Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Historic Boston: America’s European City

Episode Date: August 16, 2020

Bean Town. Boston. Home of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. And also my home for awhile, both times as a student. But this was years ago. That’s OK, some things in Boston haven’t changed in centuries.Today we are talking with Vanessa Bouvry, a Parisian who’s made her home in Massachusetts. Vanessa is Associate Director of Program Development at my alma matter, Emerson College, where I got my MFA in creative writing. Boston is known as America’s European City, and it’s a city of firsts in the United States: First public parkFirst subwayFirst public library First newspaper First telephone First post office And it’s home to the oldest pub and continuously running restaurant in the U.S.In this episode you will learn where to go to experience this history for yourself. We’re talking Freedom Trail, State House, and where to find the best treasure trove of Halloween candy in the entire city. You’ll also hear Vanessa’s unique story of how she, as someone born in France, can live and work in the United States, and the differences Vanessa sees in French and American culture. Enjoy the episode. Start your own podcastpostcardacademy.cosarahmikutel.comsay hi on InstagramDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Boston, Beantown, home of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and also my home for a while. Both times as a student, and this was a long time ago, but that is okay because some things in Boston haven't changed in centuries. Today, we are talking with Vanessa Bouvri, a Parisian who has made her home in Massachusetts. Vanessa is Associate Director of Program Development at my alma mater Emerson College, where I got my MFA in creative writing. And my parents were thrilled that 22-year-old me decided to quit my job at a newspaper to go back to school to be a novelist. But that's a story for another time. Boston is known as America's European city. And it is a city of first, the first public park in the United States, first subway in the U.S., first public library, first newspaper,

first telephone, first post office. And it is home to the oldest pub and continue. running restaurant in the U.S. And in this episode, you will learn where to go to experience this history for yourself. We are talking freedom trail and state house and where to find the best treasuredrobe of Halloween candy in the entire city. You'll also hear Vanessa's unique story of how she, as somebody born in France, can live and work in the U.S. And the differences Vanessa sees in French and American culture. Enjoy the episode. Welcome to the Postcard Academy, a show about travel, living abroad, and location independence for people seeking a more meaningful freedom-puelled life.

I'm your host, Sarah Micahettel, an American who first moved abroad on our own at age 18 and who has been permanently enjoying life in Europe since 2010. I am so glad you're here. My guests and I will share with you how we made our travel, living abroad, and location independent dreams come true, and how you can too, because you will never have my life. this day again. Make it matter. Welcome, Vanessa. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. Thanks for having me. So please tell us where are you from and how did you end up in Boston? So I was born in ways in Paris, France. I am 100% French, but you can't hear it anymore. My accent has kind of disappeared, but still kind of present. I moved to America simply for college. I wanted to kind of get away and discover myself and just not be a typical French person, probably because of my upbringing.

And I kind of stayed in America. And I've then since lived in multiple cities and multiple states. And I'm still here for some reason. I'm still here. So what was your upbringing like then that you wanted to switch from? So my dad is 100% French. My mom was born Italian, but had a wonderful. story of how she left Italy at four years old with my grandparents and actually were sponsored by

the Salvation Army ended up in Massachusetts. So she was raised in that completely Italian, like she spoke Italian. She translated for my grandparents when they arrived. She became a French teacher and went to France and met my dad. So when I was raised, my name is Vanessa because you can pronounce it the exact same way in French, Italian, and in English. And I was really raised between the three countries and the two continents. So we knew about American culture based on like coming and visiting my grandparents. But when I was there, the only thing we talked was Italian. So I just kind of had this idea of, you know, where we were and we still are immigrants.

And we just work really hard. And we are just kind of through both continents. And I was just raised with all of those cultures. You're so multicultural. I love it. Yes. It's fun. And at the same time, sometimes it's hard. I think that the great thing about when you are in Europe, you kind of understand it because two hours away, there's another country. You know, and you're just assuming like, oh, of course, like the roots of the language, especially if it's Spain and France or Italy and France, whatever, is it's kind of the same. But at the same time, the culture is very different. Here, even though every state has its own culture, I'm very in America. And sometimes they don't have. understand how I process information because it's so multiculturaled. Yeah. Yes, you are in a much more

isolated area for sure. Although I do, when Europeans tell me that they go to visit Boston, they really like it and they describe it to me as like the Europe of United States. Yes, absolutely. That's one of, I think that's one of their reasons. I come back to Boston all the time. I live in California for five years. I lived in New York City for a while as well. and for some reason I always come back here. And I think they're, in a way, it's because of how the city is constructed, very European, but also because of the amount of history that there is in Boston. I just, I think it's also because of all the universities and so many people are coming to Boston.

