Philadelphia-area native Amanda Dennis didn’t initially plan to live in Paris. But her life’s story kept leading her there.
“I never had this idea that I would live in Paris,” Dennis said. “It happened to me.”
Dennis first visited Paris as a student. Later, she moved to Paris and became an assistant professor of comparative literature and creative writing at the American University of Paris. Dennis said it was her desire to write that brought her back.
“I thought, ‘Ha. I have a little bit of money that I can spend writing a novel,’” she said. “Where do I want to be?”
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For Dennis, Paris served as the perfect inspiration for her to write her own story.
“I moved into a 19 square meter apartment with my then boyfriend, now the father of my baby,” she said.
Dennis still visits Philadelphia about once a year and admits that there are things about her hometown that she misses.
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“Well aside from my family -- I wish there was just a quicker way to be with them – I really love Philadelphia soft pretzels,” she said. “And that’s the one food item that I really can’t find in Paris.”
She’s also noticed big differences between the city of brotherly love and the city of love.
“It’s funny because the first thing that came to my mind is the coffee,” she said. “The coffee is very small in Paris.”
Another difference for Dennis is the overall pace.
“The east coast of the U.S. has this really breakneck pace where time is money,” she said. “Here, I can take my time.”
During her time in Paris, Dennis has also dealt with the perceptions that the French have towards Americans.
“Well, they tend to think we’re quite extroverted and very friendly. I’ve heard that people are afraid to sit with Americans because they might talk your ear off. The other stereotype I’ve heard is that Americans speak very loudly,” she said. “One stereotype that was really prevalent when I got here was that Parisians are somehow mean and I just never found a way to back that up.”
While Dennis has gotten used to living in Paris, there are still moments that take her breath away.
“When I go running, I go up around the Sacré-Cœur and there’s a view that extends over all of Paris and it’s usually when I’m right around that bend that it hits me and I think, ‘Oh, I feel lucky to live here,” she said.
It’s a story that Dennis -- who plans to apply for dual citizenship soon -- wouldn’t write any other way.
This is the latest installment in the French Connections: Paris and Philly series that airs every week on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. leading up to the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
