[Northern France: 10 Years of Progress]
In 2000, I left northern France, where I had lived for nearly six years.
Although I have visited from Japan several times since then, 10 years have passed since then.
But in the back of my mind, it was a place that I was very interested in.
When I wake up in the morning, I'm fed up with the hopeless weather.The sky is dark and thick clouds are flowing constantly like a conveyor belt, so low that I feel like I could reach out and touch them.
The occasional sunny spells also change dramatically.
I would occasionally receive updates from my colleagues from my time at the design firm about their lives there, but it felt like a place from a bygone era and didn't feel real.
And the other day I visited northern France for the first time in 10 years.
I toured the apartment I used to live in, went to our usual lunch restaurant, the library, and then went for a walk.
It was like walking down memory lane, but the past 10 years have been incredibly long.
The president of the design firm where I worked, where every day was filled with tension and I laughed and cried, passed away a few years ago, and the building was transformed into a different company.
I thought that nothing had changed between 10 years ago and now, but in fact, it's not just the people around me who have changed the most; it's actually me who has changed the most.
I came face to face with the person I thought was weak and small back then.
I'm grateful to my family for accompanying me on this slightly sentimental trip, even though it got a bit overwhelming!
I think I'll move forward again!
