Leaving on a jet plane...

Hello my few followers, the time is here and the time is now. I am on my way to that big adventure I have been building up over the past few months. There were doubters, there were haters and there were people that just thought I was nuts. Well, I guess I am. I leave Atlanta forever on the 14th of May for the good ole' New York City. I will be hanging out there with a couple of friends and family until my flight leaves for Geneva on the 17th. Because the Atlantic is big (if you didn't already know that) I will not be arriving until the 18th in that clean country of Switzerland. Why am I going to switzerland? WTF, William! Hehe, well as I mentioned before, I will be working on farms (tenatively) all summer. You can't move from farm to farm with 300 pounds of luggage, and to store luggage in Paris costs $100 euros a month. So, I will leave my bags at my dad's friends place in Geneva. Apres, I will take a nice 30 Euro easyjet flight over to Paris. Ahhhhh Paris, finally. I will stay at old faithful, yep you guessed it, Saint Christophers Inn on the Canal. For those of you who do not know, this place carries with it quite some history for us international students. Man I cannot wait for that free breakfast.

On a side note, I might actually try not to work on farms. While I am in Paris I plan on going around from hostel to hostel to see if any of them need workers. The likelihood of finding a job at one is pretty slim, but there is a chance. If there is a position ANYWHERE in Paris, William Joseph Keck will sniff it out an procure it, guaranteed. So, if that works out then I will be in Paris all summer. If not, its to the farms for this boy.

I had about 7 farms planned but it was just getting complicated to communicate with these people and some of them had really weird requirements. One of the families wanted me to bring my own hammer, sleeping bag, pillow, flashlight and said that I would be sleeping on a bench in an old van. Uhhhhhh no thank you? I am already working for free, you can at least give me a bed. So what I did is decide to stay at each farm a bit longer. This, in the end, should work much better. THat is, of course, unless I do not get along with a family. In that case I will run away to Berlin for a few weeks and squat on Jeremie's doorstep (sry Jeremie).

The first farm is in Najac. It is along the midwestern coast of France in a really cool part of Avreyon. They will be making cheese, hay, and just basic garden activities. They also own a few gites (condos) in which people can rent and stay in on vacation. If the gites are not rented, then I will be able to stay there. Even if they are occupied, the people have an extra bed which is just wonderful. There will be beautiful views of the old Najac Castle and some villages from on top of the mountain. I have some pictures already and it is just making my mouth water looking at them. The second farm I will be camping out at is in Normandie. This will be unique because Normandie is one of the few place in France I have been before. I have already seen most of the small towns but did not get much time to spend in each. This farm mainly does things with apples (cidre, apples, jams, etc) as well as hay and other random plants. Not sure about the accomodations but I get the feeling it will not be to bad. The last two farms are a vineyard and and a cheese/onion farm. I love wine and growing/making it will be a thrill (not to mention drinking it, but we will see how much I can down in 3 weeks). I have always wondered how to make cheese and I will finally learn, although I have heard it is hard work and my forearms will burn for days. As for the onions, I want to help them sell their products but coming home smelling like burnt onions is not necessarily my idea of a great day. With all of the drawback, each farm seems to have its things that make it special and will make each working day worth it. Not to mention I will lose weight and show up in Paris with an impecable tan come August.

So, that is a lot to take in but I will let you few followers soak that up and take guesses at where I will end up this summer/august.

Until next time,

William