Love/hate real estate envy
Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 8:30PM I'm totally hooked on HGTV's House Hunters - especially House Hunters International.
I adore seeing what average or above-average homes look like around the world, especially in Europe. One of my favorite episodes ever was when the show followed a couple looking to buy an apartment in Stockholm, Sweden. My dad was born in Sweden, so I always like seeing what life is like there. Additionally, the buyers were a same-sex couple and I really appreciate that the show includes a variety of families.
But this weekend I found myself enthralled, yet sick with envy watching an episode of House Hunters International following a couple who was looking to buy an apartment . . . in Paris.
I studied French from the fifth grade through my freshman year of college. I dreamed of going to Paris since I first learned about it; and, finally, I spent a week there at a writing workshop in 2004. It was an incredibly magnificent week and I've dreamed of going back to Paris ever since.
The Paris episode of House Hunters International was sweet torture. Everything looked familiar and spectacular - and I couldn't believe this young couple was lucky enough to be buying an apartment in Paris (and then getting married at a chateau outside Paris a few months later). I could just die of envy.
Yet, I keep watching. If that episode comes on again, I will watch it again - and again, and again.
Are there any shows that you watch despite how utterly green with envy they make you?
NaBloPoMo, television in life, television 
Reader Comments (1)
I used to watch that show when I had extended cable! Lol. The thing that always struck me was how small their kitchens are over there in Europe. And the ladies would say, "Ooh!! Such a big kitchen!!" I'd think, "That's smaller than my bathroom!" It really made me think though about how we really probably don't need all the space we have in our American kitchens.
Anyway... so the show that always gets me is actually a cheesy little teen drama called Life Unexpected. The reason is because it's filmed in Portland, OR, where I used to live, and it makes me so intensely homesick! I recognize a lot of the places they show and it really makes me want to drop everything and move back.