Since moving to France, many people from home have asked me “is it true that the French take all of summer off???”
And I’m here to say that it’s partially true. August is dedicated to vacation in France and many people do take the entire month off to reset from the year. It’s not uncommon to find many business closed for the entire month (including your favorite boulangeries, sadly). It’s also of course the school holiday, so many people take advantage of this time to vacation with family.
Because of this, September is a busy time in France. The end of this luxurious, long summer holiday is referred to as la rentrée, basically the“back to school” for the kids and “back to reality” for the adults.
For my first real French August holiday, I had planned 2 vacations with friends, which I will write an entirely separate post about. First was a Basque Country voyage with a fellow American expat also living in France and longtime friend. Next was Sardinia with my best friend from France, where we had planned a road trip around the entire island.
Both trips were absolutely amazing and now I am experiencing my first real rentrée, but it’s not all bad coming back to reality. I love the concept of la rentrée because it signifies coming back from your summer vacation, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the year. I came back feeling so refreshed, and ready to set goals for the year ahead. La rentrée is my new and improved New Year’s Resolution. Or maybe I just like la rentrée because I loved going to school as a kid (like way more than people should).
In my first yoga class back home yesterday, right before the fire alarm was tripped and we all had to evacuate the building (how zen), the teacher asked us to set an intention for the practice as they often do. I used this opportunity to set my intention to write more.
I recently moved to a new city in France called Reims, the capital of Champagne (yes, the bubbly drink is its own region too), and started a new job. I had underestimated how energy-consuming this new step in my life would be, and due to this I let writing and this blog fall by the wayside. Feeling refreshed from my jam-packed summer, I’m using la rentrée as an opportunity to get back into writing and sharing my experiences in the wonderful world of wine that I love so much.
Cheers!
The Younger Wine 