Last week was stressful. Partly in a physical sense, with a lot of things to do, and mostly in an emotional sense.
On Thursday my eldest caught the Eurostar to Paris where she'll be studying for a year. She was going to meet another young woman with whom she'll be sharing an apartment; and whom she'd only 'met' on-line.
We spent quite a while sorting out just what can be crammed into two wheeie cases with the aid of vacuum packing bags. Quite a lot actually. Which means the cases were then almost impossible to lift, but hey at least she'll have most of her clothes with her.
We also had the family round to tea the night before she left, hence the chocolate cake. It's very funny what some people's priorities and concerns are about foreign living. My Mother's only real worry, accommodation having been addressed, was that No1 would not be going on 'that Facebook'. I tried to explain the this is how young people communicate nowadays and in fact it was via the self same that most of the arrangements for the apartment had been finalised. I gave up in the end.
The flatmate turns out to be a hoot, the flat is nice (which is good when you've only seen pictures), the area is fine (Bastille), the wi-fi is not as good as th UK and the metro is expensive. Which we knew, but until you have a local bank account you can't buy the season ticket. Naughty.
We used to get the same in Moscow when we went to buy cheaper 'local' things. In fact they treid to chuck us out of a theatre once for having local tickets. I wasn't having any of that and waved my resdent's permit at them while employing me best formal Russian. When the realised we actually lived there and hadn't been hoodwinked by a tout (it happens a lot) they were really lovely and ushered us to the seats and gave us lap blankets. Sometimes you just have to stand your ground. Even if those with you are mortified with embarrassment. Just saying.
Anyway, I don't suppose I'll stop the background worrying for the academic year though it's receded a little. Maybe you just never completely stop worrying when you're a parent?
