ON THE ROAD: PROFILES
Aude Créola
Paris, France
Aude and I first met at a hostel in Madrid. When she heard I was going to be in Paris later that month, she graciously offered to show me around, giving me a look at what it’s to like live in Paris as a local.
“I was born in France, but my background is from different countries. My mother is from La Réunion but was born in Madagascar, and she speaks French and Malagasy. My father is from Guadalupe in the French Caribbean. Although I’ve lived most of my life in and around central Paris, I’ve always had the itch to move and travel. I once moved to London for nine months without having a concrete job in hand, but I figured it all out once I got there. I’ve also travelled a lot around South America, and I’m the biggest fan of Latin music and salsa dancing.”
“Traveling makes me feel free, so I travel as much as I can. I’ve visited the USA, Madagascar, Germany, Spain, Italy, UK, Slovakia, Austria, Portugal, Guadalupe, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Cuba, Canada, and Greece. Yea, I think that’s everything so far! My favorites were probably Greece, Argentina and Brazil. I love the nice people, beautiful landscapes and vast expanses of land.”
“Where would I go next? Oh, I want to go everywhere. First, I’d like to go back to Greece, then visit Hawaii, then Australia and New Zealand, and maybe Botswana and countries in South Africa. I want to go back to South America too. In 5 years, I would like to be able to live a life where I travel and work at the same time. I’d like to be able to communicate with my customers online and just go away for three months at a time, live in one place, and continue working. That would be a dream.”
“Whenever I’m in a new city, I like walking a lot and meeting people. On a typical day, I’ll wake up, get breakfast, and try to find someone to go on a walking tour with. Then I’ll see if we can get lunch together, go to a museum, or maybe even party at night. I usually just go with the flow once I’ve met someone.”
“If I could go somewhere tomorrow I’d like to go to the sun and the beach. Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world. It's beautiful and every time I walk through it it moves me. Living in central Paris is really great as well. But, it can also be really stressful, and I wish I could meet more people here living with less stress in their lives, kind of like they're on holiday. I want to feel more free in my natural hair and feel less judged. Even the tourists can feel the stress here, is that not true? Paris may be a romantic city, but when you have to deal with the daily transportation problems, and if you always have deadlines or places to get to, it feel it can get stressful. I suppose I talk like this today because of the strikes, but usually I'm much more in love with Paris.”
“I recently started my own business. It helps companies build businesses with others companies by knowing their real needs. I create the needs analysis and prepare the documents for the Call of Tenders. A business that helps other businesses, essentially. My job is to be a buyer for companies and to use my competencies to help them order goods and services, enter the market, as well as respond to the market. I choose to be my own boss because I’m always looking for new challenges and I always wanted to be my own boss. I wanted it, so I went for it, and it’s the best decision I’ve made. In a way, everything I do is so that I can get closer towards being free – be it dancing or traveling. Now, working for myself is a step in that direction.”