Happy Jerry Wednesday to everybody. I hope you enjoy it.

I also hope some of you have been enjoying my old adventures in France. It is funny to me because I haven’t read those old posts since I wrote them over 18 years ago. Some posts bring up wonderful memories. Other posts I don’t remember at all.

Reading them now, with many more years under my belt, and a whole lot more world-traveling experience, I sound very young, very naive, and I seem to complain a lot. At the time I didn’t feel like I was really experiencing culture shock, but looking back I can see that I clearly was. I think back then I thought culture shock was something much more overwhelming – something that would bring me to tears every day or keep me curled up under the covers. But that isn’t me. I always get out of bed and do my best to plow ahead.

But reading these old posts I can see how I was being overwhelmed almost every day by all the differences in our cultures. Certainly, the language barrier was difficult.

I’m almost embarrassed by some of the posts. But I also realize that I wasn’t writing to anyone reading this now. I was writing to a handful of friends and family members. I was writing in a familiar way to people I knew. I was often trying to be funny and sarcastic, which comes off to me now as whiny and annoying.

Anyway, I do hope you are enjoying the posts, even if I do sound like a dumb little kid lost in the big world of baguettes.

Legion of Mary – 1975.04.12 – Scranton, PA

Legion of Mary – 1975.04.13 – Washington, DC

Legion of Mary – 1975.04.18 – Chicago, IL

Legion of Mary – 1975.04.19 – Milwaukee, WI

Legion of Mary – 1975.04.20 – Madison, WI