Sometimes, if we wish hard enough, the stars align and shower us with good fortune. Sometimes, this good fortune comes in the form of new opportunities, unseasonably stellar weather and weekends when our schedules don’t conflict with those of our friends. I suppose you could say I was graced with a sprinkling of such good fortune in the last week.

Monday did not just mark the end of a summery weekend in the south of France visiting our friends and their adorable twin girls but the first day in a new job. I’m once again surrounded by others who speak French, German, English, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese – precisely the international environment I crave. Last Thursday marked the closing of one chapter and the weekend down south was the perfect way to transition, clear my head and get an embarrassingly blotchy sun burn that had my new colleagues giggling on my first day (note to self: a snooze without layers of sunscreen is ill-advised).

Though our trip was brief, we packed in a fair amount of activity. We stayed with our friends in Marseille, drove 40 minutes to Aix-en-Provence on Saturday before getting stuck in a Marseille traffic jam for 2 hours (in one of the city’s particularly dangerous neighborhoods), and a 30 minute trip to Les Lecques beaches in Saint-Cyr sur Mer where the binkinis, bodysuits and topless sunbathers were already on display.

Back in Paris, I anticipate an ample adjustment period but I think this change will be good for me. If anything, our blitzkrieg trip down south was an excellent shift into a new groove; the sunburn a reminder that change is never easy (or painless) but will blend into something we recognize over time. We’ll see where this leads me….