Living a French Life in Cahors, France, with Hawaiian-born Entrepreneur Karen Kriebl

Profiles in Franceformation

Today I'm here with Karen Kriebl, an American entrepreneur from Hawaii who moved to France in 2017. Her business living a French life as an e commerce site selling vintage French treasures. And her mission is to share the beauty of France through her online shop of vintage treasures and French lifestyle essentials. She's located in the countryside near Cahors, not far from Toulouse in southwest France. You can find her Facebook page or Instagram page Living A French Life, or go on her website, LivingaFrenchLife.com.
Karen and I talked about a lot, including:

• How her daughter's decision to go to a university in London prompted Karen to sit down after a 24-hour plane ride back to Hawaii and tell her husband and their son she wanted to move to France.
• Her decision to get a Visitor visa when she initially moved to France - and the subsequent headaches that caused when she wanted to start her business.
• Why her son Oliver ended up in high school in Germany, and how her family was split up throughout Europe for a couple of years.
• Why knowing the goals of your move is crucial before you begin the immigration process, and her saga of trying - and failing - to get her visitor visa converted to an entrepreneurial visa.
• How, when it comes to making friends, an American is like a peach, and a French person is like a coconut - and why.
• What she appreciates about the pace of French restaurant dining, and how rushed meals annoy her when she returns to the US.
• Her favorite French gifts to bring back to the US when she visits.
• Her "wrong" way of doing laundry - and she still doesn't know how to wash the socks!
• Karen's dream of sharing French antiques and hosting creative workshops with Americans visiting France, and how she'd love to restore an old abbey to build her business.