the Gal Pals enjoyed meeting the gang in Paris and look forward to next year!
XO,
Priscilla
Thanks Priscilla, so lovely to meet you! We have plenty of time to prepare for your next visit… xo
Kasia I am touched! I feel blessed to have met everyone – you all are my connection to the city I love, you share her with me and I live and breather her vicariously through you all. I started Misadventures with Andi as a email newsletter that I sent my family and friends when I first moved to France, it was named that because I was always doing something wrong in my new home! I did not have a blog but wanted to share my stories. I came to blogging late and feel like I missed out on getting love and support from other expats by not being aware of this whole other world out there. That is why people like you are especially important to me. The timing may have been off by a few years, but I found that group of formidable women who get my experiences and can share them!
Happy we can provide you with your daily dose(s) of Paris! I love how your newsletter evolved into a blog and into the lives of so many people in Paris and around the world. Inspiring! I’m looking forward to sharing your blogging insights soon…
Great post 🙂 yep, we all agree, we are all the M-F-ing SHIT! Seriously, I am with you 1000% on this post, before I started a blog & got on twitter I had 1 (allbeit a very good 1) friend in Paris — now there are loads of lovely people to call whenever I feel like bitching about the french, relating to about how much I miss my old homeland, or simply making a fart joke without that judgemental-eye-brow-raising-thing.
Love this group, hope you all stay around a long long time!
Aww…I hope to be part of the group when I move there in June!! Everyone looks so nice and supportive!!! I just started my blog January 1st and really hope to get it going once we make the move!
A bientôt,
Elissa
Good luck with the move and see you this summer!
Meeting new people was an aspect of blogging that I never considered when I started writing Chez Loulou almost 5 years ago. Since then I’m met and become friends with some amazing, creative, supportive and fun people.
Would love to meet up with you all one day!
We must organize a gathering when you come to Paris, let me know! It’s true how many lovely and interesting people you can meet in the blog world, who knew!
What a lovely post and inspiration to a new blogger such as myself. I hope to get to know all of you soon via twitter and perspective blogs. I can’t believe how much shared creative energy and passion there is out there. Although I am in Lyon, from time to time you’ll see my undying love for Paris in my posts. Tweet up in Lyon anytime soon??!
Thank you! I love Lyon and hope to make it there for a foodie weekend sometime soon, will let you know…
[…] Kasia at Love in the City of Lights had something to say about the language of blogging and seems to have met everyone who is anyone in […]
Sounds like fun…can those of you who are too archaic to tweet join in on the fun next time around?
I will make sure to email you for the next one! 🙂
Great seeing many of you again and meeting new Paris blogger friends! Three cheers for all your efforts and great blogging/tweeting!
Yes, yes, yes to all the previous comments. I recently re-started blogging again and boy am I glad! It is always nice to see a friendly face and that is what I consider these physical and virtual connnections to be. Thanks Kasia for posting these pictures and let’s rdv soon!
Always so nice to actually ‘meet’ the faces behind the words. See you again soon!
What fun- and so inspiring! Sorry to have missed out- hope to meet you next time.
See you at the next one! (Will keep you posted) Definitely inspiring to be in the company of so many writers/travelers/bloggers/etc.
Hi, I’m Evelyn, editor of Journeywoman.com, the largest online travel resource for women. Inviting every one of the Paris bloggers to email me at: editor(at)journeywoman.com. Please put the words ‘Paris Blogger’ in the subject line. I’m working on a simple project. Would love to involve you. Thx everyone.
Such lovely connections, and I can say I read 99% of those blogs! 😉
Looks like it was a wonderful gathering, and thanks for this post! I too have made some wonderful new friends through Twitter (a couple of whom I see photographed here!) and am looking forward to getting to know more in the future. Including you, Kasia!
Hope too to meet you at the next gathering!
Kasia, great article about our wonderful time on Sunday night! It was wonderful to see you all again and am already looking forward to the next one…..
Come back to Paris again soon!
