Thirty-five years ago this summer I took my very first trip to France! I traveled all alone halfway around the world. Long distance was so expensive that my parents and I agreed that I would not call unless it was a real emergency. It took one week for a letter to go by airmail across the Atlantic. I promised my parents that I would write them as soon as I got to Paris to let them know how I was doing. So, imagine that they put me on an airplane, and did not hear from me until they received a letter eight days later!

I asked my parents to save all of my letters that I wrote to them that summer, as a diary of my very special summer. I still have those letters (aerograms) today! I wrote with very tiny handwriting in great detail about my experiences traveling to nine major French cities, staying with families in each one.

My mother's fear was that I would get lost in the big city of Paris. I told her if I got lost, I'd find a gendarme and ask for directions. I did get lost one day, and wandered around in circles for a couple of hours before I got the nerve to go into a police substation and ask for directions to the Baptist Church where we were staying. I was really proud of myself for communicating my way out of a real life problem.....and mad at myself for wasting two hours trying to get up the nerve to ask for help!

I have been fortunate enough to go back to France many times, mostly with my students, and have managed to discover something new about Paris each and every time I go. I have renewed friendships with the French young people that I worked with that summer. I have experienced Paris with my husband, my mother, my daughter, and my sister-in-law. As a French teacher I have looked forward to an opportunity to study abroad (an opportunity I never had as a college student, but was able to give my daughter), and I've always said that one day I wanted to rent a car and visit some of my favorite areas of France at my own pace! This summer those two dreams are coming true! I have received a scholarship from the French government to study with other French teachers for 3 weeks in Grenoble at the University Stendahl! Since I already had an ACIS tour to Prague/Vienna/Salzburg/Munich/Venice planned, and there are only two weeks separating the two events, I am going to stay and travel for a week with my best friend/teacher/traveling "copine" Renee. We will be traveling by train to Milan, the Italian Riviera (Cinque Terre), and the French Riviera (Nice, Cannes, Eze, St. Paul de Vence, etc.).

When Renee returns to the US, my husband will join me in Nice where we will rent a car and drive the triangle from Nice to Chamonix to Avignon, celebrating the summer of our 25th wedding anniversary in Provence! How perfect is that?

Well, it is almost perfect. I managed to severely sprain my ankle ten days before departure, and will have to spend part of my dream-come-true vacation in an aircast. How stylish is that? Being the optimist that I am, I will say that the aircast is much more comfortable than walking on crutches, and I am planning on healing very quickly, so that I can lose the cast about the time I hit the beaches of the French Riviera!

This blog will be what my handwritten aerograms were 35 years ago.....my diary of a dream come true.....an extended stay in a beautiful country halfway around the world. This time I will be able to communicate instantaneously with my family via e-mail, cell phone, facebook and text messaging. Vive la différence!