You know, when you're doing a PhD or you have multi-layers and multicultural is here. Yeah, I think I heard that the population of Boston actually rises like at least 10% or something when the students are in session, which is. quite a jump in population. Yeah. So we're about like 700,000 inhabitants in Boston. And I would say that I don't know, I'm assuming, I thought it was really more than 10% to be honest, because it might be. I'm thinking about like back when I was a student. And I swear Boston only had 500,000 people back then. Yes. And now it's like way more. But yet at the same time, there's not enough housing and not enough dorms. So a lot of things end up being in a university schedule for us, even after you're not, you know, in college or in university. But there, you do feel the

difference. Like when nobody's in session as of right now, you can absolutely feel the difference within the city. But however, it's the subway or just in general walking, like it's, and then when September hits and they all come back, you also feel it. Boston gets a lot of tourists in the summertime as well, right? So, yeah. There's always people. And I think like, if I'm correct, Faniel Hall itself gets about like 20 million visitors a year, maybe even more. So there's a lot of them that come, especially during the Fourth of July weekend, because we have a lot of reenactments, whatever, it's the Boston Tea Party or Paul Revia's ride. You know, you literally can see reenactments throughout the city and people come to actually live

through the history. Like you had your kid learning about it and then you bring him or her to Boston and you get to like see all these different sites. It's such a different thing to experience it. I would love to get into the Boston history, but just really quick for anyone who doesn't know what we mean when we say Boston is a European city, can you just kind of explain what you mean by that? Yeah. So if you compare Boston to China City, I'm going to take L.A. for example.

L.A. has, you know, L.A. is really big. And you can be like in Santa Monica, in Venice, there's downtown L.A. But yeah, downtown L.A. doesn't have that idea of downtown. When you look at Boston, it's all downtown and everything grows around it. So it's like a circle around it, but downtown is downtown. On top of it, it's you can walk. So you could literally walk from one side of Boston to another pretty easily. It feels like a very small town, even though we're a city.

And then there's public transportation. So I currently do not have a car. I actually gave it to charity. a few years back. And I only take public transportation, which sounds like a completely luxury. But yes, I'm able to do that, even though sometimes it breaks down, but I'm able to do that because of how it's constructed. So it has like this idea, like there's, you know, there's Paris and this. It's really like a circles. Like it's the same thing. The idea of our circle city. It's what you get through Boston. Yeah. In Boston, it's one of our oldest cities. It's got some of the oldest buildings in the country.

I think even, yeah, the oldest buildings in the country, really. So let's talk about what is Boston famous for historically? Sure, so it's the oldest municipality, like one of the oldest of the United States. It was founded in 1630 by Puritan settlers. And they actually come from an English town of the same name. And it's famous for a lot of things. It's the first and a lot. Like it's a first for the public park like Boston Common was put together in 16.

It's the first public in state school, Boston Latin, which is very famous. Matt Damon went there. It was founded in 1635. And also the subway, which we've called the T because it's the Tremont Street subway. That's what it was founded on. That's in 1897. So a lot of first happens in Boston. It's also the oldest. Like you're thinking of the Mayflower. Like, you're thinking of the birth of America. really, when you're thinking of Boston in general. Right. So the Mayflower, that was Plymouth, right? Yes. So they actually, Plymouth is their second. Their second thing, when they first arrived, they arrived in Providence Town, and then they moved to Plymouth.

But yes, they arrived in Plymouth Plantation. You can go and visit Plymouth Plantation, by the way. It's very fun. Very historical. They play characters as if it was at that time. So if you're like, please, let me. me take a selfie with you. They won't know what it is, which when I went was a lot of fun. I think it's really fun when they stay in character. I did too. I thought it was a lot of fun.

