LifeX Blog
Meet Nina and Loïc!
Nina and Loïc are a French couple who have been living in Paris for many years. They come from different areas of France and are both nature lovers who enjoy incorporating outdoor activities into their Parisian life. On a typical night out, they love coming together with friends over a good meal and drinks as well as dining out in Paris. As social people, they have been enjoying their in-house community whilst the lockdowns continue. We are so happy to have them as a part of our LifeX community in Paris!
How long have you both lived in Paris?
N (Nina): I have been living in Paris for 2 years now, but I had already lived in Paris for a few years previously.
L (Loïc): I have been living in Paris, or nearby, for the past 10 years.
What are your favourite things about living in Paris?
We both love Paris for its food and drink scene. There are so many excellent restaurants and bars in this beautiful city. Loïc also enjoys going to concert and festivals, whereas Nina is much more into art exhibition and culture. Also, most of our friends live here so it’s great to have them around.
What will we catch you guys doing on the weekend?
We were lucky enough to move into a LifeX apartment that includes a garden (pictured below). And we love gardening. When we arrived in October we made a kitchen garden and now that it’s spring here, we have a lot to do! We also appreciate biking along the Seine or other rivers, but we didn’t get to do it that much lately because of the Covid19 related restrictions.
What are your favourite things about coliving?
I don’t know if it’s the same everywhere, but everybody gets along so well in our home that it almost feels like living with long lost friends. I think that the fact that the house is cleaned and issues are being handled by external people makes it really easy to enjoy quality time with the people living together. Also, we would have probably never met some of our fellow colivers if it weren’t for LifeX; so coliving is also a great way to meet new people with different backgrounds.
Are either of you working on new skills or learning anything new at the moment?
N: I had one guitar lesson with my flatmate “Jérémie” and I was really excited about learning this instrument that I had wanted to play for so long, but I must admit that I didn’t put too much effort into it!
L: Well, gardening is a new skill I am learning, even though I had never imagined that Paris would be the place where I would start gardening!
Where would you spend all your time if you could?
If you mean in our home, that would be the garden for sure! The sun is coming back, birds are singing, plants are growing, it’s lovely here. Nina started painting outside after work when the weather allowed it, such peaceful and creative moments. On top of that, our flatmate “Bastien” plans on building a chill spot with wooden pallets and pillows so we’ll get to relax, read books, spend some more time together.
What do you like to do on a typical date night?
Dine out at cosy restaurants when we can. I don’t know if we can call it a “date night” but we started a tradition in our home that every Saturday night, since curfew makes us stay home, someone cooks a 3-course dinner for the other members. I guess we can say that food has big importance here!
What are your go-to guilty pleasures?
N: I do love a good croissant or pastry in the morning during the weekend, and a glass of wine in the evening.
L: Subscribing to stupid Twitter accounts with a bunch of memes, which are non-sense for a lot of normal human beings.
Do you have any tips for remote working?
L: Avoid synchronous communication (embrace async), try to keep your meetings short (30m), with a strict agenda, and on a specific timeframe in your day. If you can just tackle your issues by writing, do it, it is more efficient than speaking.
N: Ouh I am not the best example. I would say don’t fall for junk food and food deliveries, keep on cooking fresh produce instead.
Do you miss anything about your home cities in France?
N: I use to live in Marseille (South of France) so obviously what I miss the most is the beach and hiking in “Les Calanques” with my friends.
L: Before coming to Paris, I was living in “Bassin d'Arcachon” and what I miss the most is biking in nature.
Anything else about you guys that we didn’t ask that you’d like to share?
During the first lockdown in France, Loïc and I were living alone in our apartment in Paris. Moving to our coliving home, where there were always people around, and a garden to hang out really was a game-changer for me and it made the other lockdowns much more bearable.
If you’re interested in joining the LifeX community, check our available homes and sign up to chat with our team who will help you find the best home for you! We have homes (and more amazing members like Nina and Loïc) in Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, London, Brussels, and Vienna!