Back

Arriving at the Castle-event | Day 105 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Apr 15, 2023· 2 minutes

Another world-schooling family has had the great idea to make pop-up communities all over the world, sharing weeks with other families.

When we planned out our year (a first for us to plan a full year), we decided to participate in one in Normandie, as it was on our horizon to look for more like-minded people and because it was a live-in experience.

vans-hangout

We do not enjoy excursions in big groups very much; we want to visit museums, landmarks, nature sites, and cities just the five of us, and the company will mainly be overstimulation. What we long for is conversations, board games, and shared meals with other travelers. So the live-in option of the castle stay was perfect for us.

For some reason, maybe the same as ours, this event, in particular, was very popular, and many families will attend. So the anticipation and excitement were very high, and we were all happy the day finally came when we would arrive and begin to meet people.

And how was it then? Overwhelming yet peaceful. The place itself is simple and beautiful, very rural. The landscape of marsh, trees, birds singing, and storks. Green beautiful springtime. The castle is cozy and welcoming. And the people were, for some part, people we had already met, some of them new to us.

There was only one thing to do. Get started talking to people, cook the meals, and enjoy the time. It is not complicated. Everyone, in some form, lives the lifestyle we live. We all have so much in common, yet so many different stories to share.

cosy-gaming

I sit back and feel it. The Narnia feeling. The new field of not having to explain, not impressing anyone with what we do, not being the odd one out. It is lovely. As in very lovely. Peaceful.

Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

# 105 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here


Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our life like this, and we get very happy when we get feedback from you. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 
Welcome to Europe, Gypsie The first morning after seven months in Mexico and the USA, I woke up in my van somewhere on Montserrat Mountain. The w…Read more
Explore unschooling's impact on education, family, and society in our latest podcast, where authenticity in learning shines Read more
Whether your child is drawn to academic subjects or alternative pursuits, this episode reassures you that unschooling is about respecting each child'…Read more
When we arrived to the big house at Baja, we had to kick ourselves hard to remember how great this is - even when the temperatures are about 10 degre…Read more
We were excited about going to the next place. As always, of course, but this time, we would finally meet again with friends from the castle experie…Read more
Do you also want to evaluate at the edge of the new year? I want the statistics: How many museums, how many cities, how many beach days, where did we…Read more
Arriving in Tijuana. The most overwhelming thing was the wall. Oh, my good. I have to say it. It is crazy. Cra. Zy. Double metal fence construction o…Read more
We canceled the plan to go out on the ocean to swim with the big fish because we are exhausted from being "the tourists with the dollars," paying and…Read more
We needed to buy gasoline halfway through our trip and arrived at a gas station that was out of electricity. Therefore, they could not pump the gasol…Read more