And I went when I was eight or nine, I believe. My parents brought me. And it was the, like, it was so great. I just felt like it was, I was there with them. I'm just saying this from memories, but I really enjoyed it a lot. There's also Sturbridge Village, which is on the other side of Massachusetts that protea village back in the day. But like, centuries later. So it's a little bit more modern than what Plymouth Plantation is. But yeah, so they ended up in Plymouth Plant Station and Boston became later on the capital. And so there, yeah. Yeah. So Plymouth would be a good little day trip if you're staying in Boston for a little while. Yeah, there's the reconstruction of the Mayflower. They call it Mayflower 2 there. So you can actually go on the boat that you know, they would have taken kind of at that time. So Boston, this was like the beginning of the United States of America where they were making their plans to break away from England. You mentioned the tea party. So back then, the people living in the Boston area were all about, they don't want to get

to act if they don't have any representation. And so that's part of the reason why they threw all of the tea. I mean, that's one of the stories. That's one of the stories. And also it's like the birth of the American Revolution where Paul Ravio's right and, you know, the turnover of the constitution. and all of that's fun things. It's really nice because if you travel, if you do come from another country, it's true that you're thinking that America is very young. You know, like, I mean, I went to Turkey last August,

and it's like everything that I looked, I was like, oh my God, this is even older than the Greeks. You know, like, this is even older than. So, and then in November, I went to Peru, and I studied the Incas. And I'm like, okay, never mind. You know, so it's like you're just learning about history and culture and how like we grew as humans and nations. And then you get to have that in Boston.

Yes, it's absolutely younger. Like it's 1630. I totally understand. But you get to be able to walk to work and still have that history with you, which is really nice. Yeah. I lived in Boston for a number of years. And I loved, I didn't have a car either. I loved that I could just walk everywhere.

I took the tea everywhere. and you're walking along these really old buildings. And there's something called the Freedom Trail, which is two and a half hour, two and a half mile walk through a bunch of these sites. Yeah, so it's through Boston history. You can do it yourself because those maps, whatever it's online or at the visitor center

next to the Park Street T-stop. So you can take it and just start walking. And there's stops along the way and you can read it. I think now there's also an ad. I wouldn't be surprised if they wasn't. I mean, I don't think they're... Anyway, so, but you can also have somebody in character telling you things. So you can have those tours that tells you that go through things and you end up going

through Bicken Hill, going to see the state house. And there's also a lot of things for free. Like, you can have a tour of the state house for free because students in political science, whatever, it's Suffolk or Emerson or other places, actually give you tours. It's part of what they do. So you can go into the state house and have a tour for free from a student and just walk around and be able to look at accession or seeing what has happened in Massachusetts State House. Yeah, and the State House is where all the governmental business gets done today. Yes, yes.

And it's also great. Like if you ever wonder, you can always walk into the State House, pass through security. You can always have a public bathroom there. So it's always nice because it's in the middle of Boston. Great, too. Yeah. You can also do the same thing at City Hall. So it's all, and it's really all walking distance.

Like literally from, I think the state house to city hall, it's probably like a not even like seven minute walk. And then from city hall, you can just walk down the stairs and you're at Fenno Hall. So it's all like, you know, like within 15 minutes, you can go to the water from the central downtown. So it's just, it's just very manageable. Yeah. So the state house is on the common, which you mentioned was the first park. It used to be a cow pasture. No, it's a park.

Yeah. And then on the other side of the state house is Beacon Hill, which you mentioned, which is the beautiful old, like, rich part of town. But it wasn't always rich. It, like, went through different stages of rich and poor. It was a big African-American community for a while. I actually lived on Joy Street in the building of the first African-American, female African-American doctor, which I thought was so cool.

Her name was Rebecca Lee Crumpler. and she lived there in the 1800s. That's amazing. Yeah, now it's very famous for Halloween because. They give the best candy. Yeah, it has the best candy. And also everybody just kind of goes out and about and making sure that their house is the best. It's very known for that.

So you can, and people just, you know, in other areas, like in L.A., that's Toluca Lake or even Venice, but like in Boston, it's like people just, bus to Beacon Hill and walk around and it's like a family affair and there's crowds of people. Like you have to make sure that, you know, you're not scared of people. But it's mostly known for that. A few years back when I was in college, I walked around and was dressed up because obviously it was a college student saying was my first Halloween ever because I was French. So at that time, it wasn't as popular in France that it is now.

