Of all the seasons of the year in France, I think the rentrée is probably the one that people feel the most... winter and summer seasons are always welcomed and spring and fall suddenly come upon you without you really noticing... but the rentrée is a whole different story....
La rentrée literally means "the coming back in" and it designates the end of the summer holidays and the beginning of the new school year so it's usually during the first or second week of September (depending the school zone).
For the kids this time often means shopping for new school stuff, catching up with old classmates, meeting the new teacher(s), getting used to seeing mom and dad go back to work in the morning... it means the end of summer holidays and the beginning of the a brand new school year filled with dull things like homework, afterschool activities and 8pm curfews...
For adult parisians the rentrée has a whole other meaning. I think in a way it's a lot like New Year... the french usually come back from (two, three or even four weeks!) holidays with plenty of energy and motivation... new resolutions are made on how to be more proactive and more productive at the office... how to finally make those objectives just in time for the bonus season...
Ladies come back with lovely cinammon tans just in time to check out what the fall season has in store for them... looking and feeling so healthy and relaxed that gym inscriptions skyrocket during these few days... everyone somehow seems to agree that in order to keep the sunny glow they have brought back with them more exercise and healthy eating are in due after all those evenings sipping cocktails on the beach.
Turists have left the city and for a brief moment it seems as if the parisians come out to "reclaim" their territory. The terrasses are full with nostalgic ones telling eachother about the wonderful vacances dans le sud enjoying the last of the summer's rays of sun before fall moves in with it's gray and chilly evenings...
The rentrée is a time of new beginnings and the sign that happy times are not that far : Toussaint and Christmas holidays are only a few weeks away and before anyone notices, it WILL be a new year....
INSERT (Sept 5th 2007): For André the rentrée means the end of the holidays, no money left (from spending it all on the holidays), people desperatly trying to catch up on 2/3/4 weeks worth of email while at the same time being swarmed with the regular day-to-day stuff, emergency back-to-back "recap" meetings everwhere, tax season right around the corner, never-ending traffic jams....
Happy rentrée to y'all !!
F.
1 comment:
good report Francine !!
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