Paris-Aarhus, trip 1 of 3

I pause from my typing to crane my neck around my neighbors and peer out my plane window over the French landscape, trying not to think too hard about a firey end as the turbulence vibrates through my feet and we continue our descent. No matter how many flights I take, it seems I'm always convinced that each one will be my last. France is now literally underfoot-- if with more of a separation between land and foot than to my liking-- and so I can now successfully check off trip 1 of 3 on my list off Paris-Aarhus journeys over the next month. I'm moving there next week, but the awkward timing of a departmental retreat resulted in an extra round trip just a week prior, and awkward timing on the French side of things will bring me back a mere two weeks later to attend my doctoral graduation ceremony.

Sandbjerg Manor, home of the DANDRITE Retreat 2015

Well, for lack of time to continue documenting my excessively international lifestyle, suffice it to say that the kids are my new school were nice to me, but that I'm still scared.

The founding members of the fledgling Yonehara team at the DANDRITE Retreat

I've never moved to a country whose language I didn't speak at all. Yes, the Danes speak fantastic English, but no matter how American I can try to make myself appear, that won't stop them from still predominantly speaking in my presence in a language which is really (vocab: really=rigtig in Danish!) an unknown to me. While I'm loving the ipad language learning apps, they can only go so far compared to semesters or years of language studies. This new chapter is definitely going to come with unique challenges. So it's about time to tape down those last few boxes chez moi and take a deep breath.

In and around Aarhus, soon to be my new home base

Here goes nothing.