Un an plus tard

Ok, so I know that I am really bad at keeping up with this blog, but I had to write today. Why? Because it's my one-year anniversary of my big move to France! I can't believe it's been a whole year and I can't believe that I lived to tell about it. I'm actually really sad that I'm not starting out on that adventure again. As hard as those eight months in Grenoble were, the experience was amazing. There aren't too many other ways to describe it. It seems so unreal looking back on it now. I can't believe that I just put my life on hold and left the country not knowing what would happen afterwards. I learned a lot about friendships and a lot about myself. I'd give anything to be back there now, especially now that I'm back into cube life. I actually miss the feeling of being terrified of the unknown and not knowing what was in store for me. I didn't know who I was going to meet or where I was going to go or what my job was going to be like. My first couple days in Grenoble were so surreal. I remember walking around the town center remembering how it had looked three years earlier and wondering how it was going to look a couple months later when I was settled and Grenoble was really my home. It's weird how you can visit a place and it looks one way, but then you live there and it looks a totally different way. You look around you and you wonder how this place that is so familiar to you now could have ever been so unknown to you. I think back on some things and they seem so far away, but sometimes things feel as if they had just happened yesterday, and still other things feel so distant and so recent at the same time. I miss reading in Place Victor Hugo. I miss using the internet in McDonald's. I miss going to the sandwich shops and getting paninis. I miss hearing the announcements on the train and the tram. I miss seeing all the Christmas lights turned on for the first time. I miss walking in the pedestrian zone and window shopping. I miss the stash of Milka bars I kept next to my bed. I miss listening to the Scissor Sisters, Justin Timberlake, and Madonna at the London Pub. I miss listening to the radio and how they would announce the time on the hour every hour. I miss being in a foreign country surrounded by strangers and feeling completely at home. So now I'm in New York and starting over all over again. I have a new job, a new apartment, and I'm facing the unknown again, and yes, it's still terrifying. A lot has changed in the past year so this new chapter of my life is especially hard. I think because it's not a huge move to France that it should be easy, but it's not. But just like living in France was terrifying and difficult and amazing and wonderful, so is New York. I've already had some freak out moments about no knowing anybody and discovering that people aren't who I thought they were, but I've also had some great times meeting new people and realizing that there are so many amazing people out there that I have yet to meet. Who knows where I'll be a couple years from now, but I'm still quite a restless person and I'll find some way to shake things up! I miss France.

Moving to New York!

I was watching "Entourage" the other day and this amazing song came on the closing credits. I loved it so much that I had to google it to find out what it was. Turns out it was "New York Groove" by Ace Frehley. How appropriate since I'm moving to New York on Wednesday!

I've wanted to move to New York for awhile now and moving to France a year ago kinda gave me that freedom to do whatever I wanted since I was now unemployed and not living in Boston anymore. After a few resume revisions I was finally able to get a version that got the attention of employers in New York. So here I am now, blogging instead of packing.

I'm really nervous about the move. When I moved to Boston that wasn't a big deal cus all of my friends were there. When I moved to France it was because of a program and somehow I knew I would meet other people and eventually be OK. I only know a few people in the city, so this is pretty scary. I'm excited about my apartment though and my new roommate. I'm going to be living right by central park, and because of that I've decided that I'm going to become a runner. I'm more of an treadmill runner, but I've decided that I want to run a marathon in two years' time, so what better place to practice than central park?

I'm not sure what to write cus I'm just really excited but I have no idea what it will be like for me once I get there. I hope to meet a lot of new people, keep practicing my french, run, and try to get into grad school at some point pretty soon. I hope I'll like my new job (which I think I will, it's the one that I wanted most!) I had high hopes for this entry, but turns out it's not that exciting. If you get anything out of this, at least check out that song "New York Groove." It's amazing!