la quarantaine (care-on-ten)

When I decided to move to France, there were many things I was scared about. How will I make friends, what if I don't get along with my family, how will I afford to travel, but one never crossed my mind. A global pandemic. I think this might have been the worst year to move to France as we also had the longest railway strike in French history this past winter, making it nearly impossible to go to Paris.

Jokes aside, I am very grateful for my host family during this time. They've reminded me time and time again that I am safe here and that they will take care of me no matter what. I will admit, when all of this started I thought that I would surely go back home. I thought my contract would be nullified and this experience would be over. Part of me wanted to go home. Who doesn't want to be with their family during a crisis? But in reality, I am safer here and traveling home would pose a threat to my loved ones.

Comparatively, I'd say the French government is handling the situation better than the states, but with a buffoon for a president I'm not entirely surprised. The Thursday before St. Patrick's Day, Macron announced that schools would close that Monday. A couple days later he issued a nation-wide lockdown. Since then, the regulations have gotten more strict. Parks and forests are closed in an effort to reduce contact and we are only allowed one hour of outdoor exercise time. With the rise in temperature, the French are not taking kindly to lockdown. I don't have any stats, but I'd say since the lockdown was put in place, the amount of people exercising outside has skyrocketed. In Paris, they are no longer allowed to exercise outside between 10 am- 7 pm for this reason.

I won't lie, I've also caught the exercise bug. It's such a strange thing. Before this, I tried to run maybe three times total in the seven months I've been here. Now, I've run almost every day of lockdown. I know it's some sort of psychological phenomenon when someone tells you you can't do something and it only makes you want to do it more. For years I've been waiting for the day where I take my health seriously and exercise regularly and it's finally come! Although I never expected a global pandemic to cause it.

During this time I'm very grateful for the nature that surrounds me. I'm lucky enough to have an entire forest in my backyard. While one of them is closed, I discovered another forest only a five-minute run away from my house (pictured). Other than running I've been dedicated to my yoga practice (yoga with Adriene on youtube) and I've just recently found Caleb Marshall's dance fitness videos on youtube as well! (shoutout Alexis). I think there's a lot we can do during this time, but I also think it's a very stressful and scary time. If staying busy helps keep your mind off of things, then by all means learn that new skill! But I don't think we should be pushing productivity onto people that are merely trying to survive each day. I think we can all take this time to reset mentally, physically, and spiritually to better ourselves and in the future, our communities.

Drink of the week!

Bramble

40 ml gin

20 ml sugar syrup

20 ml lemon juice

10 ml crème de mûre

berries or lemon zest for garnish