Je m'en vais en France!

I never really use this thing.  In fact, I feel horribly silly every time I begin a new entry after a long absence.  But it's nearly time to start writing down my adventures again, and as such, I must accustom myself to the uncomfortable, awkward, silliness that follows after several long months of silence.

Sometimes, our lives must be dictated (and defined) by the silly things we do.

And thusly, as many of you already know (because I absolutely have NOT been able to shut up about it!) ...I'm going to France in a month.  I've already purchased my plane and train tickets, and unlike every trip I've ever been on, this time, I refuse to spend money on accomodation.  Yeah, you heard me right.  I will not spend any money on sleeping quarters.

There's this organization, calling couchsurfing, where you apply to be a member (it's free!), and then you can search for other members who have couches available in their homes to stay on, and you email them - and if they say yes, you then have a place to stay.  I've already contacted a German lady in Amiens, and at the very least, I've got a place to stay there.  I'm fairly excited about it - each time I go on a trip, I try to find ways to make it cheaper and lighter than the trip before.  If I can spend less than $3000 on this one, I will be extremely pleased with myself.

France is one of the countries I have wanted to go to for as long as I can remember.  Coming from a mixed heritage, I have always identified most strongly with the French (albeit Quebeçois) blood in my veins, and there is something just so proud about the French that I find hard to ignore.  Also, being from a country who's national languages have always been French and English, I feel obligated to be bilingual, and where better to practice my rustic French tongue, than in la place de fromage et vin? 

Anyhow, enough of that nonsense.  I leave on the 19th of June, and I come back on the 5th of July.  And it will be epic.