I’ll admit it. Emily in Paris is ridiculous. Gloriously, unapologetically ridiculous. The outfits are unhinged, the timelines make zero sense, and somehow Emily is thriving in Paris with no visible visa, no paperwork stress, and no scenes of her crying over government websites that won’t load.
Suspicious. Highly. And yet… it works.
Watching Emily in Paris does something sneaky to your brain. It plants the idea. Not the “I will move abroad tomorrow with no plan” idea, but the softer, more dangerous one. The “maybe I could” idea. That’s where Lofton in Spain comes in.
Is Emily in Paris Realistic? Absolutely not.
Let’s get this out of the way. The show does not show:
- Visa applications
- Immigration appointments
- Documents that need to be printed, stamped, scanned, and printed again
- The emotional whiplash of loving a place one day and wanting to scream into the void the next
We don’t even know what visa Emily is on. Tourist? Work? Manifestation?
But that’s not the point. Emily in Paris isn’t a documentary. It’s a mood board. Here’s the thing people get wrong. Romanticizing life abroad doesn’t mean you think it’s easy. It means you’re allowing yourself to imagine it.
The show gives you visuals:
- Walking through a foreign city like it belongs to you
- Building a life in another language
- Reinventing yourself in a place where nobody knows your old story
And that matters.
Before you deal with the hard parts, your brain needs a reason to care. A spark. A “wait… what if?” moment. That’s what Emily in Paris does so well. It makes moving abroad feel possible, not perfect.
Watching It Puts You in the Right Mindset
Most people don’t move abroad because they think it’s impossible, not because they don’t want it. The hardest part isn’t Spain. Or France. Or wherever you’re dreaming about. The hardest part is the first mental step.
Shows like Emily in Paris can help you:
- See yourself in a new place
- Imagine daily life instead of just logistics
- Get comfortable with the idea before committing to it
Once your brain believes something is possible, you start Googling. Then reading. Then planning. Then, one day, you’re booking a flight and wondering how your life got this wild.
Ask me how I know.
Lofton in Spain: The Less Filtered Version
For anyone who may or may not know me, I never imagined living abroad. It genuinely was not part of the plan. Studying abroad wasn’t even an option thanks to Covid, and while every American has the vague “European summer” fantasy, it always felt like something other people did. Not me.
I hadn’t even been to Europe until I had a friend move to Barcelona. And that changed everything. There’s something about knowing international people that makes the world feel smaller. The idea of living abroad stops feeling foreign and starts feeling… possible. It doesn’t happen to everyone, but when it hits, it really hits.
My move abroad was very last-minute. Like, applied to a program within two weeks last minute. Then came the less glamorous part. Eight to nine months of waiting. Paperwork. Visa stress. A lot of “is this actually happening?” moments.
At the time, I wasn’t chasing some perfect vision of life overseas. I just knew I needed to shake things up. I wanted my life to feel different, bigger, less predictable.
And it did. It shook me in the best way. In ways I didn’t even know I needed. Now, I genuinely can’t imagine my life without having lived abroad. It changed how I see the world, how I see myself, and what I believe is possible for my own life.
Sometimes you don’t move abroad because you’ve planned every detail. Sometimes you do it because something in you says, “Try.” And that ends up being enough.
If Emily in Paris is the fantasy, Lofton in Spain is the “okay, but here’s what actually happens” edition. Yes, there’s beauty. Slow mornings. Café culture. Feeling like the main character on a random Tuesday.
There’s also:
- Bureaucracy
- Cultural misunderstandings
- Moments where you miss home for no logical reason
Both can exist. One doesn’t cancel out the other. And honestly? I don’t regret romanticizing it first. If I hadn’t, I might’ve talked myself out of trying.
If You’re Even Thinking About Moving Abroad…
That thought didn’t come from nowhere. If you find yourself drawn to shows like Emily in Paris, take that as information. Not a sign you’re naïve, but a sign you’re curious. Curious people change their lives.
So yes, watch the show. Let yourself dream a little. Find similar shows based on where you want to go. Let your imagination stretch before reality steps in with her clipboard and her forms. Because moving abroad isn’t impossible. Thousands of people do it every year. The only truly impossible version is the one you never let yourself imagine in the first place.
And if a fictional girl in Paris helps you take that first mental step?
I say press play.
Love always,
American Girl Meets World
