what a way to begin 2008

It's an unconventional way to begin a new year, by most standards. I thought about making New Year's resolutions, in French, but found myself lacking in vocabulary and unprepared to make promises to which I must adhere in completely new surroundings and among unfamiliar faces.

I've just finished folding my third load of laundry, which has now taken its place in the gargantuan blue suitcase I'll be living with for the next 5 months. I've done this before, and I know I can do it again, yet there's something in the back of my mind telling me that I'm not mentally prepared to leave the places and people I've become so attached to.

But then again, I could be misreading this sense of panic-- maybe it's my own way of recognizing that it's time to meet new people, speak a new language, adapt to a different way of life.

Maybe it's time to grow up.

And so, I'll leave Philadelphia on Friday night and cross the Atlantic for 5 months of French life.

I received quite a few books about Paris for Christmas this year that have only stoked my excitement at being part of such a rich culture. Ernest Hemingway writes in A Moveable Feast, "When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest."

And so I'll meditate on that while I pack up the last few things and get ready for Friday. Here's to Paris in the spring.