Little Pieces of Light<\/a> was a worthy winner in our Expat Star Awards. Our judging panel were fascinated by her blog which mixes food, art, music, books and the ‘good life’ or ‘la belle vie’ in Paris. We caught up with Milsters to delve deeper into her blog, what inspired her & some top tips on managing the expat transition process. It’s a corker:<\/p>\nHow does it feel to be a winner in the expat star awards?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s always a positive feeling when people show appreciation for your blog, so I always feel grateful for such things.<\/p>\n
What is Little Pieces of Light?<\/b><\/p>\n
Little Pieces of Light is my blog \/ creative space where I chronicle my musings on food, art, music, books, and la belle vie in Paris, whilst providing travel trips and glimpses of life in Buenos Aires and Vancouver, which I also call home.<\/p>\n
What was the inspiration for launching Little Pieces of Light?<\/b><\/p>\n
I started Little Pieces of Light over a year ago as a simple way to record the small joys and beauty of life around me. It had as its anchor a series called Eiffel Tower Tuesdays, for which I snapped a photo of the Iron Lady once a week on my way to the office, as a reminder that my route to work actually included this incredible monument in this amazing city.<\/p>\n
Tell us a little bit more about Milsters?<\/b><\/p>\n
I am a Canadian with Spanish, Filipina, and Chinese heritage who has lived in 13 countries on 4 continents \u2013 partly due to my parents\u2019 professions, partly due to my inner global nomad. I grew up mainly in the deserts of Saudi Arabia where I spent 7 years of my childhood, but have also lived in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, the USA (mainly New York), and Canada. I moved to Paris from London in 2010, but personal and professional projects mean that I often split my time during the year between Buenos Aires, Vancouver, and the City of Lights.\u00a0 For those who are curious, Milsters is not my real name; it\u2019s a pseudonym that I use as I still try to maintain a degree of privacy despite having an online footprint.<\/p>\n
![\"Milsters\"](\"http:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Milsters.jpg\")
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If you could only give one piece of advice for a new expat, what would it be?<\/b><\/p>\n
My absolute biggest piece of advice for anyone looking to make a home in a foreign country, even if it is only for a few years, is to Learn the Language! (With capital letters for emphasis!)\u00a0 It will make such a huge difference \u2013 not only in terms of being able to navigate your day-to-day life, but also in terms of the opportunities that it affords you both from personal and professional aspects.\u00a0 I started from a very limited basis of French when I arrived in Paris, and made a huge effort to learn it throughout the last 3 years.\u00a0 It is certainly a challenge: time-consuming, energy-draining, and at times, even embarrassing.\u00a0 But in the end, it has made my life easier and my experience in Paris much more fulfilling.<\/p>\n
If you could only give one piece of advice for someone repatriating back home, what would it be?<\/b><\/p>\n
Hmmm.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure as I don\u2019t know if I have ever really \u201crepatriated back home\u201d!\u00a0 I suppose if I were ever to go \u201cback\u201d to Canada (where alas I have spent only a few years), I would try to bring the best of my experiences abroad back home, and make an effort to re-integrate the best of what Canada can offer back into my life.\u00a0 I suspect that sometimes repatriation to a country you\u2019ve lived outside of for a long time can be as unsettling an experience as moving to a new place altogether.<\/p>\n
What can we expect to see over the next 12 months on the blog?<\/b><\/p>\n
I always like to keep things a surprise until the very day they happen, but you might very well see Little Pieces of Light make a new home elsewhere for a new project!\u00a0 I still plan to maintain my apartment in the Marais and my life in France, and try to live here part-time during the year, but I might have a new home to add to the Paris \/ Buenos Aires \/ Vancouver configuration.\u00a0 And who said you can\u2019t have four homes?\u00a0 Life can be whatever you make of it \u2013 that\u2019s what\u2019s so wonderful about it.<\/p>\n
What are you most proud of since launching the blog?<\/b><\/p>\n
Since launching the blog, I\u2019ve been able to reach out to and make friends with some of the most wonderful people \u2013 not only in Paris but elsewhere as well.\u00a0 This blog has been an incredible means of connecting to others and I\u2019ve been able to build a community in a city where I knew very few people at the outset.\u00a0 I think this is the part that makes me proudest about the blog as I know from experience how challenging it can be to build a community in a new country!<\/p>\n
Biggest challenge growing traffic to your blog?<\/b><\/p>\n
My blog is one of my creative side projects, and what makes me happiest about it is the ability to express myself either through my writing or my photographs, as well as to share my experiences with others.\u00a0 Whilst getting more traffic is a wonderful thing, I would rather focus on the creative and communal aspects of this website rather than readership numbers, so I\u2019m afraid I don\u2019t have much to share on the challenges in this regard!<\/p>\n
How do you transfer money abroad? Bank or Broker?<\/b><\/p>\n
I use my banks.\u00a0 I would definitely recommend getting a multi-currency account within whatever bank you use if you\u2019re an expat.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ve never really used brokers before, but would definitely be interested in learning more about these services if they can save me money (and\/or time!).<\/p>\n
Milsters Mac on Google <\/a>+<\/p>\nimage courtesy of Milsters Mac – Little Pieces Of Light.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week, Milsters from Little Pieces of Light was a worthy winner in our Expat Star Awards. Our judging panel were fascinated by her blog which mixes food, art, music, books and the ‘good life’ or ‘la belle vie’ in Paris. We caught up with Milsters to delve deeper into her blog, what inspired her & some top tips on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[140],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2739"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3436,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions\/3436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mycurrencytransfer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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