Well.

I guess we should start somewhere.

But perhaps we should start with a little excursion into the past. To the year 2021, which is where all the adventures of 2022 began.

In December 2021 we boarded a flight from St. Petersburg to Paris, with a short connection to Helsinki.

Having discussed in advance all the plans that we would come back in February or early March, after all the problems with visas were solved, we would come back and finish all the business in Russia. Those were the wonderful times when the word remote work did not have the meaning and significance for many people as it does now as I write these lines.

Disclaimer for the reader - I had traveled quite a bit before this moment, but I had never lived in a specific country for a really long time.

So, December, a plane, and Paris. The adventure begins

Since most of these totals will be about France and France alone, I will now give certain background information that we had at the end of December.

First of all, we have never been to Paris or France in particular. The second point is that we did not know the French language. Thirdly, we had to live here for a couple of months at least. However, the last point was not destined to come true, as well as many of our plans, but about this we'll talk a little later.

The end of December and January

In Paris, we stayed first at an apartment presented on Airbnb, but we had to look for permanent housing, as many things without a permanent address were not available. Such as opening a bank account, getting local SIM cards, and so on and so forth.

We were lucky, we managed to find an apartment pretty quickly, though not at first. A big bonus in this was that we were helped by an English- and French-speaking realtor, who took upon herself all the responsibilities of communicating with the owner of the apartment.

Then we had to deal with household issues, electricity and Internet connections, and some other household pleasures. The surprise was that it was necessary to conclude a contract for electricity on their own because it is not included in the rent.

Almost the whole end of December and the New Year vacation I entertained myself by doing all these things and moving things, walking around Paris at the same time.

In general, I will devote quite a lot of time to walks in the future, especially when I leave my job in Russia and lose the offer to work here from a French company.

In mid-January, we finally moved into our new apartment and applied for a residence permit.‌‌ January was generally a quiet month, mostly devoted to exploring the city, discussing everyday life, and other completely household things.

We walked around the stores, bought and tried different food and wine. So far, it all felt like a long tourist trip.

February

Working for a Russian company, I start looking for a job in France. At first it doesn't go very smoothly, the language barrier hinders me, and let's be honest - there aren't many companies in Paris that only take English-speaking employees. Bilinguals are welcome, but only one language is more difficult.

Meanwhile, watching the news becomes more and more disturbing. I didn't believe until the last minute what was going to happen in just a couple of weeks.

Toward the end of February I manage to find a job and we discuss the final touches of the contract. I'm thinking about how I'm going to quit, and there's a story about visas in the background, because to do that I have to go back to St. Petersburg, and in order to go back I have to get a visa back. You get the idea. The paperwork.

February 24‌‌

We woke up and fucked up. War.

All the plans we had before - went to a well-known place.

From now on, the countdown to before and after begins.

March

In March, events rolled in in a huge clump. And I'll be honest, I spent most of it in a kind of trance, trying to figure out what to do and how to make plans now.

Spoiler alert - I never learned how to make plans in 2022. And even now, when it's been almost a year - the planning horizon is literally a couple of months.

Most of March was spent solving problems with my job (I was dismissed remotely, realizing that I should not return to Russia now), spending time walking around the city, and practicing French. Also in March came the first documents for a residence permit, to replace the overstayed by that time entry visa, but here it is okay.

April, May

Nothing changes. I got my residency card for 4 years, and I'm more or less settled in Paris. Began timid attempts to plan something - something for the birthday, but as Marina had not yet received her residence permit (or rather received but with a typo), and was waiting until she made a new one, then plans to go somewhere - something outside of France did not stand.

In the middle of May I signed a contract with a French company whose official working language was English, which added a lot of confidence to my job interview and overall employment.

We celebrated my birthday in Fontainebleau, a nice little town 40 minutes by train from Paris.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Beautiful. The town is located in a lowland area, and is surrounded by a forest where you can walk and ride bicycles. Which, in general, we did by booking a 4-hour bike ride around the area. We sat our asses off and loaded our legs, but all in all it turned out pretty good.

The rest of the year, including December.

Probably the most important thing in these months is work. Getting to know the company, getting to know the work.

Actually, working in a European company is very different (for the better) from any company in Russia.

The first months I practically did not take the possibility to work remotely, although my contract implies a hybrid variant of work (thanks, Covid).

Sitting in bars with my colleagues allowed me to return to the understanding that life in general goes on, and what is important the support of my colleagues, who were sympathetic to the events happening in my country.

‌                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              In parallel with work, we visited museums and explored the city. And French, of course.

In general, closer to the fall, we finally managed to recover from the initial shock. Life in Paris was smoothly rolling back into a stable routine. All the problems with visas were solved, medical insurance was obtained, and in general not counting driver's licenses. These were still spinning in the millstones of the bureaucratic machine.

All in all, the end of the year turned out to be rather fuzzy and quiet.

Let's see what 2023 brings us. I really hope it will be the end of the war, but one crazy madman doesn't seem like he's going to stop yet.

Summary of results

Discovery of the Year:

France. And everything related to it. For me this year it was a revelation how quickly I can adapt to a new country for me, and the language, which is also an important factor.

Disappointment of the year:

War. In addition to the absolutely idiotic and senseless war, some of the people around me were also a very unpleasant outcome.

What are the plans for 2023:

First of all to finally establish me in Paris and finally start traveling more actively. It would be more accurate to say to return to the volume of travel that we had before the pandemic.

Next, I to develop the direction of photography and, in general, strengthen myself in this direction. I am already taking some steps in this direction, but for now, I still lack the language skills to photograph people, which in general is a big challenge.

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