Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Le Quatorze Juillet in Ardèche

  July 14th is a day of national celebration in France- la fête nationale! Fireworks, parades, parties- it's a big deal. Why the 14th? To commemorate the Storming of the Bastille (which is why maybe you've heard of "Bastille Day", however here in France it is simply "la fête nationale" or "le quatorze juillet"- July 14). La Bastille was the former main jail of Paris. During the French Revolution, it was taken by the revolutionary troops on July 14 1789 and became the symbol of the people’s revolution. In Paris, the day is celebrated with a huge military parade on the Champs Elysées and by nightfall nearly a million people gather for a concert and fireworks near the Eiffel Tower.
Being a national holiday, many businesses close so lots of Parisians choose to take a long weekend and escape the madness- which is exactly what I did this year...and, well, last year too. This year I went South to the Ardèche region with my boyfriend to celebrate a friend's birthday and spend a few sunny days enjoying pool-side barbecues and kayaking the Ardèche river.
Ardèche is a beautiful area in thAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. With a few stops along the way, it would take our caravan of friends about 6-7 hours to arrive by car from Paris. So I packed my fav sunhat, SPF50, and new bikini (and all the insecurities that came along with it-more on that later) and off we went!





Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Trouville / Deauville : Normandy

Summer in Paris.
It's hot and empty. Ok, some nights still require a sweater and although the metro is significantly less crowded, you've still gotta squeeze on at rush hour (and hope that everyone remembered their deodorant). While lots of locals clear out for those famous weeks-long French holidays, shuttering their businesses with jaunty, hand-written "Off to the beach! See ya in September!" signs, lots of tourists stream in. Alas- we aren't all so lucky to be able to jet off to exotic locales all summer, but a weekend trip to the lovely beaches and endlessly charming towns on the Northern coast? Totally do-able.
So, along with a couple of my favorite Parisian babes, that's just what we did- the perfect weekend entre filles! Already plotting a visit back with mon amour in these precious remaining couple of weeks of summer;



Wednesday, December 2, 2015

December


6 months between posts is probably a bit too long. So much has happened since June, in so many aspects of my life. Every time I've sat down to write a post it was too overwhelming and intimidating and I gave up.

But here we go! Bullet-point, style- because that's way less intimidating.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Oops.

I did it again. Promised myself to Be A Better Blogger and then did the exact opposite. The last few months have been a whirlwind (who am I kidding? Life has been a whirlwind since the minute I stepped off that plane in October), planning out Josh's visit, stressing over said visit, blissfully enjoying said visit, and of course feeling like someone had died as soon as I left him at the airport 10 days later and drove home in tears that lasted for days. There's also been the little detail of figuring out what comes next. That little, hugely significant detail has been on my mind since March and has felt pretty all consuming ever since. My Visa expires at the end of September and while it's only June, I am without a doubt certain (and have been for a while now) that I'm no where near ready to end this adventure. I miss my family and friends every day and I've now been away for countless significant milestones and events where I wanted nothing more than to hop a plane and be with the ones I love, but I know going back too soon would be a mistake. I would be lying to myself, and at the risk of sounding dramatic, setting myself up for failure and nagging feelings of regret. Which terrifies me. Would I be miserable? Certainly not. My life would be full with family and friends and love. I've been struggling with my feelings on balancing my responsibilities to those I love and my responsibilities to myself. Selflessness and selfishness. If anything, I think that in order to be the best version of myself for the ones I love, I have to be true to myself. And right now that truth is on this side of the Atlantic. Maybe I'll never feel ready to go back- but the decisions and sacrifices I've made up to this point have been more than enough to convince me to follow my instincts and stick with this crazy, unpredictable, sometimes frustrating but ultimately fulfilling experience.



Now that the intensive soul searching is out of the way, time to start the hard part- navigating and dealing with all of the French bureaucracy required to extend my stay...   ;)