Au Revoir, encore.

It was disheartening not to be able to complete my last set of entries… yet. And I still say that! They remain vivid in my memory and when the time is right, I’ll return to them.

I doubt this sojourn will be as magical (or eventful) or broad, and most of my effort will be going to my studies. But I think it will be nothing but good for me. I think I might even actually learn how to speak French.

It’ll be my first fairless and footballless Fall. In fact, my life in Tours will be without Fall, as the climate stays much more the same, and the seasons are much less prominent.

Goodbye is much different this time. It’s longer. It’s more permanent. I won’t be returning to Cincinnati, even though I miss it more.

And now, it’s on to Tours. I actually know a little about the city before I ever step foot into it thanks to my twenty page final thesis about the region (La Touraine) prior to graduation. FUN facts:

-An hour or so southwest of Paris

-Home to some of France’s most impressive castles, including Chenonceau, Chambord and Amboise

-Home to the creation of The Vacation. French kings escaped Paris to enjoy the cultural and lingual purity of the Touraine.

-Home to some of France’s most prestigious Grands Hommes (Intellectuals): Rabelais & Balzac


I’ve been working to get to this point as soon as I had returned from France. And yet it still doesn’t feel real. A lot has happened since then, my dreams have been threatened and disenchanted but they’re still what guide me. There’s not much here for me anyways. The longer I’m away from France, I more I begin to forget how amazing it all was. But then I see an old photograph and it then it all comes flooding back.

With my health as my only real concern before I depart, all of my other worries diminish. And so I go, I begin a new journey, to sing a new tune. The old song from Pau still rings in my ears but I’m eager to write new verses.






"I know your life has been hard, but you are what you are because of it. The best steel must go through the fire."
---Charles Dickens
David Copperfield

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