As every year, it takes me a little time to settle in to life in Aveyron after a summer in the Pacific Northwest.
Olympia, in all its calm yet funky glory, had never looked more charming to me than it did this summer. Was it the resolutely warm weather, or just the mood I was in?
Perhaps knowing that my daughter had spent a whole school year there made me look at my home town with a fresh eye. I wrote this post about leaving her behind there exactly one year ago, and it does seem like all year long, I had Olympia on my mind.
Now it's la rentrée, and time for new experiences here in Aveyron. My youngest will start a new, French high school; my eldest will start la faculté here in Rodez. My husband and I both have plenty of work lined up, and hope to do a little better on the social side than last year.
Good-bye for now, Olympia.
11 comments:
Good luck to your girls for their school years. Will your daughter have a tough time adjusting to the French university system?
Get out and have fun with your friends.
I wouldn't want to say goodbye to that either!
It is difficult to split your heart between two places...
See and I am building up the courage to leave here and cope with the UK again!
All the Brit expats are lucky -- home isn't that far away from France.
I'm leaving for Olympia in two days now... so thank you for reminding me what's waiting for me at the end of that long flight solo with a two-year-old!
I was born in Seattle but lived in Olympia from age 2 to age 12. My dad and his wife still live there. I'm hoping le Petit will feel at home there someday, too... but it feels so terribly far away!
Parisienne -- I can't believe you are from Olympia! We must keep in touch. You should find me on Facebook...I'm under Betty Carlson and in the Stanford University network.
This past summer was indeed glorious throughout the PNW - we too had a hard time leaving. But now we're loving Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. See, we CAN have it all.
Abra, Thanks for the comment. I still have your email -- sorry I haven't answered yet. I just can't keep up with everything. Are you living in St. An.N.V. now? That really isn't that far from here, and you're right, we should get together. Do you ever come to Rodez? Anyway, I will get to that email when I can. Take care!
ahhh, the Pacific Northwest.......You know Betty, I used to Live near Seattle, so when you say you hated to leave, I can relate to that. They had a great summer there this year, weather wise,so I hope you were there to enjoy a part of that.
Jann, so many of my readers have some sort of PNW connection --it's really a disproportionate amount! There seems to be some connection between Washington/Oregon and France. Maybe just that they're both cool places...
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