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Many towns in France have Christmas markets.  They usually have different booths with handmade crafts, food, toys etc.  When we went to the one in Clermont, we took Makenna to see Santa and get her picture taken.  She loved it!  We also went to one in an old medieval village called La Sauvetat, about a 30 minute drive from us.  It was so pretty and interesting to see.  They had many different shops selling things like homemade Christmas ornaments and decorations, crafts, chocolates, cheese, hot wine (which Ryan and I tried and it was not good) and jewelry.  We also saw a welder and someone literally roasting chestnuts on an open fire.  At the end, there were 2 men in costume (I think they were supposed to be “guards of the village”) and they were marching around and shouting.  I took their picture and suddenly they decided to put on a show and start saying things to me but of course I had no idea what they were saying!  There was also a small band walking around playing music.  It was a really neat experience!

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The first few days after we arrived we had some time to explore the city.  The architecture is beautiful and the city is so picturesque.  There were so many cute shops and restaurants and it was interesting to see people sitting outside to eat when it was about 45 degrees (you don’t see much of that in the US!).  There’s also a beautiful garden in the middle of the city called Jardin Lecoq and a huge cathedral.  The main square is decorated for Christmas with a large tree, ferris wheel and lights.  It’s so pretty and festive; I’m glad that although we won’t be with our family for Christmas, we get to see the city at this time of year.

I also took Makenna to our first Mommies and Babies meet-up with some other English speaking women who are members of the IWC (International Womens Club).  Most of the women are from other countries such as India, Sweden and New Zealand.  It was at a cute café that had a separate room for kids to play.  Afterwards, my friend Jena and I went to lunch and I had my first crêpe here.

Over the weekend we decided to buy a couple things so we could move into our apartment as soon as the electric and gas is turned on since we’ll have to wait a little while for our container to arrive.  We stopped at McDonald’s to get a quick bite to eat and we were surprised at the food they had to offer!  They even had a case of desserts such as macaroons and tartelettes.  The French don’t drink just regular coffee, so of course McDonald’s has espresso served with a little biscuit (cookie).  I guess the higher prices are worth it!  We bought a fridge, futon, and a few essentials to get us by until we get our stuff.  Living out of a suitcase gets old after awhile and we’re ready to get settled!

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We live in France!  I can’t believe I can say that now.  Our trip and the first few days have been tiresome and a little stressful, but things are getting better.

It took us about a full 24 hours to get to France.  We flew out of Atlanta so we had to leave early enough to make the 2 1/2 hour drive and to arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight as they suggested.  We flew Bailey in the hold since we had enough to handle with Makenna and 3 carry ons.  The flight to Paris wasn’t too bad; we sat in Premium Economy which gave us a little more leg room and the meal was a little nicer.  We didn’t get much sleep and Makenna would sleep for about an hour at a time and then wake up for a little while.  We had a 4 hour layover in Paris and then our flight was delayed almost 2 hours.  We made it to Clermont around 7:30pm and our friends/fellow expats greeted us at the airport.

There is a wonderful community of expats here, and they were so kind and helpful to us before and when we arrived.  We had some groceries, dinner, wine, toys and a gift for Makenna waiting for us.  I can’t thank the Jones’ and Keefe’s enough for their help!

Our hotel room is about the size of our kitchen in our old house, I feel like we’re living in a closet!  After a long, tiring trip I was about to cry when we walked into this room with 8 suitcases, a baby and a dog.  There’s not many dishes so we wound up having to put Bailey’s water in a wine glass, he’s living the French lifestyle already!

The day after we arrived, we met our realtor and looked at several apartments in the city.  We quickly made a decision so we can get out of the hotel as soon as possible.  We should be able to move in in less than a week, however, we were told we probably won’t get our container until about a week after we’re supposed to move in.  I just hope that we’re able to move in and get settled so we can decorate for Christmas!

We also went to the bank to open our French bank account and have unfortunately found out trying to transfer money from our US account is not a quick nor easy process.  With trying to pay apartment fees, and buy a car (and have plenty of baguettes and wine) this has been a little bit of a headache.

