• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Panama
      • Portugal
      • Colombia
      • Northern Cyprus
      • Belize
      • Spain
      • Mexico
      • France
      • Indonesia
      • Vietnam
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Panama
      • Portugal
      • Colombia
      • Northern Cyprus
      • Belize
      • Spain
      • Mexico
      • France
      • Indonesia
      • Vietnam
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result
Home Countries France

Make Your Way Back To School (And Life)

La Rentrée—Your Chance To Kick Your Go-Overseas Plan Into High Gear

Kat Kalashian by Kat Kalashian
Oct 04, 2021
in France, Lifestyle, Paris
0 0
0
Sunset view of Eiffel tower and Seine river in Paris, France during autumn.

Adobe Stock/Ekaterina Belova

220
SHARES
3.1k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

As of a few weeks ago, Paris all but shut down, as did much of Europe. The annual exodus that has Parisians fleeing from the city begins in late July and typically lasts until late August.

Mom-and-pop shops and restaurants close, putting up signs saying they’ll see you in September… doctors stop taking appointments… and the most common farewell you hear this time of year is “Bonne vacances,” knowing you won’t meet again for a few weeks.

A sign at a Paris store. The owner is on vacationThe feeling in Paris beginning in late July is that of high schoolers at the end of the school year. There’s a languor mixed with a giddiness… everyone is excited, but also tired… worn out by a long year and the wait for summer vacation, which they plan for all year long.

On the streets you see people packing up cars and pulling suitcases to train stations… people saying goodbye to friends they won’t see for a few weeks, all wishing each other well on their respective adventures.

And then we all come back…

Over the weekend my family and I returned from a few weeks in Sicily—more on that next week—tomorrow my daughter’s creche reopens, and today we’re all getting back to work and back to our routines.

Springtime in Paris is well acclaimed… but I’d like to make a case for autumn in the City of Light, which, for my money, is just as alluring… perhaps more so.

Although we’re not even yet out of August, brown leaves are piling up on some streets whose trees are too eager to hibernate, and the feeling of la rentrée is already taking hold…

September in Paris is a magical time. To misquote Nora Ephron, “Don’t you love Paris in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

For most of us, September is a special month no matter where we call home… it never ceases to remind us of our childhoods… and our children and grandchildren. We want to go out and buy markers and notebooks, no matter our age.

North America does a none-too-shabby job of advertising back-to-school supply sales. But, in my experience, nowhere on Earth does September the way the French do.

Understanding “La Rentrée”

It’s called la rentrée” and it makes up the entire period of the last week of August and pretty much all of September.

Rentrer means to re-enter, and the noun refers to the act of going back. You can rentrer in the literal sense—going back to your house or to your office after you’ve left, for example. The noun, la rentrée, though, is most often used to mean to go back to school… but the term has taken on a much larger meaning.

At the end of August, many rentrers are going on… everyone is back home from vacation, back to work, back to school, back to the yearly routine, back to colder weather… back to life.

Everywhere you look are signs advertising something or other for la rentrée. All parents talk about are the impossibly specific lists of school supplies they’re required to find and where to get such-and-such problem item. Shops put backpacks, books, and art sets in their windows.

There’s a jovial optimism and an energy in the air around this time of year… The French have been on holiday for the majority of the previous month, so everyone is relaxed, fully dosed up on vitamin D, and ready to come back home and take on the end of the year.

In fact, la rentrée in Paris brings more of a feeling of renewal, rejuvenation, and energy than the actual New Year does in January. This makes a lot of sense to me. It’s hard to be energetic and enthusiastic for positive change when it’s cold, dark, and damp out. There are so many months of chill and gloom left after the first of January that it’s hard to stay motivated for any goals you set.

After coming back from summer vacation, though, it’s natural to set out schedules, cut down on the booze, get back to our workouts, and probably diet a little after holiday indulgences. The French leverage this momentum to get their lives back on track for the winter. There’s a lovely attitude of optimization before hibernation. We set ourselves up to have the most successful fall and winter we can have, with a view to the coming spring.

