Blogging Hiatus, But I'm Back

For the past 6 months I temporarily replaced my obsession with fashion and beauty for a new obsession, le Français. I moved to Montreal with the sole purpose to conquer the French language. Unfortunately, in the meantime, my blogging was put on the back burner. The struggle with verb conjugations, pronunciation, and miscommunication proved to take up much of my time.

For most of my adolescence, I idealized anything French. Just hearing someone utter a few words, used to make me melt into a puddle (ok admitedly sometimes it still does). I would pick up French Vogue and flip through the pages, wishing that I could read them. The aura is infectious, after all French fashion has inspired fashion enthusiasts throughout the world. Marketers need merely to slap on a French label on any beauty product, and instantly the image of that product enhances. Atleast in the beauty world, French is associated with high-end products, great quality, and style. However I don't want to confuse anyone. Quebec is not like France. If anyone has ever been to Montreal, you will notice that the only thing our neighbor to the north shares with our distant neighbor oversees is the language. Quebecois culture is vastly different whether you are comparing poutine to croque monsieur or merely the mannerisms of its inhabitants. The accents are so different that many people, even the French themselves, just can't understand what the heck the Quebecois are saying. In the end, despite my bias to all things from France, I fell in love with Quebec, even if it is a little rough around the edges.

Despite my new love, New York City missed me, as the French like to say. The first day I stepped foot on the island, I felt a strong feeling of nostalgia. The annoying yellow cabs, the rushed faces, the smelly subway, even tacky Times Square, I missed it all. I walked out of Port Authority with a huge grin plastered on my face. Trust me Port Authority ain't pretty, but I was happy to be back.

New York has a strange place in my heart. Afterall, it has always been so close to my reach, since I grew up just over the bridge. I know the skyline very well. The city is noisy and confrontational, but what I've learned, however, is that I can't stay away. I always yearn to come back, for now, until a new obsession enters the horizon.