1: The Plan

“I’m going to France to learn to make cheese” is code for “I don’t want a real job.”

On March 19th I will leave from Boise, ID on my first trip to Europe. I’ll travel solo, spending the first week abroad exploring Paris with no guides and no plans. The only musts on the agenda being to walk far and to eat well, because, as y favorite novelist/outdoorsman/gourmand, Jim Harrison puts it: “Eating well, however simply, is part of a life fully lived.” Following my week of assumed spectacular hedonism, I’ll take a train to Verdun, a historic city in the Champagne region northern France, to meet with my hosts Sylvia and Michel. This is where the second phase of my journey, and the motivation for this trip begins.

I am compelled to spend my time here for a few reasons:

To combat my own materialism by living simply within the natural world.

To tap into the ancestral knowledge of homesteading, organic farming, caring after animals, and winemaking.

To quiet and clarify my thoughts by unplugging from my life-online. 

To rest.

To eat well.

To hear God speak.

I recognize the High expectations that I’m bringing into this trip. I am sure that the reality of the experience will always deviate from my utopian version. However, I believe that going into the journey with intention is a good way to makes the most out of this special opportunity. Yes, this is a vacation, but I want more than rum-filled coconuts on the beach. I’m ready to learn, to listen to the silence, to slow down to the pace of the land.

So what’s the point of the blog?

I think this think will help more than it will hurt. Mainly, it will help me be accountable to the thoughtful recording of my experience. The organization of thought will help me to remember the events and feelings with more detail. These posts will help me to access the memories after they’ve been forgotten or twisted and shifted beyond objective reality. Further, it will enable me to compartmentalize my time online to solely my computer. An hour every day spent communicating with the world at large will help me to spend the other 23 hours in the world at small. I hope.