This morning I was thinking about the “what ifs” of my French life—what if I hadn’t decided to come back for a second year? What if I hadn’t met Ju and thus had had to return home after three years in Poitiers? That got me to thinking about what bits of my French daily life I would probably still be romanticizing. Since I live here, I don’t really romanticize it much anymore. But there are things I would definitely miss if I went back home.
So, to mark the beginning of Year 7 in France, I searched through my photo albums to find the ones that represent my French life for me these past six years. (After the jump.)
Year one:
The ramparts of the ville haute in Bar le Duc. Oct 2006
The fabulous trip to Spain with Chelsey, Zandra, and Marcela. Feb 2007
Toledo. Feb 2007
Outside the cheese restaurant in Nancy with all the other assistants. April 2007
Walking through the ville haute in Bar le Duc with my parents. March 2007
Year two:
The ESIEC building
The médiathèque in Reims
Bus stop in Reims
The Place d’Erlon in Reims
Me + ice cream + Place d’Erlon in Reims
City center, Reims
The 45-min train ride that lasted three hours. May 2008
Chenonceau with Laurel. May 2008
Somewhere in the Loire valley. May 2008.
Outside Mumm champagne house. June 2008.
In my apartment, map of Reims in the background. June 2008
The Eiffel Tower twinkling. June 2008.
French bulldogs at a shop in Saint Malo. July 2008
The Paris metro. August 2008
Year three:
The abbey at Nouaillé. Sep 2009.
The flatshare living room.
The Hermione in Rochefort. Oct 2009 (I’m sure she looks quite different now.)
The Palais des Papes, Avignon. Oct 2009
The Chinese New Year, Paris. Feb 2010
Poitiers, stepping out of my apartment. March 2010
Ile de Ré. March 2010
Sitting down for drinks on the Place d’Armes, Poitiers, before it got redone. March 2010
Festivété. June 2010
Parc Blossac. July 2010
Avignon. July 2010
The Polychromies of Notre Dame. July 2010
The crowd outside my apartment waiting for the Polychromies. July 2010
Year four:
Les Expressifs, Poitiers. Oct 2010
Montmorillon. Feb 2011
Carnaval in Poitiers, from my window. Feb 2011
In the Verdon. June 2011
Aix-en Provence. June 2011
The Pont du Gard. June 2011
J’s birthday. August 2011
Year five:
In the new house. Sep 2011
Pumpkin carving. Oct 2011
New Year’s “blue” party. Dec 2011
Snow in Poitiers. Feb 2012
Visiting Mouton Village. May 2012
The horse in the field next door to our house. Summer 2012
Barbecuing in the backyard. Summer 2012
Near Gap. August 2012
J’s birthday. August 2012
Year six:
Notre Dame, Poitiers. Nov 2012
A Christmas tree! Dec 2012
The Voeux de Ségolène Royal. Jan 2013
Sarlat. May 2013
Montmorillon. June 2013
The Polychromies of Notre Dame. June 2013
The school year starts up in a little over a week. Here’s to a great seventh year. (Though I should probably stop counting—if only people would stop asking me how long I’ve been here!)
A Landscape Selected at Random 
This is year 7 for me too. I find that the more time goes by, the less I think about the “what ifs” because I don’t know any more what the alternative would be. Hope this is a good one for both of us!
That is so true—I don’t really have much idea where I would be now. All the best for the next year of life in France!
as long as you keep track of these year #’s all I have to do is add one to get the number of years since my life changed. My years minus one are your years because of that nice year when you were in Austin (eyes bloated due to cedar pollen)
I did think of that and I think I even said so to J while I was writing the article.
Congratulations on your 7th year! Lovely photos, I’ve got to make it to those polychromies sometimes, although my photos of similar stuff always end up terrible 🙂
Thanks Gwan! They’re not all mine… that last picture particularly was taken by my mom with her nice new camera.