French

Passez moi les croissants s’il vous plait — I come from a long line of francophiles. My parents were so obsessed with French culture growing up, I was convinced we were full-on French — descendants of Napoleon or Charlemagne. I was eagerly awaiting the day we’d discover that our ancestral-roots date back to the Capetian dynasty. We’d go…

When global names go horribly wrong — The French language is considered one of the chicest in the world, and in fact, the word chic is itself French. The French language is very important to the French people, so much so that there is even an institution, the Académie Française, which is tasked with being the authority…

Whip it! Whip it good! — Today’s New York Times Spelling Bee letters:

I think I would have told myself to make my own decisions. Don’t do what other people wanted me to do. I wanted to have a “gap year” — it wasn’t called that back then, but I wanted to have time to decide what career I wanted to pursue. …

Moving to a new country with no plan, no friends, and one year to figure it out. — Boasting as one of the most romantic cities in the world, Paris certainly has a lot of offer, and spending just one month in this city can give you a sure taste of what the French culture is all about. I am now, one month into this one year adventure…