I’m glad we made it here safe and we’re so excited for what’s to come!

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Our last couple weeks in Greenville were spent tying up loose ends and saying our final goodbyes to family and friends.  Ryan sold his car, we finished our French classes and we bought a few last things to prepare for our trip.

Our neighbors were super sweet and threw a little going away party for us.  We were so lucky to have had so many great neighbors who became friends over the 2 1/2 years we lived in our house.  We’ll really miss our house and our neighborhood!

The nanny that we share with our neighbor gave us a photo album of Makenna and her friend Parker which was so nice; those babies are going to miss playing together every day!  We are so grateful that Makenna got to stay home with a nanny who was so thoughtful and caring.

My mom came down for Thanksgiving and our realtor fried our turkey for us.  We didn’t have much to work with in our apartment so we bought some sides from Whole Foods but it turned out to be a nice little dinner.

We also had a few last visits with some of our friends.  We’ve met some great people during our time in Greenville and are so thankful for the friendships we’ve made.

Tomorrow we make the big trip overseas!  I can’t believe the day is finally here and that our adventure will be starting.  Au revoir South Carolina!  See you in 3 years!

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The last few weeks have been eventful to say the least!

Makenna celebrated her first Halloween with her BFF Parker. Halloween was also my last day at work which was bittersweet because although I was sad to leave, it was a fun day experiencing the ScanSource Halloween tradition.  A large portion of the day was spent outside in the courtyard watching costume contests/skits and then everyone brought their kids in to trick or treat through all the decorated departments.  As excited I am for our new adventure, I was sad to go!

We spent the weekend after Halloween organizing everything into piles for temporary housing, France, and storage.  Then we headed to FL for a few days of relaxation!  Mom and Dad P rented a condo on the beach and we all had a great time, even Makenna!  It was also our first time flying with her and she did great.  While we were there we visited UT which brought back great memories… and made me feel really old.  I also got to see a few of my friends one last time before we move.

When we got back, we moved into temporary housing and the movers packed our house.  It was really sad to say goodbye to our first house.  We will miss you Woodruff Lake!! We also picked up our rental car which is a Tahoe….it’s a huge upgrade from my little Mazda and I’m loving driving it around!  We just sold my car which is a huge relief and Ryan is trying to sell his.

We had an appointment with another eye doctor to get a second opinion on Makenna’s eye.  This doctor said Makenna doesn’t have a cataract, but a piece of her iris is stuck on her pupil.  She said there’s a chance when her eye is dilated at some point that the iris could be pulled back down to where it should be.  She said she thinks the vision difference in the eye is a separate issue and that there’s a chance when Makenna’s around 10 years old that her vision can get to the point where she won’t need to wear glasses.  We have an appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist in France on December 31st so we’ll see what he says and what he would like to do.

Makenna also got her first ear infection while all of this was going on so it was a rough week but she’s back to being the happy little girl that we love!  We’ve made it through some of the biggest hurdles, so hopefully the rest of this process won’t be too bad!

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Last weekend we drove up to Blacksburg, VA to visit some of my family for the last time before we move.  My aunt and cousins from NY came down to visit too, so it was a great visit even though it was really short.  Makenna got to see her great grandma and she showed everyone how she learned to clap! Of course, we had to stop at one of the Virginia Tech stores and they had the cutest baby tailgate chair.  Makenna also recently turned 7 months (whatttt?!).

This past week Ryan and I went to a cultural training class at Michelin.  There was only 1 other American in the class and the rest were from France, Japan, Germany and Italy.  The class was to help those moving to the US and us moving to France so we could understand some of the cultural differences and what we may expect during our expatriation.  It was really interesting hearing the other peoples’ experience living in the US so far and hearing some of the questions they asked (such as if it is ok to invite your neighbor inside or invite them to have coffee/dinner, and how to politely say no when someone invites them to their church, which happens a lot down here in the south haha).

