Preparations for my next trip to France have been falling into place. I began the process last fall by booking an apartment. I will also be spending the first week outside of Paris when I travel with my good friend to what will be a new city for me. Due to an unforeseen incident with a washing machine, I needed to get a new passport, but that has been taken care of and the new passport arrived this week in the mail. At this point I am counting down the weeks, but soon I will be circling the days.