We are moving to Provence!

Yesterday we made what, up until this point, is the biggest decision of our lives!

My fiancee Courtney was offered a wonderful job opportunity in the South of France. After several interviews, discussions between each other, pro's and con's lists, and a few "why not"s, we decided that she should accept this position, and we should pack up our California lives, and move to Provence!

A lot of people might read something like this and think "How is this even something you would have to THINK about?? GO!! GO!!" Well, there are several obstacles we have had to think about before making this commitment!

The first one was that, as of this moment, I have no job lined up in France. This is a scary prospect! Courtney and I work in the same industry, so ideally, I will end up working with her.. But this is not set yet.

Also, we own a house here in California.. We need to find a renter.. And being a landlord is not something I have ever found to be an appealing idea..

a big issue also is that neither of us speak French (yet). We have spent a lot of time in Paris, and I pick it up pretty quickly once I am there, but I certainly dont know enough to have a conversation! All of my conversations are a combination of 2 or 3 french words, english words I say and try to make them sound french, and mime.

And finally.. we have to move in 2 months! That is not a lot of time to tie up all our loose ends, rent our house, get Visa's, and find a place to live in Provence!

Aside from these types of issues, we are both very excited (and nervous), From the limited research of the area we have done, we are thinking as of now that we would like to live in the town of Marseille. It is a very large, very old French city. In fact, it is also very historic, as it is the first port city founded in France! There are fortresses, old trading posts, even cave paintings located in the city!!

Its going to be a rush to get all of our "California lives" tied up, but we really think it'll be worth it! This is going to be such a fantastic life experience!