Bonjour tout le monde ! Despite the fact that it is only the beginning of August, we’re already planning for la rentrée over here! Gotta do our back-to-school supply shopping, and it’s a whole undertaking. Each school provides families with a list of fournitures scolaires (school supplies) the kids must have. Here are ours: collège, page 1 collège, page 2 lycée Every summer we have a ritual where first my kids go through all their old supplies, compare to the new lists, and cross off all the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Bonjour tout le monde, For those of you thinking about moving to France or living here already, or even if you’re just curious about life in France, there are so many fascinating, well-written books out there. I thought I’d give you a little blurb about several of my favorites, some I have mentioned on my YouTube channel before, and others I have not, in case you’re in the market for a good summer read. Books I’ve discussed on my YouTube channel: Almost French, by Sarah Turnbull: Ahh, the...
3 months ago • 4 min read
Bonjour tout le monde, Our pattern for the past few years has been that once every two summers we head back to the US, and then the next summer we stay in France. Last summer we went to the US, and so, again, this summer we're planning on staying in France. But we don't just stay in France. We stay home. By choice. I love it here in Burgundy in the summer. As a teacher, I'm off of work. We often ship the kids off for a few weeks to Mamie's, I sign them (and myself!) up for activities...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Bonjour tout le monde, Today, May 22, or 22 May (let’s be honest, it’s so much more logical to have the day first, then the month, n’est-ce pas ?) marks 18 years since I moved to France. My husband and I got married in early June, so I arrived a few weeks ahead of time, to… I don’t know what… He had basically planned everything for the wedding before I even arrived, and when I asked what it would be like, he told me, “just a normal wedding.” Uh huh. Our images of what constitutes a “normal...
4 months ago • 4 min read
Bonjour tout le monde, My husband and I are gearing up for another one of our city visits this weekend, taking advantage of yet another long May weekend (the second of four😀). I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but we’re heading up north, to Ch’ti territory, land of famous fries and Maroilles cheese. Every time we visit a city for one of these videos, I do a fair amount of research before we even leave the house so I kind of know what to look for when we’re on the ground. I thought it would...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Bonjour tout le monde ! This is the very first installment of my much-hyped newsletter! Ça y est ! Here we go! 😊 Since I started my YouTube channel last year, a lot of people have reached out asking me questions that are related specifically to relocation; visas, moving pets, rental apartment hunting, things I maybe once had some legitimacy talking about, but which for me, after over 17 years in France, are now sort of distant memories. I can still help out as much as possible and talk about...
11 months ago • 2 min read