This North American traveled to Paris more than 20 years ago and ended up staying forever

CNN
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While growing up in California, Melissa Regan imagined she would eventually move to New York, get a job in finance and enjoy “big city living.”

But after signing up for a semester in Vienna, Austria, and “accidentally” ending up studying in France in 1999, Melissa Regan moved permanently to another big city – Paris.

“It was clearly my destiny to get here,” Regan told CNN Travel. “But I can’t say it was planned.”

Although she visited the French capital twice when she was young, France wasn’t necessarily one of Regan’s favorite places.

However, during that “life-changing” semester in the south of France, she gained an appreciation for French culture that “opened my eyes in a way that changed my life.”

“In the United States, especially back then, you would meet someone for coffee and they would be there, but they would almost look past you,” she says. “Because they will be thinking about the next appointment or the next appointment.

“And in France you go for a coffee and it’s like the world stops for hours.”

Upon returning to the US, Regan enrolled in an international MBA program that would allow him to spend a full year in France.

After graduating, Regan secured an internship at a Paris-based company in 2022, which provided her with the opportunity to live in the French capital.

“I thought that was amazing,” she says. “And it would be an opportunity that would be foolish to pass up.”

Upon settling in Paris, Regan became fascinated by its vibrant culture, especially the city’s restaurants and museums, and “how much fun you could have” there.

She says she initially planned to live and work in the European city for one or two years.

However, when Regan fell in love with a Frenchman called Julien, whom she married in 2007, her fate was seemingly sealed.

“I had already been in Paris for three years,” he adds. “So I was definitely enjoying my life. And at that point, I had a group of friends.

“So it wasn’t even like I met him and that changed everything. But it became an important component in my no longer seeking to return to the United States.”

She and her husband had two sons, Theodore and Jefferson.

Regan was extremely impressed with the care she received during her birth, explaining that new mothers in the country usually stay in the hospital for a few days.

She feels blessed to have been able to raise her children in France due to the “wonderful quality of life”, highlighting that although she works “a lot”, she is home every night to have dinner with her family.

“We have school holidays every six weeks,” she explains. “So every six weeks, kids are out of school for two or three weeks.

“And during this period it is culturally accepted that you take vacation. It’s normal.”

She goes on to explain that she feels her children are safer in France than they would be in the US, as “we don’t have the same problems with guns.”

“From the age of 10 or 11, they [kids] start going to school alone,” adds Regan. “And it’s just a cultural norm.

“So as a parent of relatively young children, the quality of life is much better.”

Regan also found France to be more affordable for her family, despite Paris being ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in.

She credits this, at least in part, to the French healthcare system, which offers universal coverage to all legal residents.

“You have the social system and then you have private healthcare provided by companies,” she says. “So you don’t have the same level of stress.”

Regan recently spent about five weeks in the US and admits she was surprised by the increase in prices.

“I was really shocked by the rise in food prices, for example,” she says. “This way [in Paris,] we had a price increase in inflation, but not as dramatic.”

Although Regan has lived in Paris for more than two decades, she admits that it took her a long time to feel completely at home in the city.

“I would say it took me two years to really love my current life,” she says. “It probably took me eight years to really feel like this was home.

“And now I can’t imagine a different place where I would want to live my life.”

Over the years, Regan has seen Paris go through many changes and feels that the city has become “even more international” with “more and more foreigners”.

“Twenty years ago, it would have been very difficult to have a life here if you didn’t speak French,” she says. “And now that has changed.”

Although she took a few months of intensive French courses before arriving in France, Regan admits that it took a while before she felt like a relatively competent French speaker.

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She remembers how she had difficulty at large dinner parties, as she was often the only one who spoke English.

However, she feels that this would not be the case now as there are many more people in the city who speak other languages.

“I think it has become much, much easier [to relocate to Paris],” she says.

Regan initially came to France on a student visa, before obtaining a work visa. After marrying a French citizen, she was entitled to a French residence permit, or Carte de Sejour, which she renews every 10 years.

She is currently eligible for French citizenship, but has not yet started the process.

“It’s a big administrative task,” she explains. “And I feel like every year I have another priority.”

Regan now runs a Paris-based real estate agency providing real estate services to international clients.

“I think what makes me really proud is that we really help people,” she says, explaining that many newcomers struggle with the “slower administrative process” in France and want advice on how to identify “which neighborhoods are safest and safer.” adapted for foreigners.”

She tends to advise those interested in moving to Paris to do as much research as possible before coming and to prepare any documents they might need well in advance.

The Netflix series “Emily in Paris,” which centers on an American marketing executive who moves to Paris in search of a new job, has put the city back in the spotlight in recent years, with many of the show’s fans flocking to French capital to try to recreate some of the experiences portrayed.

While Regan notes that the program likely helped attract newcomers, she emphasizes that “Paris was always at the top of the list.”

“I was in my early twenties 25 years ago and it was my dream to come, even before ‘Emily in Paris,’” she says.

“So I think it probably opened it up to a larger audience that maybe didn’t necessarily have the opportunity to travel internationally previously.”

Regan regularly returns to the US to visit her family and says she loves the opportunity to dress more casually, as “rolling out of bed in sweats, putting on a hat” and going about the day is somewhat frowned upon in Paris.

“It’s definitely a little more formal here,” she says, noting that while most of her Parisian friends get their hair and nails done before going on vacation, she does “the opposite” when she returns to the US.

“I take off my nail polish. I don’t do any makeup. It’s a little more relaxed.”

Although she still has strong connections to America, Regan can’t imagine going back and feels like she’s gotten to where she’s supposed to be.

“I definitely see myself where I am,” she says. “I have a lot of faith that things work out the way they always should.

“These last 25 years have been just wild. It’s been amazing, with ups and downs… I personally have been very blessed.”

When asked if she considers herself Parisian now, Regan says she’s not sure if that’s something she can “declare,” but she feels close to being Parisian “by adoption.”