I don’t like Paris anymore

Girls all around the world fancy Paris, that’s a fact. City of symbols, city of light, city of love… There are so many cliché about Paris that I could go on listing them and talking about them for hours. If you did read my short biography, by now you must know that I didn’t live all my life in Paris.

Actually, I was born in a small city in the south of French Britain called Nantes and moved to Paris to study Architecture about 8 years ago. Living in Paris is an interesting experience because it is a bigger city than Nantes. But my views changed in late 2009 when I went for a two months roadtrip with my mate Lekin around USA and Canada. This 19000 kilometers travel by car totally changed my mind. I saw all the biggest American cities on both East and West Coast.

When I came back in France, Paris looked like a village compared to what I discovered. Sure, it’s a beautiful city, you can take your girlfriend to fancy restaurants and places, but it’s not really a city you can call modern. Paris is glued in the past, it is like an opened-roof museum.

And let’s not even talk about people’s state of mind in here: it’s a true nightmare. When I was in North America, I felt a kind of ambiant energy that pushes everyone toward success. If you want to succeed and are willing to put in the effort, time and dedication needed, you can do it, you can create yourself some opportunities. Compared to that, France is so old-school. If you are born a nobody, you’ll most likely end up being a nobody.

Entrepreneurship is not really encouraged. When you have a company project it takes weeks, if not months, to get all the paperwork done. You can’t take action fast. It’s like the whole system is made to discourage you before you even start.

So I made a contract with myself: I have to put all the energy I can into building my business from Paris until the end of 2011. I should be able to reach a decent revenue level by then (mid-6 figures, if not more). When 2012 will come, I’ll be financially ready to move either to North America or Asia. For now I would most likely go to Canada (I did really appreciate Vancouver), but who knows… The only thing that is certain, is that I don’t like Paris anymore.