Moving from a big city to a small town

Why is it that I always decide to move in the winter? I'm currently writing this post curled up with a blanket in an armchair, right next to two portable heaters, wearing the chunkiest sweater I could find this morning. Let me tell you, the house is freezing cold, it has been for a week and I'm just hoping that we'll get the heating installed this afternoon. And yes, I did just say house and I am so excited to finally be writing from my new little home (not that anyone else cares, haha)!

Matt and I decided to leave Paris and move to a small town in France (thus the sudden ability to afford a little house instead of a 35 m² apartment, yes) and I couldn't be happier about it!

But I'm not writing this just to inform you that I moved (although that is the reason why I took an involuntary two week break from blogging) - what I really wanted to share are some rather funny reactions people have had to me moving away from Paris (why would I want to do such a thing - right?) and my very own reasons to think that this is the best idea ever (for me)!

Don't get me wrong, Paris is a lovely city (I did a whole post on my favourite places in Paris here), but living in a big city can also get pretty annoying after a while (you can read this post about what living in Paris is really like).

The pictures were taken at the Christmas market in my home town by the way!

Reaction 1:

Oh you poor girl! Why is Matt forcing you to do this?

I got this one a lot. I mean, if someone leaves Paris, it must be involuntarily, right? But have you thought about all the positive things, like being able to afford a house? Or being able to actually use our car, and park it inside our garage instead of 20 kilometres away? Maybe it's just me, but I find that it's these little things that make your everyday life so much easier!

Reaction 2:

But what will you do on your weekends over there?

Let's see... Matt and I can watch Netflix in a sofa that's actually big enough for two, cook meals together without having to alternate because we can both fit in the kitchen, go grocery shopping in our car without worrying about losing our parking space, go running outside without stepping on people every 2 seconds, actually do our hobbies without taking 1 hour to get places... and still be close enough to Paris to go see all the shows, concerts and other things we want (yay)!

Reaction 3:

That's so great for your cat!

Honestly: it is! Although he doesn't get it yet... I might write another post about moving with a cat, it might make you laugh.

Reaction 4:

How will you survive without sushi?

I find this one so funny because I actually thought about that (I'm a bit obsessed with sushi in case you don't know)! When Matt and I were visiting this town, deciding if we wanted to move here or not, we basically tried all the sushi places in the town centre just to be sure... and we found a really great one! It's almost better than our go-to place in Paris; which made us very happy. 😊 I did check if they had a Zara and Sephora, too.. I mean, that's just bare necessities, right?

Seriously you guys, has anyone ever made the experience of moving from a big city to a smaller town? Please tell me, I would love to hear your stories!