We’ve made it back to Angers from our trip to the SF Bay Area and are looking ahead with excitement to what comes next for us this fall as the seasons change and we seek new opportunities to further integrate with the community and culture of Angers, France. Here’s what we’ve got planned for the next few months:

• LANGUAGE: Our French language classes are starting and we’ll be going to classes two evenings a week through January (at least). We’ve joined an additional conversational French group session each week at the English language library to try to get more comfortable with spoken French, which is the hardest part for us. English sentences have a lot of emphasized words which helps in building context about what is important. French is a pretty flat language with a lot of (seemingly unnecessary!) vowels that seem to run together when spoken quickly. Catching onto the cadence of French, or what a French friend calls “the music,” may help us with comprehension and speaking.
• DRIVING: We’ve decided to get our French driving licenses in the event that we want to stay in France longer than a year as our Washington license is only good for one year here. Eighteen U.S. states have reciprocal drivers licenses with France and people from those states can simply trade their U.S. state license for a French one. Sadly, Washington is not one of those states. It doesn’t seem like it would be a hard thing to show driving proficiency after decades of driving in the U.S. until you learn that we are now tasked with meeting the same requirements as brand new French drivers. We have to take the written exam IN FRENCH, then take actual driving lessons (12-20 hours of drive time) to learn how to properly drive in France, and then we must pass the practical driving test while speaking and listening IN FRENCH. It’s like being 16 all over again, but this time IN FRENCH! Send us kind thoughts as this will be challenging, but our friends from the U.S. have done it and we will too.
• COMMUNITY AND CULTURE: Attending festivals, museums, music/shows, events and other activities that the City of Angers and the English language library puts on throughout the year, and hopefully making friends and building relationships here in Angers through shared interests. Greg will keep riding his bike and I’m joining the gym nearby to keep us healthy and moving.

We visited our storage unit while in California and brought home some of our comfort items in the large empty suitcases we brought over with us, like our pillows and comforter, our good knives (I’m sure TSA loved that in our checked luggage!), and a haul of Costco over-the-counter meds which are hard or impossible to get in France in any sort of quantity. Here is all we own in the U.S., condensed into a 10’x15′ unit:

After being back in the U.S. for the past couple of weeks and reminding ourselves of the many things we like (favorite and spicy foods, family, speaking the language fluently) and dislike (traffic, everything is expensive [Remember the $55+tip breakfast I wrote about?]) about living in the U.S., we feel better able to lean into our optimism about our ability to create a feeling of home here in France. It’s not perfect, but is kind and peaceful and the bread and cheese are amazing. Here is a picture of the seasonal pancakes, French toast, and fresh squeezed juice we had today for less than €24 (about $27), including tax and tip:

As autumn begins, we’re sending you warm wishes for your own feeling of home as the leaves fall and the days get shorter and cooler. Dorothy said it best: “There’s no place like home!”