Some things we learned:

• French dinners usually start around 8:30 and can go on for a very long time (I think we’ll need to take naps before this since we usually go to bed around 9!).
• Flip flops and sandals are usually only worn to the beach/pool.
• You are seen as “low class” if you wear sneakers and gym clothes in public (I guess I won’t be going straight to the grocery store after the gym anymore)
• When you are sick, you go to the pharmacy first and ask the pharmacist what medicine they recommend for your symptoms.  They don’t fill a prescription, they give you the whole bottle of whatever medicine it is.  If you don’t feel better in a few days, then you go to the doctor.

We talked to some of the people from Clermont and they offered to answer any questions we may have.  One of the ladies is going to help me call the pediatric ophthalmologist over there so I can schedule an appointment, since it can sometimes take several months before they have an opening.  We’ve been so lucky have so much help from other expats and people we’ve met from Clermont!

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We’ve been quite busy the last few weeks!  We put our home up for sale on September 15th and we are selling it through the relocation company so there were several hurdles to jump through before listing.  It has been a pain to keep the house sparkling clean and put up all of Makenna’s things each morning just in case there’s a showing.

In the meantime, we had Makenna’s 6 month appointment and the Dr. saw something wrong with her right eye but wasn’t sure what it was so she sent us to the pediatric ophthalmologist.  He said her vision is not as good in her right eye and she has a “small speck” on her retina which is technically classified as a cataract.  Makenna now has to wear glasses and we don’t really have any answers as to how her vision in that eye will be in the future or if the cataract will get bigger etc.  We are taking her to another Dr. for a second opinion in November and then we’ll consult with the Dr. in France when we move.  Thankfully it’s nothing worse and Makenna has been doing really well with them! We also recently had Ryan’s mom and my mom come to visit which was nice.

Ryan and I went to our friends Dave and Sarah’s wedding and left Makenna with her Nana overnight for the first time and I surprisingly survived haha.  We had a great time at the wedding and it was nice to have some “us” time. Ryan and I have been going to French class and it’s been tough trying to juggle learning French on top of working full time, trying to sell the house and all of the other things we have to do to prepare to move.  Ryan also had a work trip to Germany for a week.  In a couple weeks we have to go to the French consulate in Atlanta to start the immigration process and get Ryan’s visa.

Needless to say, the craziness of our big move has just begun and I’m sure the next few months will be even busier/stressful!  But of course, we couldn’t be more excited 🙂  Fingers crossed our house sells VERY soon!

I’m still in shock that we’re moving to France!  We didn’t think we’d get this opportunity anytime soon, if at all.  Ryan was offered a position working with race teams where he will train in Clermont-Ferrand for 3 years and bring that knowledge back to the US.  He is very excited about this new position and we’re really looking forward to this amazing experience!

We have started the expat process and are set to move on December 1st.  We had to get a passport for Makenna and her photo is priceless.  The biggest hurdle will be selling our house which we are getting ready to list any day now.  This is bittersweet as we love our home, our neighborhood and our neighbors….but we would like to have 4 bedrooms so we decided to sell and look for a bigger house when we return.  We will miss you Woodruff Lake!

Ryan started French classes about 3 weeks ago.  I recently broke the news to my company and am now working reduced hours so I can attend French classes twice a week.  I took 5 years of French in middle/high school but I don’t remember much and this language is HARD!  I’m really looking forward to learning as much French as possible and having Makenna learn it as well!

We’ve talked to a few expat families that are currently living in Clermont-Ferrand and have gotten a lot of great info and tips.  There’s also a family we know that has just moved over there and will be there about the same amount of time as us so it will be nice knowing some people when we get there.

I’m really looking forward to staying home with Makenna and watching her grow. We’re also super excited about being able to do some traveling and experiencing the French culture.

Now we just have to sell the house!  I will be working through the end of October and then taking our last month here to prepare for the move.  Once we get closer to our moving date we’ll have a rental car and live in temporary housing provided by Michelin.  We are given a large freighter to ship whatever we want to France, and the rest will be going into storage.

I hope you’ll enjoy following our journey as we move our little family across the pond!