Ever since I was young, September has felt like my personal new year. Forget January 1st, for me, everything resets on September 1st.
That was true even throughout university. I was always excited for la rentrée, France's traditional back-to-school period. After two months off during the summer, I would come back feeling refreshed and ready to see my friends again. My mom and I even had our own little ritual - we would go shopping for school supplies together and, sometimes, she would buy me some clothes so I had something 'fresh' to wear on the first day.
Of course, not everyone sees the annual school-supplies shopping trip through quite such rose-tinted glasses - for some it's truly a nightmare.
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But I loved those school-supply shopping trips. I can still remember the smell of plastic folders in the supermarket aisles and the different colours of the binders. Somehow, they made me excited about going back to school. My mom always had a very precise list of everything we needed. I have such a clear image of her pushing the shopping cart around with a pen in her hand, crossing things off as she grabbed them from the shelves.
The night before school started was another little ritual. I would get my bag ready, making sure I had everything I needed for the next day, while thinking about everything the new year might bring: new friends, new schedules, new activities, new classes and new teachers.
And then there was the bag itself - something that might sound completely superficial but was actually one of my first markers of growing up.
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When I was in French primary school, I had a bag on wheels. I even remember the brand: Chipie, the French children's clothing and accessories brand whose logo was a Yorkshire terrier with a bow around its neck. I was so proud of that wheeled bag. But then I reached middle school and suddenly the wheels were no longer cool. It was all about the backpack.
And by the time high school came around, I wanted to look even more grown-up. So, like countless other French teenage girls, I opted for the infamous handbag (very impractical and extremely heavy to haul around on one shoulder). But once I had it, I felt like I had officially made it.
Of course, I wasn't being particularly original. But I felt exactly like every other teenager: happy to fit in, to have the same things as everyone else and, for a while, to blend into the crowd.
I was reminded of all this recently when I watched Samuel, an animated series about a 10-year-old boy who keeps a journal as he makes the transition from primary to secondary school. It's available for free on YouTube and on Arte.
What I particularly enjoyed was seeing those familiar moments of French childhood - the school environment, the friendships, the awkwardness of growing up and, of course, the language children actually use. It's easy to see why so many people have connected with it, whether they're children going through those years themselves or adults looking back on them.
And even though I'm now a fully grown adult, la rentrée in September still gives me the same feeling. Perhaps it's because it comes with such a strong sense of a fresh start. Summer is coming to an end, autumn is around the corner and, after weeks of holidays and disrupted routines, everyone starts getting back into their rhythm.
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It's the perfect moment to start those good habits that may have been forgotten over the summer - whether that's exercising more, cooking again, finally getting organised or simply getting back to a normal sleep schedule.
Of course, there is a nostalgic side to the end of the summer holidays, and a little sadness that the long, lazy days are coming to an end. But there isn't much time to dwell on the past.
September has plenty in store in France, from music festivals and new art exhibitions to the famous Journées du Patrimoine, when places that are normally closed to the public open their doors. There is always something happening, and all of these events definitely help to ease those end-of-summer blues.
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And I'll finish this week's column with a phrase that little Samuel writes in his journal, which really resonated with me: J'aime bien la fin de l'été, je ne sais pas pourquoi mais je suis content de rentrer chez moi - "I like the end of summer, I don't know why but I'm happy to go home."
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