It’s the last weekend of summer here in France. Kids go back to school this Wednesday and I couldn’t be happier. Hopefully there will be fewer loud scooters on the street after midnight. And I can go shopping without being surrounded by a bazillion annoying, bratty kids. La rentrée means more than just back to school though – it also means back to work since so many French people take long vacations in July & August (none of this 2 week crap here!) so maybe, just maybe I will finally have my new carte de séjour before my récépissé expires. But I doubt it.
Luckily university starts later, so I still have 3 weeks of vacation before I go back to work. I’m wondering how the hysteria surrounding swine flu is going to affect classes though. Personally I don’t think it’s any worse or any more dangerous than other sicknesses you can get from the general public, but I’m going to be bringing in disinfectant to the computer labs everyday. I hate thinking about how dirty keyboards are. They harbor more bacteria and germs than toilets because at least toilets get cleaned!
I am ready to go back to work and I’m almost ready for fall. I love the warmth and sunshine of summer, but it’s not as fun when you live in the city. And I feel like I’ve been so unproductive this summer. It was usually too hot for me to sit at the computer and work on my website so I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to. Plus I was gone a lot, traveling with friends and going to my sister’s wedding. But summer is for vacation, right? I’m hoping when the weather gets colder and I don’t want to go outside, I’ll get focused on my site again.
David still has this week off (and another 3 weeks to take off before the end of the year…) so we’re going to explore the Parc des Bauges and perhaps head over to Albertville to see the Olympic Hall and its medieval cité. I still need to take more pictures of Chambéry too, and go hiking in the Charmettes, where Jean-Jacques Rousseau spent his summers.
Happy rentrée to those going back to work tomorrow! Et bon courage !
