Traversing France
What do you do when your best laid plans do not easily fit with the new plans that the French administration has laid out for you? You change your plans.
This is exactly what happened to me last month when I finally received the invitation to my Republican Integration Contract appointment at the prefecture in France. My appointment was to be at the Bordeaux prefecture on Monday, March 31st. However, my current plan has been to leave my Airbnb in Cerét on Saturday, March 29th and drive to my new Airbnb near Nice, France. For those of you who are not familiar with the locations of these cities suffice it to say that from Cerét, Nice is in the opposite direction from Bordeaux.
I knew that I needed to change my plan, this appointment is mandatory and one that I have been looking forward to. At this appointment I would take a French test, assessing my level and determining if I would be required to take French lessons provided by the government, additionally, I would sign the Republican Integration Contract (CIR) which is a contract between a non-European foreigner and the French government committing myself to learning the language and learning how things are done here in France.
I looked at the map and hatched a plan to leave my Airbnb a day early on Friday and drive to the area around Lauzun that I had lived in for three months last fall, there I could drop some things off at my storage unit, get my hair done and stop in to say hello to some friends along the way then I would drive that evening to Bordeaux. The trip from Cerét to Lauzun was around 4 hours and the trip from there to Bordeaux was 2 hours.
I got online and booked an Airbnb from Friday through until Tuesday in Bordeaux. This would give Paolo and I a relaxing weekend exploring Bordeaux ahead of the Monday appointment and then on the Tuesday morning after the appointment I would drive to the next Airbnb near Nice. It would be a long drive, 7.5 hours door to door, an hour or so longer with stops but there were just some things that I had to do and this was one of them.
I notified my current host about my plan to leave a day early and coordinated the logistics that I would need to leave this current Airbnb which was no small feat. After coordinating with the neighbor who had the only parking spot at the top of the cul-de-sac so I could park there the night before to load my car and then getting help from my host to carry my heaviest of things up the hill. You see, this Airbnb, while lovely, quiet and private, turned out to be about 100 meters down a very small dirt path down the side of a hill. I will include some pictures here so you will get a sense of the trail to get to the place and the one that had to be reversed to leave. For the 5 weeks that I was at this place I felt like a mountain goat most of the time, trekking up and down the trail with groceries, walks with Paolo, etc., etc.
One of the hardest things and perhaps the most anxiety-inducing part of my explorations in France is the process of going into a new Airbnb. You must prepare yourself, there will be things missing or not how you had imagined or absolute surprises, sometimes the places that you think of as a rental are much different than what others define as a rental. I have come to really appreciate when I have a comfortable bed, sharp knives in the kitchen and heat in all the rooms. With each booking these days, I send an even longer email to the host with questions like is the parking onsite, is there heating in every room, are you able to stream on the WIFI, is the refrigerator full size or half size. You get the picture. Now I needed to begin to ask how many steps are required to gain entrance to the place from the parking. If I was traveling with a small overnight bag, I wouldn’t care but since I am traveling with all the accoutrements of my life, I have learned the hard way at this point that this information is not always evident in a property listing on Airbnb.
At this point, the mere image in my mind of me lugging suitcases, Paolos things, my printer (the French love paper), my workout gear, etc., etc. well it just makes me dread moving days. Although these images are doing wonders for getting me to decide about where to put down roots.
The prefecture appointment went better than I had hoped, I passed the French test, did not require additional lessons (although I will continue taking the ones I am already doing) and I had tears in my eyes when I signed the CIR, somehow, I just felt my entire ancestry with me in that moment. I knew that my great-grandfather would have been so proud.
Then came the moment to schedule the next three cultural days when I would be required to be at the prefecture in Agen for the entire day. I need to get these days completed prior to submitting for my visa renewal to be able to apply for the 4-year renewal and not just a single year so I wanted to take the first available days unfortunately that means that for two Wednesdays in a row I will need to get to Agen which is a 6.5-hour drive from Nice. Ahhh…more planning.
First, I looked at the train because I can get the TGV out of Nice but given the fact I would have to go to Bordeaux and then double back to Agen the door-to-door time was going to be similar to just driving so my transportation mode was decided. Since I have not yet found a boarding solution for Paolo in Nice, I decided to see if there was an Airbnb near the prefecture since we would get a French style long lunch break on the prefecture days, I thought I could just take him with me and go walk him during the lunch break. Sure enough, I found an Airbnb within a 10 minute walk of the prefecture.
So, my plan was hatched, I would drive to Agen on Tuesday, taking the minimum for myself and Paolo. I would arrive in time to work on Tuesday evening. I would spend Wednesday at the prefecture and take care of Paolo at lunch. I would then work from the Airbnb on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, Paolo and I would get up and drive back to Nice. Two weeks in a row we will do this, not ideal but doable. I thought for a brief moment about just staying in Agen for the week in the middle but I did not want to short change the time I have around Nice since there are a few places that I want to spend time in while I am here and I did realize when I arrived here just how much I have missed the water, palm trees and that mediterranean feel to a place.
I find it deeply meaningful to question everything and ponder the questions of life to continue to grow and become a better human. The following are a few questions that you may want to ponder in your own journal, morning commute or mid-day walk.
- When I begin to start a plan and come up with an idea the first question I ask is “Is there an easier way?”
- What is truly immoveable about this situation? (These things are usually fewer than you might think.)
- What are all the craziest possible ways of solving this? Don’t limit yourself, often the craziest of options have components of the best final approach to something.
- What is the first thought that you have when faced with needing to change a plan? Is it dread? Or do you feel energized by the possibility of the change? For me it is the latter and I truly believe that it is this feeling that truly helps when you are making big transitions in life, excitement about change will see you a long way through that change then dread ever will.
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Take care of yourselves. I am including a few photos of the path to get to my Airbnb in Céret, France so you will get a sense of why I felt like a mountain goat. I hope you enjoy them!
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