I’m a Parisian woman and moving here was a complete transformation in my normal routine. I used to live in NYC which had a touch of Paris’ lifestyle: the atmosphere, restaurants, bars, clubs, art, shopping, walking in the streets … LA is just another world, another scene, one has to figure out how he is going to experience the transformation before becoming a happy resident. Here, you cannot do anything, meet anyone, without using your car. The car says a lot about the driver. You must choose your car intelligently, strategically. If you ask someone to go for a walk, a “promenade”, the answer is NO.

You do not walk here, you drive and you love it.

The funny thing though, is that I used to drive everywhere in Paris.

So why am I complaining? I just feel that to discover a city, you need to walk. Not using a guide, but walk your own way, your own path … Have your own vision, encounters, try new stuff and have your own opinion. That’s the true discovery. And, I must admit it’s really wonderful to get to know a city.

I feel that getting to know a city is like falling in love. You just exchange thoughts, dialogue, experience great moments, bad fights, laugh, cry, make love …

You get lost, you find your way and you feel so happy when you finally know where you’re going. You create your own habits, you tell your friends about them. You feel you own the city like if you’d been living there forever.

I know that for a fact since I moved to NYC and had this feeling for a while.

First comes the discovery, shy rather slow period. The parallel with the relationship is obvious. You do not jump directly in someone’s life, you take your time, get to know the individual, show who you are without showing too much. That’s exactly how it works with the new city.

What if the city is spread out? Los Angeles is huge. How can you deal with that? How can you fall in love?

It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to take time and efforts. But what is more desirable than discovering and getting to know someone who has so much to offer: different aspects of his personality, who is always surprising you and whom you always have something to learn from.

Los Angeles is not just Los Angeles. Before I experienced it and decided to start the discovery process, I hated LA. I thought LA was Sunset Bd, Hollywood, the movie stars, Disney and Universal Studios. I didn’t know anything and didn’t even want to know. I felt it could never be compared to San Francisco or New York City. I felt LA was empty. I was so wrong…

But it takes time … And you have to be patient if you want to start your journey.

LA is about the people of LA, it’s about the diversity of things and the beauty of its melting pot.