Florence Melin is a French woman who has lived in the United States for half her life, and also visits France every year. We met through a mutual friend and had a very interesting conversation, as I’m a little bit the opposite of her: an American who lives part-time in France.

I really appreciated Florence’s thoughts on how the US compares to France. She is able to see the good points of each country, along with the occasional frustrations. I could relate when she said there are some things you can never really understand about your new country, like events from childhood and are part of the collective cultural memory.

You can read about how Florence sees the two countries in My French Life!