So I was very adamant about walking Beacon Hill. So I did. And John Kerry personally gave me a full-sized candy bar. So that was my highlight. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Do you remember what kind of candy bar it was? I think it was a sneaker. I have to be really honest. Yeah, I believe so. That is impressive. I heard that you could even tour some of the Beacon Hill houses now. Sometimes they have open houses. Yes. They have a lot of different fun tours. Like you can also have tours where it's like scavenger hunts. You know, and you can. You can also have. You know, and you can. You can. can pick a part of the Food and Twill or North End. It's kind of fun. There's also like scavenged a hunt at night in museums at the MFA, but also at the Boston Science Museum. Oh, wow. This is really fun. Do you have any other favorite walking tours or food tours or anything like that? Walking tours are always kind of fun. There's like different places that I would say that one should experience. I did this a few years ago for my interns when I was working in a music school, but you can have a private tour of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. So you can go behind the

scenes and see how things are and then go like and see the stage. And then after that, you can attend a concert or go through the Boston Pops. And it's a lot of fun. Like it's things that you wouldn't really think about. You know, you can also do it for the Boston Opera House if one wants to think of that. But I always think that it's kind of fun because you see the behind-the-scenes stuff. Yes, I love that. And everything that you're saying is bringing back different memories of things that I did when I was a student. Also, you know, I grew up not too far from Boston. So my parents would bring me there and Boston's famous were having music in the summertime outside, fireworks, sometimes like Boston Pops playing outside. Just such a cultural city.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. You have the, as you mentioned, yeah, you have the esplanade. You're thinking about, I don't know. I think Boston, I think sales boats, Charles River, the fire, the fireworks on the fore, the prudential tower, but also the old Hancock building that now it's called Berkeley Light, like Berkeley building. Really? Yeah, because the Hancock actually bought a, it moved to the seaport. So now they can't name the Hancock building because they're not housed in there anymore. So it's called the Berkeley building because of where it's located.

But I don't know if you know this. But it actually lights up. So at night, if it's night outside and if you are in Boston and you look up, the weather can be like you will know what the weather is for the next day based on how the towers light up. So if it's blue, if it's blue and by lighting up, you know, blue and if it's red or if it's also blinking red, then you'll know what. it is. And on top of it, if it's during the baseball season, then you will know if the Boston Red Sox won that day. Amazing. I love that. And I didn't know that. And I often ask my guess, you know, give me the postcard picture of where you're living. And I think everything we're saying has been sort of piecing that together. We've got some really beautiful historical buildings, beautiful park. And then the two mass big buildings.

So Boston has some tall buildings. But if you're driving into the city, the ones, that you're going to see are the Prudential building, and then now it's called the Berglie building, I guess. Yes. And then there's a bunch of stuff. So back when you were probably here, the seaport area was all parking lots. And now it's really growing. Mayor Murnino didn't develop that really, but then since Marty Walsh, well, Marloni allowed it throughout his last year or so.

But Marty Walsh, the new mayor, has really started developing that area. And so now there's many more startups. It's much more of, I mean, there's a mall there now. There are so many different restaurants. There are so many hotels. Like so many things have happened. And there's a lot more buildings if you look at the Boston skyline that they were many years ago. But all in all, the other thing with Boston that's really nice is it's like it's like four hour train ride from downtown Boston to downtown New York City and Penn Station. It's also like six hours to Paris. It's six hours to L.A. by flight or even five hours to Dublin. So it's really kind of accessible in general. You know, you can, it's where, however it's located. I do understand that we really only have three seasons. We have like winter for sure. And we have summer because, you know, we always love humidity. Sometimes we have fall and most of the time we don't have spring. I still feel the chill in my bones from when I lived in Boston. I have never lived in such a cold place in my life. I don't know if, like, Quebec will agree, but I've never lived there.

