Homesick

 

I think I'm homesick.
 
Tomorrow is seven weeks that we've been traveling, and I'm starting to feel the pull of San Diego and home. Don't get me wrong, this trip has been ridiculously amazing so far! Spending ten days in Israel hanging out with family and traveling around was so much fun, and we have had so many fabulous experiences and adventures living on the French Riviera for the last five weeks! Still, there are some things that I definitely miss. Like English.

Last week we went to London for a few days, and being in a country where everyone understood me and I understood everyone was a huge relief. And though I knew that I was struggling with the language barrier here in France (the last time I studied French I was in fifth grade), I'm not sure I realized how much it was affecting me. After London we were back in France for a day, and then we went to Italy for three days. I *love* the sound of Italian, so it was fun even though I have even less of an understanding of Italian than I do of French (though we found that you can get by with Spanish sometimes). Being back in France after a week of being around other languages, I actually found myself thinking that the French I heard being spoken around me sounded ugly. I know, I know...that's a horrible thing to say! And yet, there it is.

Three months before we came here, I had every intention of going through all 90 Pimsleur French lessons that we had, so that I would have a much better grasp on the language by the time we got here. I got through about 16 of them, and that was it. So I'm definitely responsible for the experience I'm having here, and now I know that I would do it differently the next time. When we first got here I felt really stymied by the fact that I couldn't communicate with people. After a while I started getting more comfortable with it, and now I think I've regressed. Or given up. I almost don't even want to make the effort to try to speak French, and just go straight for the English. I've become *that* person!

Language aside, I also miss hanging out with our amazing friends in San Diego! It was really fun to get to see my best friend Sheri in London last week, and I miss all the going out for lunches and dinners with our friends that we do when we're home. I miss hugging my friends, too (I'm a hugger)!

And as great as our apartment is here, I miss our super-awesome newly remodeled home in San Diego!! I miss our amazing new kitchen, our fabulous bed, our giant project-on-the-wall tv screen...I even miss our silly cat, Franz!

Still, we're here for almost three more weeks, and I don't want to spend it longing for home instead of experiencing all there still is to experience here. So...I am committed to having an amazing remainder of our trip here in France! Hold me to that, okay?

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Apparently I Needed a Break

It's been a month since my last blog post.  Apparently I needed a break!  :)  And boy is there a lot going on!

I'm focusing on finishing up my coach training program, and am hoping to be certified by around the end of June.  It's been going really great, and soon I'll get to focus on building up my business, my presence, and my clientele!  In truth, I'm nervous about that part.  I have a past experience of myself as someone who wasn't motivated to do what it took to build up my last business, and I really don't want to repeat that experience with my coaching business.  Guess that's a good awareness to start with!

The biggest thing that has been in the works lately is our trip for the fall.  We've been talking about it and semi-planning it for a while now, but these last few days we actually booked most of it, and we're definitely going!!!  The plan is to leave just after our one-year wedding anniversary in August and fly to Israel for my cousin Ella's wedding.  We're going to spend a week and a half in Israel seeing family and being tourists.  Donovan has never been to Israel, so this will be an adventure for him!  Also fun is that his parents are going to fly from Hawaii to Israel and hang out with us for the time we're there, too!  My parents and lots of my other family will also be there.  It's going to be a blast!

The view from our apartment balcony in Villefranche

From there we fly to Nice, France (on the French Riviera).  We're renting an apartment in the coastal town of Villefranche sur Mer, about ten minutes outside of Nice, and we'll be staying there for eight whole weeks!!  Donovan will be working his regular four-tens while we're in France, so we'll have a three day weekend every weekend to go and explore the area.  We're not planning on renting a car in France, and are going to take full advantage of the buses and trains.  I know we'll want to visit Nice, take the train to Monte Carlo, take the train into Italy, maybe spend a few days in Paris...there are so many options!  I have no idea what I'll do during the day while Donovan is working, but I'm sure I'll figure out ways to amuse myself!  I have no qualms about checking out the surrounding areas on my own (scouting, if you will...) so that I find cool stuff for the two of us to do on the weekends.

We come back at the end of October, about nine and a half weeks after we leave.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this!!!  Donovan and I have been talking about wanting to live in different places in the world for a few months at a time practically since we met.  And we're finally doing it!!!!!!!!!!  There are lots of preparations to be made, including me learning French!  I already did lesson 1 in Pimsleur French 1...only 89 lessons to go!  We leave in just over three months from now, and I am so very very stoked!!!  It's going to be such an amazing adventure for us!!! :)