How wonderful… I wish I could have been there! What a great gathering of bloggers xx
I miss you guys! Seriously, such a cool group of women – viva les bloggeurs! xo
Mais oui, though not the same without our Sweet Freak. Bisous de les bloggeurs a Paris!
we miss you here, too! looking forward to your next visit! 🙂
What a really good time: And boy, is there a LOT of talent in Paris. Delighted to have met you and so many thanks for including me.
Karen
Pleasure to meet you too Karen! (I promise to write for Bonjour Paris again!)
This post made me so sad that I couldn’t go to the tweet-up! I definitely need to get to the next one and look forward to meeting (in person) such a great group of people!
How exciting! Your pictures look like the night was such a blast.
I recently had a bloggers meet up with a few bloggers ( not as many as you) and it was so much fun to meet other fabulous ladies with the same interest for fashion
(Here is the link if you want to check it out http://classnfab.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/ootd-lunch-with-fellow-fashionistas/ )
~M
Classy & Fabulous
http://classnfab.wordpress.com
Your fashionista blogger lunch looked like a blast too! Viva the world of bloggers!
Fantastic post ma belle!
You made me miss Paris and blogging in Paris! Blog on girl – I love reading your stuff! Paris bloggers do rule. There is some sort of magic there that feeds the soul…
Merci! Yes, there’s something in the Paris air…come back soon!
They are fabulous my personal favorites were from the Paris collection i <3 Paris and 75003 , also from the provence collection sea green floral!!!!
Fabulous job!
~M
Classy & Fabulous
http://classnfab.wordpress.com
this is so nice–definitely the best parts of bogging!
Looks like you had a wonderful time! I am so glad you covered the event and I hope next time I’m able to participate in the beauty of meeting new friends thanks to social media.
Hoping to meet you in Paris one of these days! Keep us posted on your next visit!!
birds of feather, flock together! You can find soulmates anywhere you go!
[…] by Kasia on February 1, 2011 TweetIt’s no secret that I am a big fan and pleased to be called a friend of Andi Fisher, author of Misadventures with Andi. I was thrilled that she agreed to share some of her blogging expertise with me. Valuable insights for anyone in the vast and ever-expanding blogging community. […]
Not sure how I landed here – via Lost in Cheeseland, I think. But so glad I did. I look forward to exploring each of these blogs and, with luck, blogging from Paris on an extended stay. One of these years (:
Welcome! You will be quite an expert on Paris and it’s people via the many great blogs out there. Enjoy!!
[…] and we can have meetups along the canal or in some gorgeous park? (There goes my productivity!) Kasia did a great write-up of the first Tweetup I […]
[…] of Lights! If you could see me now, you’d find me blushing. Kasia wrote a beautiful post on the community she has found by blogging, particularly the Parisian […]
Aw, so nice to read this and see all the fab French bloggers in pictures (finally some faces for the names!). Hope to make it to one of these tweetups soon. In the meantime, it’s true that there is always a word of advice, support, friendship to go around and I am also very grateful for those who have reached out across the blogisphere!
We missed you and hope you can join us for the next one! What a lovely blogisphere it is…
[…] I share the love as year two approaches, life in Paris evolves, I feel even more gratitude, and the language of blogging continues to […]
[…] Priscilla and I met at a tweet-up in rive gauche, along with many a friendly blogger face. She was with her gal pals on one of their famous girls trips to Paris. Oh, the stories they could tell! I happened to be carrying a new reversible Paris bag I had just designed and immediately the rive gauche/rive droite debate began! (As did the orders!) Priscilla was eager to display her love for her most revered side of Paris, rive gauche, as much as I was pleased to display mine. Thankfully, rive droite and rive gauche girls DO get along! Priscilla also being a marketer with a strong design sensibility, asked me to create her logo on the pocket of the bag reversed. As a fan of custom designs and challenges, I was thrilled to take on the job. […]
[…] of Lights! If you could see me now, you’d find me blushing. Kasia wrote a beautiful post on the community she has found by blogging, particularly the Parisian […]