Daring to live the dream

After years of saying "I'm going to France" without having any idea how this plan would come true, I suddenly found myself with the news that I had been accepted for a project in western France. I had just selected out the projects that didn't suit me at all and then made applications to all the others, how interested was I in this particular project? I read up on the project once again: I was going to work with children, I was going to work in a library and the project description put a lot of emphasis on "animation". With hundreds of books to read, libraries sounded good, but animation and children on the other hand? Drawing has never been my thing and I had very limited experience with children. Since I knew I would grieve endlessly if I turned them down and then never got to go to France, I decided to accept anyway.

So I started researching how things worked with bank cards, mobile phone subscriptions and insurance in France, create an introductory video of myself and pack my suitcase. Or rather the hobo backpack. All I was going to use for the next year I lugged on my back for a day and a half when trains, buses and ferries brought through Europe, until I was finally able to let the rucksack dangle in the hallway of my new apartment. An apartment of my own. A car at my disposal. Cooked lunch, five times a week. Food money, pocket money. A very dedicated supervisor at work who was always available. An extremely committed mentor in his spare time who was always available. An enormously beautiful landscape. And that "animation" had just been a translation error; in this context, "animation" could apparently mean "activity".

Many times I have thanked my lucky star who took me to the small village of Elliant and who let me to meet all these lovely people. My year in France exceeded all my expectations.

Updated on štvrtok, 29/09/2022