Today we're talking about the slow, creeping horror of realizing that the things you once thought were cool…aren’t. Maybe you aged out of them. Maybe you matured. Maybe you moved zip codes and discovered that being “insanely busy" or “performatively confident” or a "relentless partier" doesn’t translate outside your original habitat. It’s the life clash of having to retire your old identity badges and admit that some of your personality was realistically a ... regional trend.

All that, plus we’re snacking on some AMERICAN-LY sweet (*wink, wink* — see our IG) treats as a form of cultural regression.

Y'all we are SO excited to be back with you again after a way way too long hiatus. But here we are for Season 2 of Clashists!! One of us grew a human being inside their body and the other continued to strike out on Hinge. We'll let you guess which was which. We recap our fav things we ate, bought, and obsessed over this past summer (and, well, early fall) and catch-up on some ~cultural~ happenings—namely how the heck they just dropped (??!) that jewel-laden crown, and why you should just shut up already about Belly's Sacre Coeur view. Love you, missed you.

Being in your 30s is WEIRD. Some would even say it’s peak time for life’s biggest ~culture clashes~. Your friend group suddenly starts to splinter—one falls in love and moves to farmhouse upstate, another has a baby and starts coping with the dreaded "witching hour", and the other is still out until 2 a.m. lighting shots on fire on a Wednesday ("leave me alone" -Gabby). In this episode, your fav duo is talking diverging timelines, mismatched milestones, and whether friendship can survive when everyone seems to be living a significantly different reality. Also: "Snack & Spiral" is back, and unsurprisingly a seasonal flavor of Bret's chips plays a starring role.

Vogue: Why Is It So Hard to Maintain Friendships From Your 20s in Your 30s?

The Cut: Our friendship survived bad dates, illness, marriage, fights. Why can’t it survive your baby?

Today we're joined by actor, writer, filmmaker, and new-ish Paris resident—Clark Moore—to tackle our most oft-heard accusation: that Americans in Paris are inherently annoying. From casting ourselves as the city’s main character, to treating Paris like a personal art incubator, and the well trodden theater-kid-to-Paris-pipeline, we explore the behaviours that grind the gears of outsiders & locals alike.

Are we just as insufferable as the incessant rumours say, or, well .... are y'all just jealous?? Come at us baby. Years of Parisian "c'est pas possibles" have thickened our skin.

Referenced:

• Bloomberg's "Revisiting Paris Syndrome in the Smartphone Era": https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-10-24/revisiting-paris-syndrome-in-the-smartphone-travel-era
• Gateway guy theory: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOb3f2BkRaa/

Where to find Clark!

• Clark's Substack, Wistover: https://clarkmoore.substack.com/
• Read his essay in the first issue of the new literary magazine, Souvenir: https://www.souvenir-paris.com/
• @mrclarkmoore on IG

Today on the pod: we interrogate the cultural pinnacle of Passport to Paris in a playful ~petite ep~. Questions we ask ourselves include but are not limited to: which parts of the movie actually hold up 26 years later? Which aspects are now painfully dated?? And which were never true? Why does everyone speak a mystery language? How do they make headscarves look like high art? Should we be trying quail eggs? And maybe the singular most crucial question—are more cowboy hats the answer to Parisian stranger energy? Spoiler alert: no probably not but stick around anyways.

Hi! Here we are. This is our first episode. In terms of what you can expect - we'd say general first-episode-of-a-podcast kind of stuff, We tell you who we are, why we're fascinated by the concept of "culture shock" (in all of its forms), and how it's affected both of our lives. Other topics? The ~romantic~ tales of why we wound up in Paris (spoiler alert: one involves kidney stones & the other, a dead body), why we love stranger energy, how the only compliment we've ever received from a French person was while dressed as Princess Diana, and how the impossibility of getting the bill in Paris is actually a blessing.

In this ep, we explore why making friends in your 30s isn't easy- and why that might actually be OK. Also- do French people hate being asked questions?? (Gab has thoughts), and why you should 100% slide into more strangers' DMs. Plus- Paris' best Venezuelan food & why onion soup mix has unexpected international appeal.

Content referenced:

How Solitude Is Rewiring American Identity, The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/01/americas-crisis-of-aloneness/681251/

Magical Overthinking About Adult Friendships: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/overthinking-about-adult-friendships/id1745220403?i=1000678377740

Harvard Study of Adult Development: https://www.adultdevelopmentstudy.org/

Mistakingly Seeking Solitude: https://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/jschroeder/Publications/Epley&Schroeder2014.pdf

We are BACK with an ep alllll about how weird French jobs are. But also great. There is greatness there too. Dani schools Gabby on the oddities of French corporate employment and (spoiler alert) unemployment. Gabby sits mouth agape at the concept of severance and worker's rights. Latter half includes spirals about tactless favor-asking and demanding group chats, and a much-needed ode to BIG salads.