2 Days Until We Leave

In 49 hours, Rory and I will flying out of the country. We have already started living out of suitcases, as we had to be out of our house two days ago, and our lovely friends have given us a place to stay until we leave. All of our earthly belongings now fit into two fifty pound suitcases, two carry-on bags, and two backpacks. And of course there's my cello. Oh, and the 5x5 storage unit we rented in Columbus. But that's it, I promise. There's nothing like an overseas move to cure you of your attachment to material possessions!

Apart from the disbelieving, mouth-agape facial expressions we see on people when we tell them we're moving to Paris, we also get a few of the same questions frequently. Here are our answers to some of them.

Q: "Has it hit you yet that you're moving to France?"
A: Not quite. We will have a two week holiday in Scotland before taking a train to Paris, so we'll be easing into European living with something that's a little more familiar. When we no longer understand the language around us, I'm sure we'll realize just how foreign we are. Of course, we'll be just a 7 hour train ride away from Rory's family, so anytime we get too homesick, we can always go back to Scotland. Paris is 9 hours ahead of my family in Oregon though, so I'm counting on family members vacationing in Paris for the next two years.

Q: "Do you have a place to stay in Paris?"
A: Fortunately we do! After weeks of online searching and not having anyone respond to our inquiries, we found someone through Rory's work supervisor who is renting her place for 9 months. The apartment is in the 11th Arrondissement, close to the Place de la Nation. It's a 5th floor, 1 bedroom apartment (without an elevator--good exercise!). The kitchen is really more of a corner than an actual room, but the place is fully furnished and even has a washing machine! So that's a big relief to have a place to stay, even if it's only for 9 months.

Q: "Do you speak French?"
A: Well...Rory studied French in high school but had forgotten a lot, whereas I studied Spanish in high school and college. As soon as we found out we were moving to France, we got French grammar books, comic books, children's books, CDs, and DVDs out of the libraries, religiously did Duolingo practice every day online, and tried a plethora of other methods to learn the language. We've been working on it for four months and we can both read pretty well now. We can converse slowly and poorly, but I have the feeling we'll be saying to people frequently, "Répétez plus lentement, s'il vous plaît !"

To all our wonderful friends and family in America: au revoir et merci !
To our friends and family in the UK: à bientôt !
To everyone in France: désolé pour notre mauvais français !