Janice Deerwester Semper dreamed of living in FranceBut a life seemed to have other plans for her. A native of Texas and widow since 2012, she lived in Georgia when, in 2021, she took lying on the bed listening to the song “Is everything that exists?”, Success of the singer Peggy Leein 1969, which talks about dissatisfy.
“I hated this song when it was released, but, regent CNN TRAVEL. “And I thought, ‘Is that all? I work, I get home tired, I sleep and start. Is that all? ‘”.
It was in this Momeo that Janice realized she wanted more from life. Without thinking too much, he decided to move to Fontainebleau, a french city that he fell in love with during a trip in 2018. Less than a year later, at 70, she did just that.
“I am very impulsive, so this decision made sense to me,” he admits.
Today, living in Fontainebleau, southeast of Paris, Janice Sreação that made the best decision of her life.
“I feel, a luckier woman in the world,” she says. “I don’t know why you have opority, but I’m shouting all the dies for being here.”
Although not unhappy in the United States, Janice felt that something was missing. She liked her life on the countryside, where she rented a ranch after selling her home. But the thought that “there should be something else” did not leave it alone.
Even retired, I worked on two jobs to occupy time and feared looking back one day and ask yourself, “Why the hell isn’t I went to a Fraça?”
Radical change
After making the decision, Janice called her daughter, Jennifer, then just over 20 years old, to tell an accredited.
“No, I start, she was a little recipe, but then she totally supported me,” he recalls. “She said, ‘You without you did everything for me. Now go do what you want. ‘”
Janice initially dreamed of a charming apartment, with a spiral ladder, but realized that this would not be viable after knee surgery in 2021. “I needed an elevator,” he says. Thus, he ended up choosing a simple Mals aspect, which he had already visited in 2018.
Before the change, he sold the car and broke out of most of his pergences, leaving Alnguins items authors to his daughter.
“If she fires her porcelain and the Salehers, it’s hers. If you want, sell can. I don’t care. ”
Bonjour, France!
When researching the French style, Janice realized she would need to rethink the wardrobe. “Since French women don’t walk along Legging Street,” he jokes.
She also requested a visitor visa, allowing her to stay in Fraça for up to a year. In PEBROINHO 2022, she embarked for her new life, taking only three bags – one of which was almost full of shoes – and her two pets: Buster Ea Gata Kitty.
Since she was not allowed to travel alone with two animals, her line accompanied her on the trip from Atlanta to New York and from there to Paris.
“I thought it would be easier for the animals. Without end, it was more traumatic to me than to him, ”he admits.
The first days in France were difficult. Janice even doubted her choice and, in a moment of crises, cried when she remembered a pair of yellow tennis that left behind.
“Of course it wasn’t about tennis. Was it just a feeling of ‘really, I belong to this place?’ ”
After a good night’s sleep and buying MOVIS students, how things started to improve. But an adaptation took time.
Finding Purpose
No, beginning, even simple tasks, such as going to the supermarket, were stressful.
“Semper was outgoing, but was terrified when paying like purchases. I was afraid of my card not to work and people think, ‘Aracurder Americana,’ “he says.” That lasted almost a year. “
At the rhythm, Janice feels more comfortable and built a network of friends. Following the advice of one of them, Created a channel without youtubeCalled Janice in France, where she complies her experiences and already has almost 30,000 subscribers. “I love to do that. It gives me a purpose, ”he says.
In addition to the channel, Janice, who has a master’s degree in counseling, also leads a support group on aging, family separation and mourning.
“I know what it is like not to have Quemar Darinario,” he says. It also gets involved in church activities and organization Christmas parties For people who would be alone at the holidays.
“I believe we all need to return. I try to help Mabe Community and Mabe Church I can. We need a purpose in life. I do not post simply to wake up, bourn the dog and spend the day on the iPad. ”
Life in FRAÇA
Despite attending classes, Janice admits that her Frenchman has not improved much in these three years.
“How people here love to practice English with me,” he explains. “And of course, my French with southern accent is terrible,” he jokes. “But I can turn around. At least I know how to read how plates not to fall into a hole. ”
For her, one of the best things to live in Fontainebleau is a gentle of people.
“If the train is full, as people get up to give me the place. I don’t think I’m old, but I think they think, ”he laughs. “No buses, when it is raining or very cold, shoulder offer me the asnto.”
Another decisive factor for a change for a proximity to Paris, which is on Apenas an hour by train. She often goes to the capital to find friends and is excited to watch the musical “Hello, Dolly!” In Bre. “I love going to Paris, but I love Mabe City,” he says.
Cultural differences
For Janice, one of the mailing cultural shocks for the importation of Franceses give the family. “In the US, everything revolves around the money. Here, a priority is a family. The holidays are in family. Free time is for the family, ”he notes.
She gives an OSPLO: “In my city, and in most French cities outside Paris, banks close on Mondays. Do you imagine this in the United States? ”.
On the other hand, a french bureaucracy can be a challenge. “You can’t simply take the phone and solve it all quickly,” he says.
She is still awaiting an approiver of her long -lasting visa, but aughed to accept the different pace of things.
“In the US, a realtor returns you in one hour. Here it may take three days. Because a priority of his is not me, but his family. ”
Janice says that Rarech feels lonelyBut it admits that you have had moments of discouragement.
Emma of these days, went to the Castle of Fontainebleau and watched as people, reflecting on his journey.
“I watched like weight, looking around, I took a hot chocolate, Sreen me and thought, ‘Okay, it gave. I’m going home now, ‘says Janice.
“Because I’m not the type that little. I live alone, but I’m not alone. ”
Recently, he refused a marriage proposal from a “younger boy” that he would live with him, as “we are aging and everything else.”
“EU said, ‘No, no, I’m fine. Thank you’,” she will mean.
After three years in Franca, Janice, now 73, has no plans to return to the US permanently. For her, her best company is herself, an exact extent where she is.
“I can’t imagine going back to Georgia,” he says. “I mean, ‘Janice in Georgia’. No. O I would do there? ”
Today, there is Olto Dog, Max – Buster died in the folded year – and loves the freedom to be able to do what he wants when he wants.
Although he misses his daughter and Mexican food, Janice says they talk to each other and that Jennifer loves to visit her in France. His last US trip was two years ago.
“I need to go back in September,” he says, adding that if he could choose, he would not even return.
For Janice, I’ve seen much of the US and now wants to live new adventures.
She expects her story to inspire older people to present life to the fullest, whatever a significance for each other, so as not to get to the end of the days thinking, “Wow, it would have done it is like that.
Or worse, wondering, “Is that all?” She continues: “Do it now. […] It doesn’t have to be a fraction. ”
“It can be moving close to the file. Or get away from the phones… Maybe it’s been two or three months for a year to travel, ”he said.
And concluded: “I think, as they get older, how people accommodate themselves so much that they don’t want to get out of the comfort zone. […] But, look, when you take this step, you find out that a life outside is amazing. It is liberating.
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