Au revoir and dovidenja

Meeting new friends is probably the best part of going to a new place. We were lucky enough here in France to meet, through David’s work, a wonderful family that showed us all sorts of corners of Auvergne that it never would have occurred to us to visit.

They hiked with us to this volcanic crater lake, Tour de Gazenat (it’s sixty meters deep in the center!), and then fed us an incredible meal—food and company-wise both—in their country farmhouse.

They spent Fourth of July hiking with us to this crater where we had a picnic with their homemade quiche (and spelled out the initials of our respective academic institutions with lava boulders!).

They also took us to the charming medieval town of Puy-en-Velay where we visited churches built on the top of volcanic chimneys.

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All the outings were great, and France is beautiful, but the thing we will remember most fondly are the dear, kind people we got to know.

We are sad to leave new friends but happy to be heading back home to the USA after this wonderful year abroad. It has helped me be more reflective and observant to keep this blog, but now we are heading back to the familiar hurly-burly of our lives at home, and I won’t be posting.

Until we go abroad again, anyway…

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The Bosnians say Dovidenja, and the French say Au revoir. Both mean, “Until I see you again.”