But in, I mean, a few years ago, it was definitely the Boston winter that broke Boston. But the last few years, it's been fun. Like, we didn't have that many snow days. I mean, we do have a pandemic now, but we didn't have that many or at all snow days this year. So I think it kind of depends on the years. But it can be very brutal. I can have. Well, unfortunately, I think.

climate change has just really made the world turn upside down because I've noticed like certain places that I've visited that I'm that I'm used to that climate is completely different, which is shocking that in a few years things could change so dramatically. But sticking on happier times. Yeah, you mentioned that Boston is really not that far from New York. And when I was a student there, I would go and visit friends in New York City taking, you know, the Chinatown bus. Yeah. Yeah, you can have it for a, if you book it early on, you can have it for a daughter, a dollar, really. It's possible, totally possible. You can also take the M-Track for if you book it early enough, you can have one way $39. But that's usually two months in advance. On Amtrak, I'm never that fast. I mean, I never think of too, that far in advance. But that's a great deal. I didn't realize you could find it so cheap. You could do that that cheap if you book it early. If you want to boo last. minute and you don't want you want to spend between like one dollar and potentially like at the most 25 definitely the one that that bust there are so many of it and it drops you off in chinatown or

low Manhattan really the longest part of your trip is going into manhattan to be really honest getting out of boston and getting into new year yeah those are the two things that that will take you a long time but if you do take the m track it goes from south station and drops you have a Pan Station. This episode is sponsored by me, or rather by my online course, Podcast Launch Academy. You are a podcast lover, and thank you so much for being here. But I was wondering, have you ever thought about creating a podcast yourself? Well, visit sarahigatel.com to learn how we can work together and to take the podcast personality quiz. So you are French and you grew up in Paris, as you mentioned. And you've talked to me before and I would love for you to like

mention it again here, but what is keeping you in the states and in Boston rather than going back to Paris? And what are, I guess, the biggest cultural differences you see between where you're living now and Paris? When I left France, it was kind of different. Like, you know, in recent years, globalization and companies have really grown and opened from having a job of being somebody who works internationally and speak French and English and works with. companies in different areas. That wasn't as prominent. Prior to working at Emerson, I was working from a university who did relationship with France. And that job actually exists there, you know, in very prominent school as well, as well as in corporations. So when I left, it wasn't that.

And then second of all, I always wanted to discover myself. So when I came to America, it was the idea of like what what else can I do? What can I do? So in the possibility of reinventing yourself. So I worked in so many different areas and jumped so many different careers, which sadly I don't think I would have that opportunity to do so in France. So that's one of the reasons. And I'm also staying here. I don't know. Right now I like what I do. I think it's fine. I can't tell you will be tomorrow or well, you know, and it doesn't have to be France. It could be somewhere completely different in South America. It could be, you know, I work remote. mode and that we've learned like if you had plan what this world would be now you just like last year

you couldn't you would laugh it out and say it's not possible right but now we're it's changing the new normal and it's changing you and has an effect so i see it i'm also understanding that i'm definitely one of the one percent which has i have a job i still have an apartment i still there's a lot of things that are happening to me that i'm grateful for right so but it also also is redefining me as a person and I hope to take it as a positive thing. So I could still be working with America by living somewhere else or I could just stay here. I think that I'm just kind of taking it day by day. I love this so much. So you have quite an international family. How are you able to live in work in Boston? So I have dual nationality because I was granted that at a very

young age while I was 16 when we figure it out. My mom didn't think so, but it turned to that for the longest time, we believed that my mother was natural as American, but she actually was granted the American nationality when she was four years old when she arrived in Massachusetts. And same with my grandparents at the time. I did some research. And it turned out that when they arrived on a boat, you know, it was in 1962 and there was a snowstorm and Alice Island and for like a couple of days. And I also got shut down. So the actual landed in New York City, right? My mom says that her first memory is seeing the Statue of Liberty being lit. And yeah, and then they walked off the boat and they were sponsored by the Salvation Army

and they were on a boat bringing back, you know, people in Jewish from Europe. And even though my parents were sponsored by Salvation, I mean, had nothing to do with that, they just kind of handed the nationality. And so when I went to, the... the embassy to request the visa because I was French and it was eight weeks and I wanted to come just to camp in America to figure out, you know, do I like America? Can I do it? Like I don't, you know, I'm trying to speak. I don't know. Then the person behind the counter said, yeah, you can become American. Your mom is American and you've been American before you were born because, you know, she was pregnant with you. And so we, we didn't know and literally applied for it and 30 minutes

later, I had a social security card. So my social security... Boom, you became American. I became American. So my social security card, the number is weird because it's based on where you're, you know, where you were born? So every time that I give it, they're like, oh, that's, where are you from? But I do have a birth certificate because I was born American abroad.

