About Me

What I Believe

I believe that every one of us has untapped potential.

I believe that life is only fully lived when we step outside of our comfort zone, when we move to places beyond where we were born and raised. There’s a great big world out there, one with different lifestyles, approaches, cultures, and languages. If we don’t ever try something new and see what’s out there, we miss one of the greatest opportunities for growth. We change when we travel.

In the United States, for example, the culture sets us up to value productivity over enjoyment, entertainment over pleasure, and business over intentionality.

But life is here for us to enjoy. And this is something that the French inherently understand.

It’s why the French take 2 hour lunch breaks, have a minimum of 5 weeks paid vacation instead of 2, and why they rarely eat lunch at their desk at work (in fact, there’s actually a law against it!)

In Europe, it’s a lot easier to experience different places and cultures. Take a short train ride, and you’ll enter a country with a completely different language, variety of foods, lifestyles, and cultural expectations. This is what living in Europe is about for me: freedom.

I want you to experience it too.

What I’ve Gained

I moved to France in 2018 as a Maitre de Langue, teaching first in Strasbourg for 2 years and then as a contractuel for another 2 years on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. I love living in France and compared to my life in the United States as an ESL teacher, living in France has been a dream.

After successfully applying for and renewing a long-stay visa for both me and my American wife, I’ve learned how to navigate the complicated bureaucratic French system. I then learned how to move to France: how to find housing, get a French phone number, enroll in their universal healthcare system, pay French taxes, get a French driver’s license, and much more. After teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) for 10 years now, 5 of which have been in France, I know how to plan and deliver ESL lessons successfully, no matter how diverse or varied in level and content.

Where I’m from: My Life as a Third Culture Kid

I was born in Washington DC, so I guess that makes me American. But I moved to France when I was five years old and I spent my entire childhood living in Europe (first France, then Austria). I attended American International Schools, which led me to become a bit of a mix of American and European. Enough so that I gave a talk about the experience of being a Third Culture Kid at the Third International Polyglot Conference in New York City.

My greatest passions in life revolve around travel, knowledge (I’m a INFP!), teaching, French fashion style, and enjoying life—especially with a great bowl of penne pasta! Everything I do seems to relate to fostering multicultural understanding.

My Education

After growing up abroad attending American International Schools, I finally returned to the United States to go to university. I moved to Boston, where I got my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Marketing) from Northeastern University. Studying and working in Boston was an eye-opening experience for me, as it was my first experience living independently in an American setting. During my final year studying in Boston, I realized I didn’t want to follow a traditional business route. At the same time, I discovered what I see now is my true calling: teaching. But not knowing where to start, I opted to do a 1-month intensive course to get the CELTA, or Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults, which is provided by Cambridge University. That was my crash course on how to teach ESL. After that, I taught for 2 years in Boston, but wanted to go back to school to learn more. So I returned to New York and got a Master’s in TESOL from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. I didn’t know it at the time, but getting a Masters was the qualification I needed to get the best ESL teaching jobs at universities in France, and it also helped instruct my teaching practices. After that, I got married and moved to France, and the rest is history.

My Experience

Since deciding to pursue teaching after college, I’ve taught ESL for over 10 years now. This includes teaching in private languages schools in Boston, New York, Virginia and Washington DC. It also includes teaching at US universities such as: Teacher’s College in Columbia University, Virginia Tech, and LaGuardia Community College. As for French universities, I’ve taught at the University of Strasbourg, the University of Corsica, and now the European International School in the University of Pau. I’ve given lectures on using tech in the classroom in New York, and culture and education in Bari, Italy. I also taught ESL in China at an agricultural university for one summer.

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Andre Gide

Andre Gide (2012). “The Counterfeiters: A Novel”, p.353, Vintage