Somewhere on the roadside in Villers-Cotterets...
I'm sitting here on the side of the road, just down the street from the Chateau de Noue, around the corner from the lycee. The lycee is already on the edge of town, so if you walk much further past it, you're really in the countryside. I've only seen two people since I've been walking out here, and I left the lycee almost an hour ago. I did one enormous black cat that I swore was a dog at first. I can smell horse manure, so there are probably stables nearby, but I haven't seen any horses.
I'm only about a five-minute walk from the lycee, but it feels further. It's so different out here - isolated, quiet. And it's hillier. There's one road that slopes down rather steeply. I followed it, and at the end of it, I found some little houses, surrounded by gardens and piles of firewood, set against the forest. It was so beautiful. It must be nice to live in such peace and quiet, with such a great view, but I don't know if I could do it. The silence would probably drive me crazy after a while. And I wondered about those gardens. It has to be hard gardening on a hill. I heard some kids playing behind one of the houses, but I never saw them.
I also saw a tunnel that led away under one big hill, and the creepy thing is, I think someone was living there. I mean, I think the tunnel might've led to some rooms and stuff built under the hill. Because at the entrance to the tunnel, there was a mailbox and some address numbers. It was so weird. It kinda reminded me of the Shire in Lord of the Rings.
There's more I want to write, but it's getting cold out here, so I'll do that later, after I get back to the lycee.
[Transcribed from an entry in my paper journal.]
I'm only about a five-minute walk from the lycee, but it feels further. It's so different out here - isolated, quiet. And it's hillier. There's one road that slopes down rather steeply. I followed it, and at the end of it, I found some little houses, surrounded by gardens and piles of firewood, set against the forest. It was so beautiful. It must be nice to live in such peace and quiet, with such a great view, but I don't know if I could do it. The silence would probably drive me crazy after a while. And I wondered about those gardens. It has to be hard gardening on a hill. I heard some kids playing behind one of the houses, but I never saw them.
I also saw a tunnel that led away under one big hill, and the creepy thing is, I think someone was living there. I mean, I think the tunnel might've led to some rooms and stuff built under the hill. Because at the entrance to the tunnel, there was a mailbox and some address numbers. It was so weird. It kinda reminded me of the Shire in Lord of the Rings.
There's more I want to write, but it's getting cold out here, so I'll do that later, after I get back to the lycee.
[Transcribed from an entry in my paper journal.]