Something good can work and it can work for you

VOYAGE FRANCE week 1:

I'm here!  I've been here for a week!  Things are great!  My host family is wonderful!  I just got my computer connected to the wifi this morning, so here's an update...

THIS PLACE IS BEAUTIFUL.  I cannot believe it.  Sunrises and sunsets over the Alps.  Mont Blanc on the distant horizon.  Green green green green with white and brown cows and stone houses and blue mountains and red tractors.  Animals!  4 farm cats, grasshoppers, butterflies, bees, lizards, beetles, snails, horses, goats, foxes, badgers, a billion birds I can't identify, and, apparently, even wild boars.

The house is gigantic.  My room is much larger than my room at home, beautifully decorated, and has a private bathroom (swoon).  The whole house is beautifully rustic with modern comforts like wifi, satellite TV, laundry machines, and a dishwasher.  We keep the doors and windows open to the summer breeze and it's so QUIET after NYC.  I hear insects, the wind in the grass and trees, the occasional tractor or car, and...silence!  What even is that?
True story: on my first night here, someone was pouring a bath upstairs and I was lying in bed trying to place the sound ("Police siren...?  Wheels squealing on the pavement...?").

There's a historic castle in town and a pretty church.  There's a restaurant, post office, mayor's office, and a family that makes wine, and...that's kind of it!  The population is under 500.  It's remote enough that there isn't public transportation and a car is the only practical way to get to a "big" town (with cafes or supermarkets or whatever).  The roads are wide enough for cars to pass each other (barely...and oh god do they go at high speeds), but a lot of things are unmarked and unpaved.
It's hard not to completely objectify/fetishize the aesthetic of our house and of the town.  To me everything is new and romantic (and I need to take photos of it alllllllllllll), but I could see that being annoying for people who live here.

It's warm!  70/80 degrees and sunny, meals outside on the patio.  There have been some EPIC lightning storms in the evenings, too.  We protect the glass doors and windows with wood shutters.

My host family doesn't farm, but we live on fields that grow grass for hay, so there's lots of open space for romping.  We're also really close to a couple of good look-out points for taking in the surrounding area.  The neighbors raise geese to sell for Christmas dinners!

 I'm in love with my new running path:

And I have no excuse or commentary for the rest of these.  They're just photos for you because...pretty!  More soon~