15 December 2009

Le mot du jour: une banque

The word of the day is: bank

Today I marked a milestone in preparing for my trip. I opened a savings account on October1, titled it 'Europe Save,' and today my efforts and man heures have added up to something I can smile about, because today, I passed the four digit mark. My goal was to put away $300/mo and it hasn't been easy but I'm not afraid to say that I'm pretty damn proud of myself, considering I haven't had savings like that in over 2 years. I realize as far as savings go, I realize it's a meek competitor, but it's my little French nest egg and I plan on keeping it très très warm, until June.

12 December 2009

Bonjour!

Tonight I'm baking 200 cupcakes for a Christmas party that my mother is hosting tomorrow. My folks are away at a cocktail party down the street, so I decided to choose and OnDemand movie. It only seemed fitting to watch the newly released Julie & Julia, the story of a woman who spends a year blogging her way through every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As someone who loves to cook, I enjoyed the movie, but as a writer, I was motivated to pick up a blog of my own. Not about cooking, but about my growing adoration of France.

On September 22, after a month of perpetual, personal melt downs, I impulsively turned in every last one of my frequent flyer miles for a round trip ticket to France. The point being that I needed something to work for, something to look forward to. Feeling less than pleased with my being in San Diego, I figured that by setting an actual date of departure, I could get through these nine months a little easier.

Thinking about France takes up a lot of my time. There are two main projects I'm working on to prepare for the trip in June 2010. The first being the French language. It's quite an undertaking, but with the help of the Rosetta Stone program and French film, song, and literature, I think I'm getting off to a good start. The second major effort is choosing my destinations and convincing friends to "meet me over there".

The exact length of my trip is undetermined as my tickest are changeable at any time. I want to play it by ear. I want to enjoy it as long as I see fit, finances permitting of course.

The intention of this blog is to document my preparations and eventually the trip itself. Let it be known that before September 22nd, the French I knew did not extend beyond "bonjour, au revoir, and merci". I'll be sharing my expanding French vocabulary as well as all the great things I'm learning about the French culture and I hope that my writings convey to you, whoever might read this, how fascinating a culture it is.

Bienvenue à mon blog

until next time,

Lindsey