Sarah Pascarella

She faced a daunting question in the spring of 2023:

Now what?

It's the age-old dilemma that haunts all college seniors pondering life after academia.

“The world is literally your oyster. You don't even have to go into a job that you just got your degree in,” says Sarah Pascarella, recalling the sense of overwhelming possibility after graduation. “You’re met with an identity crisis — at least I was.”

Having grown up in Ramona, California, and studied interior design at California State University, Long Beach, her entire life had been based in southern California.

The majority of her friends and family were in the San Diego area and planning to stay there for work.

Sarah, however, decided to go a different route — a 5,645-mile-long route, to be exact — and moved her entire life to Paris.

“I love Paris,” she gleams, having settled into her new life as an au pair. “It is a bit chaotic compared to what I'm used to, but I'm learning a lot about myself and how I interact in a chaotic environment.”

“I also don't know French, so I think that adds a lot to the experience.”

Since moving there in September, she has created a community of friends from around the world. Her life looks vastly different to how it did a year ago.

“My solid group of friends now is from all over the place. In California, I don't even think I had friends that were from out of state," she says, laughing. "It's crazy to think that these people are from completely different cultures from literally all over the world."

Adjusting to the city took time, especially given the drastic difference between French and American cultures.

Stigma between the French and Americans can make visiting the country nerve-wracking, let alone moving there as a 21-year-old who doesn’t speak the language.

“The culture shocks slapped me in the face,” she says, laughing at memories.

“I realized how different our culture is in the US compared to the entire rest of the world, and you can be told that so many times, but until you experience it for yourself it may not ever click.”

The biggest culture shock?

How blunt the French are.

"I'm super used to LA, where it's the complete opposite. People’s favorite thing to do is tell you white lies. Here, it's not like that, so I get my feelings hurt a lot, but I also respect it in a way.

There's no sugarcoating here. Everyone is straight to the point. They'll tell you how it is.”

“In the beginning I was feeling a bit stubborn because I knew how the French were going to be. I came into this country with a guard up,” she admits.

“I was so scared and intimidated by their language, but now that I dove more deeply into why they’re so passionate about keeping their language the way it is, I get it."

"They want to keep their culture. If they lose the French language, that’s like losing a world.”

Sarah’s come to countless realizations like this over the last eight months — many of which she’s documented on social media.

If they lose the French language, that’s like losing a world.

- Sarah Pascarella -

She’s racked up a following of over 22K followers on TikTok (@Sasscarella) where she reenacts French faux pas she’s made, chats about culture shocks she experiences as an American living in Paris, and shares snippets of her life as an au pair.

Since getting paired with her dream host family and their two little girls at the start of 2024, Sarah decided she’ll postpone a future career in interior design to stay another year with them in Paris.

“I feel like now that I've dealt with this country, I could deal with any country,” she laughs. “Even if France isn’t where I want to end up long term, I still feel like the lessons I’ve learned here have been huge.”

Advice from Sarah

1. If you're second guessing, do it anyway.

That goes for everything.

2. You’re going to learn hard things and go through hard things no matter what country you’re in.

(You might as well do it somewhere in Europe.)

3. Be bold, and don't think too much.

"Things will pan out how they’re supposed to and probably even better than you imagined."