The feeling is infectious. Walking down the street, it’s hard not to get swept up in the excitement and optimism of la rentrée. You can’t help but smile, put a bounce in your step, and start to think through some new plan you want for yourself. Today I started a new workout program, a healthy new diet, and am determined to instill some new habits into our family’s daily routine, including an after-dinner walk every evening.

Once we settle into our new autumn routines, we’ll hunker down for the winter and await the next injection of cheer and optimism that comes around Christmas and New Year’s… Meantime, though, we forge ahead, full of enthusiasm for the self-improvement that can be achieved over the next few months.

What Will “La Rentrée” Mean For You?

This year, la rentrée feels especially promising… out with COVID-19 (we hope) and in with life as it should be. Most of the world had to put plans on hold over the last couple of years, so this autumn feels even more optimistic. After we get through the holidays and have rung in the new year, it’s time to get the ball rolling on all these pipe dreams we’ve had to divert since 2019.

For me, that means getting back to scouting out new locations to report back to you and making trips to meet you in person at our live events…

What plans have you had to rain check? Did you have exploratory trips planned to potential places to live planned? Were you about to pull the trigger on a big move? Wherever in your go-overseas plan you were, get back to it—today! Use the momentum of the autumn attitude to get yourself back on track no matter where you are in the world.

Wherever in the world you find yourself celebrating la rentrée this year, keep your hopes up and your aspirations high.

Kat Kalashian
Editor, In Focus: Europe

Tags: go back to schoolLa Rentréelive in parismove overseasMove to ParisParis
Share89Tweet55
Kat Kalashian

Kat Kalashian

Kat Kalashian has grown up around the world, living in the United States, Ireland, France, and Panama, and has traveled extensively in her few years. Growing up as a young expat she is familiar with the trials and tribulations of an overseas move and the adjustments that must be made in every new destination. Living and learning through experience, she now considers no one place home and feels more comfortable in new environs than in familiar ones. After living in Panama for seven years, where she enjoyed living for a stint in the tropics, she and her husband relocated back to Paris, France, in 2018 where they now live full-time with their American-born cat, Panamanian-born dog, and French-born daughter. Her post as Special Projects Manager of Live and Invest Overseas keeps her busy… whether it’s spearheading a big new product, MCing Live and Invest conferences, or scouting out new locations for coverage, she’s always on the move and eager to discover new things.

Related Posts

iStock/espiegle
Lifestyle

Live On An Island Like Royalty For A Bargain

by Bart Walters
March 21, 2023
0

About 20 years ago, I made a trip to Vancouver, Canada, in February. It was cold, rainy, dark, and miserable....

Read more
View of the seaside town of Dunmore East, County Waterford, Ireland.

How We Made Friends While Living Abroad

March 12, 2023
Two medieval towers at La Rochelle harbor in France

La Rochelle: A Quaint Life In A Modern City

March 8, 2023
Tavira in Portugal

The 5 Best Places To Live Overseas In 2023

February 2, 2023
Cyprus: Better Than Your Neighbor’s Retirement To Florida

Life On Cyprus: The Secret Brits Don’t Want Americans To Know

January 26, 2023
A beach in Los Islotes, Panama

Los Islotes In Panama’s Pacific Coast—A Unique Community In One Of The Safest Havens

January 23, 2023
Ferragudo, Portugal

How One Couple Discovered A Great New Life In Algarve

January 20, 2023

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas ...

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2023

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2023 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2023 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Download your FREE report on

The Best Places To Retire In 2023

New Year, New You, New Life Overseas

Sign up for FREE and learn how to live the good life on a modest budget, find bargain property, and more. Plus, check out our free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE.

RETIRE OVERSEAS AND LIVE LIKE ROYALTY