Dear Reader,
When I arrived in St. Laurent du Var Sunday, I was greeted with a warm smile from my host family. A couple of days have gone by and I am having the time of my life!!! I have learned so much, already and St. Laurent du Var is the most beautiful place I have ever seen! For this post, I will discuss what I have learned about the French language to this point, my challenges and triumphs in terms of the language barrier, as well as what activities I have done thus far.
My goal for this trip is to be very conversational/nearly fluent in the French language. On the first day, I wanted to speak in French right away (as did all the other students). After 5 minutes, my head was about to explode! I am sorry to say that I soon switched back to English happily! That first day, the students spoke in English to one another. However, as each day has gone by, we have begun to speak in French more and more. In other words, we have eased into the French immersion, if you will. I feel like my vocabulary has started to grow a bit already. More importantly, I have learned to form sentences in French quickly. The sentences are beginning to flow naturally!
Already, I have had many amazing experiences speaking French with the natives. Tuesday, at a shop, I made small talk with the French man behind me in line. We had a good 5 minute conversation and I barely noticed it at first, but I was speaking in French and the man was responding in English! Rewarding moments like this make the stressful language barrier well worthwhile. Each day in class, we go out and engage in everyday tasks using French. Today, we paired up; each pair was assigned a French dish. My partner (Jessica) and I were assigned the "tarte de blete de sucre/sale" or the sugary/salty beet cakes. We had to go up to people in the market and ask them to explain the difference between the sugary beet cakes and salty ones. Additionally, we had to ask for the different ingredients in each tart and the history behind the dish. It wasn't scary, but fun and exciting!! I must say, it is fascinating to see the difference between how the Abbey Road group is treated when we are speaking French compared to when we are speaking English. For example, today I was awaiting the train. Once it arrived, I started walking towards the door, as did another man. He looked at me, annoyed, and put out his hand as a way to indicate that I could proceed before him. I recipricated this gesture and said, "Non. Apres vous" or No. After you. He instandtly smiled and said, "Oh, alore! You speak French? That is very good". So the moral of the story is: when in France, speak French. I would describe many other difficult/rewarding experiences I have had but this post would be more like a novel.
I can't even begin to describe how amazing this experience is. From the time I walked into my host family's house, I have been living the French lifestyle, as well as speaking the language. Americans: you are so lucky to have airconditioning. At my house in St. Laurent, a couple rooms have some A.C. and my bedroom is not one of them. In America, I was almost annoyed when not in a cooled room. I now approach A.C. like: oh, it is sooo nice that this shop is cooled a little. It is discusting how much energy Americans use (airconditioning, lights, cars, water, etc.), compared to the people in France (or St. Laurent at least). I have had so much fun bonding with my amazing group members this week. I honestly do not have a complaint about any of them. Later, I will add some pictures of the group and what we've done.
I will try to post again soon but I have been so busy! The only time I can write a blog post is late at night. Like, right now it's 1:35 a.m. here. So, to my parents, I love ya. To my friends, I'm thinking of you. And until next time, "Ciao Ciao"!
-Elizabeth