So I have that. I obviously am French because I was born on the French soil and that was granted to me. My mom isn't, like now she's French because of marriage, but she wasn't born France. So I have both. So I can work here. I don't have to get married. I can go. Yeah, I can go back to Europe. I'm, it's kind of, it's great. I don't use my French nationality in America. Obviously, I'm only American when I'm here. But I have the opportunity to go back to France and just to here. Oh, I love it. What were your grandparents leaving? Why did they want to come to the States? So when my, so my grandfather was never recognized by his father. His mother was died when he was four.

His grandmother died when he was eight. So he was on his own early on. At 18, he like, you know, went to declare himself so he could have a last name. But all in all, he was really tall. And he just, like, joined the army at 15 and lied saying he was 18 and could drive like trucks. When the war ended, and he came back to that part of Italy, it turned out that that part of Italy became Yugoslavia later on in life, which is now Croatia. So the issue is that he didn't have papers.

My grandparents got together after the war in a very fun fact in the sense that my grandfather came to knock on this girl's, his girlfriend's door, and say, honey, I'm home. And she was like, well, that's great. I just thought you were dead because, you know, you were in the war. and I've never heard from you, so I got married. And so he was very sad. And it turned out that she said, well, you know, but my twin sister, she's single. And so that's how my grandparents got together. Oh, my gosh.

So they had my mom, but to make sure that, you know, she was Italian, my grandmother walked through, like, where now is Croatia to Italy to give birth to my mom, Nielago de Garda. And, like, he didn't have paperwork. They lost the house that. they owned, you know, that they built by hand. So they, it was, it was a lot, right? So they decide to apply for a passport and see if they go to, they could go to America. Back in the time, you know, some people could go to Brazil and you got some land and other places. You could go

to America through the Salvation Army and, like, charity. And they applied. And my mom believes that she got the passport because she was cute and she was a baby at the time. And, and And they walked from Italy through, like she went through a concentration camp in Germany. And the boat that came from the national plan dropped all the goods there and then took immigrants back. They took my grandparents and my mom there. That's how we ended up there. And that was the 60s you said? Yes, 62.

Well, Vanessa, it has been so nice talking to you. Oh, actually. Sorry, it was 52. 1952. That's when it was. Do you have any final thoughts or any advice you want to give anyone thinking about visiting or moving to Boston? Honestly, I think that my advice would be to go and visit and experience as many cultures as possible. I understand right now that it's hard.

Like, you know, there's a lot of anxiety or questions or wonder about like what does the new world look like or even, you know, what does it mean? Like, should I take a plane? should I not? And I feel you. I don't have all these answers to that. But what I would say is that wherever you are, take the time to try to understand and ask questions to the locals. You know, you could, I'll give you an example. I hiked Kilimanjara a few years ago. And finally, the people that I'm on my group are putting together videos that they filmed while we were there. And they're finally putting them on YouTube. And it's a 10-part series and part nine. was posted last week or something.

And in it, they actually talked about me when the camera I was rolling and I wasn't there and saying how I hiked with a different pace. And one of the person said, yes, but, you know, she, like asked about flowers and people. And, like, yeah, she took a real long time, but, like, I think she had a different experience than us. And that first guy answers back and said, oh, yeah, I've hiked it so many times. I don't even know any of those stuff. So you might have, you will have a completely different experience.

You know, you can go to Matripechu and see it, or you can go in Matripeachu and really get to learn all of the other contexts of the people working there and how things are working. And I swear, I know that asking questions sometimes can be a little overwhelming, but you'll get so much more out of it. I hope you enjoyed this audio tour of historical Boston, and this is just such an incredible city. It's the cradle of the U.S. and so definitely worth a visit, especially. lovely in the summertime, as we mentioned. In the next episode, Vanessa will be back to tell us everything that we need to eat, see, and experience in modern Boston. That's all for now. Thanks for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can

use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download at sarah mycatel.com slash blank no more.