Welcome to Andra Paddio's Place!
All you ever wanted to know about France and more!

All about... Andra Paddio

A wife, mother, daughter, sister, author, teacher, lifelong learner, a dreamer and a determined and daring do-er.

Fascinated by fabulous France, all things French and picture perfect Paris, she aspires to explain and share her interpretation of one of her favourite expressions:

 "That's SO French!" 

Her first travelogue and memoir, filled with such humorous, insightful, and detailed glimpses into her first real French adventure as well as her childhood fascination with France.

So French!

What makes France So French?

Have you ever wondered the same thing?

"A charming tale of Canadian mum-from-the-suburbs, Andra Paddio, seduced by the lure of faraway France..."

The Self Publishing Magazine, Spring 2012, Issue 22 


A word from Andra Paddio ...

 Paris: the City of Lights - the most visited city of the world. 

Why do so many people dream about visiting that far off romantic place? Why do so many tourists visit France and what are they looking to find?

When I began learning French in my bilingual country, I too was fascinated by that far off place.  Perhaps it was the pictures in my textbooks or the fact that France was so foreign and different.  As an adolescent, I absorbed as much as I could about French culture and I learned the French language to the very best of my abilities in an 'anglophone/anglo-saxon' (as the French say) country. 

So, when my very comfortable 'first life' as I like to call it, came to a sudden and abrupt end, that all of these questions and feelings about France came back to me.  Was life telling me something?  Perhaps it was it time to have an adventure and discover the answers to a lifetime of questions and at the same time, discover a  little bit more about myself?

What Makes France So French? is a true story that details my personal voyage from a young impressionable child, determined adolescent and then university student who learned French in a predominantly English speaking province. I was so fascinated by the French language and culture, that I became a language teacher to share my love of all things French.

 

When I came to the end of my road, I choose to take an unknown and less traveled route.  It was in the turmoil and distress that so many things that became clear to me.  At that turning point in my life, I  learned that you can travel the world to find beauty and your inner strength, but when you return 'home' (wherever that may be) the real beauty of life is carrying it all with you each and every day and then sharing it with others.

What I learned in the land of frog legs, snails and oysters would change my life forever...

Per aspera ad astra.


Paris, France
Copyright ©2012