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Tonight marks the season premiere of Bravo‘s highly anticipated series Real Girlfriends In Paris. The show’s title suggests it will be a prequel to something like “Real Housewives Of Paris,” but it actually resembles Emily in Paris, the Netflix series, in tone and format. Bravo fans will no doubt draw comparisons to the network’s canceled cult hit Gallery Girls, which followed a collection of driven young women trying to break in to the art scene in New York City. Real Girlfriends In Paris is centered around a group of six gorgeous and bold twentysomething expats, each wanting to make the City of Light her permanent home. When these Americans are not pursuing their various careers, they are focusing on dating and finding love in the one of the world’s most romantic cities.

Having lived in Paris for going on a decade, Anya Firestone serves as a den mother of a kind, giving advice, hosting Friendsgivings, and even fixing a pesky fridge when maintenance refuses to come. Even though she’s licensed by the French government to give tours at every historical and cultural venue in Paris, Firestone’s passion project remains Masion Firestone, her company that, in her own words, “curates out-of-the-box and out-of-the-boutique experiences poised to amplify brand identity through cultural engagement.”

Though she mentors fellow castmates Margaux Lignel, Kacey Margo, Adja Toure, and Victoria Zito with aplomb, Firestone’s bond with fellow New Yorker Emily Gorelik is undeniably special. As the youngest among the friends, Gorelik struggles with finding her own path in Paris while carrying out her professional duties for her mother’s interior design business. As she embarks on a prestigious internship in the fashion industry (for which she has no experience!), Gorelik will need her friend more than ever!

Over Zoom, Decider got to speak to Firestone and Gorelik about the upcoming season and when exactly they first fell in love with Paris.

DECIDER: You two are the first girlfriends we meet in the premiere episode! How would you two describe your friendship?

EMILY GORELIK: Simple. Two words.

ANYA FIRESTONE: Mama. Bebe.

EG: I’m the bebe. Anya is the eldest…

AF: I told her don’t say the oldest, say eldest, it implies more wisdom. [laughs] I was once Emily’s age in Paris. I have experience when it comes to living, dating and finding out what you’re going to do in Paris that I always share with Emily.

EG: I look up to Anya. You’ll see throughout the season that all the girls look up to Anya. I aspire to be an American woman living successfully in Paris, the way that Anya does. She guides all of us. She guides me particularly because she can relate to being 22 and not know what you want to do in Paris or how to deal with relationships and friendships and career choices and visas and whatnot.

AF: Plus, I get to feel young! She tells me what the kids are doing on TikTok.

You both are New York natives. When did you fall in love with Paris?

AF: I was 10 years old, and the first vacation that I took with my single mom was in Paris. I’ve always been very attached to my mother and still am. I always sat next to her at all the bat mitzvahs, not with the kids. When we went to Paris, I had no qualms about approaching people even though I didn’t speak French. I felt such a visceral connection to the city that I knew I wanted to come back here.

I was born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen, so I’m a real New Yorker. For me, New York is like a brother, who’s your family, your blood, you love him, but sometimes he’s annoying and you’ve got to get away from him. Paris is like a lover who one day you meet and you’re like, “oh Mon Dieu.” You know that you don’t need to see other cities. Paris is the city that speaks to my soul.

After that first trip, I kept finding ways to return to Paris. When I was 15 years old, I convinced the principal of my Orthodox Jewish school that the art history trip had to be to Paris. Ever since then, the school has done a cultural trip to Paris every year.

And now about you, Emily?

EG: For me, very similarly, I was born and raised in the New York City and New Jersey area. My parents immigrated from Soviet Union. As I grew up, our mindset always was that America is the only place for our family. America is where we made it. We were able to come from nothing, and it’s all thanks to this country that we have something.

In my mind it was never an option to even explore anything else. It was New York or nothing. When I started college, I went to NYU because I didn’t think I had a choice. However, I kept feeling that something was missing. The summer after my freshman year at NYU, I bought a solo one-way ticket to France. I stayed with a mutual friend that I met at NYU, and soon I knew I would not return to New York.

I called my mom and firmly announced: “Mom, I’m not going back to school. I’m not going back to New York. I’m going to figure things out and stay in Paris.” It was in Paris that I finally realized what it was I was missing. Paris is where I have been able to learn so much about myself in ways that I never could have being in New York.

Can you tease a little bit of what audiences will see in your journeys this season?

AF: I’m the eldest of the girls. I’m beyond dating and am engaged [to Matthieu Rasset]. I’m in the next stage of life. I’m thinking about my wedding at the same time that I am trying to establish my cultural business. You’ll see me reach out to the biggest fashion houses and art galleries and museums in Paris and try to push my Mason Firestone concept in a city that so often says no. I’m really excited for people to see what I go through to build my business.

EG: For me, I am on a very wild journey to find the right career and establish relationships. You will see me receive an opportunity to intern at a huge fashion design company here in Paris. I’ve never been involved in fashion before, so I am completely clueless. You’ll see me stumble a little bit and run to the other girls for help and advice. At the same time, I’m struggling with my responsibilities to my mother’s interior design business. You’ll see how I’m able to balance making a start in one career while working at the other. I also get closer to figuring out who I am and what it is I actually want to do here in Paris. Of course, you’ll see some of my dating fails and successes too. [laughs] But yeah, it’s all good stuff.

D: Is there another Bravo show you’re currently keeping up with?

AF: Well, not really. I’ve worked with Ryan Serhant, but I’ve never seen Million Dollar Listing New York!

EG: I’ll be honest, we are both out of the Bravo loop just because we live in France and it’s harder to watch here. However, that being said, I’ve watched a couple seasons of Real Housewives of New Jersey and loved it. I’m a proud Jersey girl, I can relate to them!

Real Girlfriends In Paris will air on Mondays at 9/8c on Bravo.