Second Week Here

Second full week is over. It was my first full week of school. School is starting to get better and I can understand some of what the teacher says now. It’s just the gist; I am to full comprehension yet but if someone is talking directly and not to quickly to me I can generally understand what he or she is saying. I would describe myself as conversational right now. I can talk to people and tell stories and explain what I want or need but it’s probably full of errors and its very slow. I can tell that I am so much better than I was when I arrived or even when I started school.

I had a couple interesting moments this week that made me realize that the US and France are different.

The first happened on a walk home from school with my host sister. We stopped the post office to buy stamps and so I could send out some postcards. I bought the stamps and put the postcards in the outgoing mail slot and on the way out I said, “Merci,” but it was clear the man hadn’t heard me and so I waved as well. When I we got out of the post office my host sister asked why I had done that. She then explained that doing things like that was really against French culture and that I should not do that. She explained the public etiquette and I found that it highlighted a lot of what was different between the US and France.

It reminded me of a story my Grandma told me. She was stationed in this area of France shortly after World War II working with the American Army. While here she stayed at a French boarding house. She explained to me how odd she found it that the French people seemed so reserved in public. For instance, if the owner of the boarding house passed her on the street she would say hello or even show recognition beyond the rising of one eyebrow. This story came to me while Cécile was talking because it highlighted exactly what she was telling me.

I also went to wedding in Brittany this weekend. It was actually very similar to the weddings to weddings in the US but here going to have the legal marriage documents signed is a part of the wedding. Every one collects at this place called the Mairie where they sign the documents then goes to a reception/ ceremony. It was a beautiful wedding and I met a lot of the extended family of my host family. It turns out that they have a lot of cousins, like about 30. After the ceremony there was a dinner, which was very good, as per usual, and then dancing that lasted until 5 AM, however I went to bed at 3 AM. I like going to events like this not only because it shows me French culture but also because I get to practice my French.

One of the things I would like to do while here is take a dance class. It’s a big part of my life in the US and I don’t want to just stop for a year; although it is becoming sort of a hassle. On Monday I went to a dance studio that my host parents found. I was really encouraged by the amazing studios but the class was not very good. The teacher lacked a lot of technique and a lot of what she was teaching was not correct. I can respect that it is a different technique than that of the US but this was hardly even ballet.

Then, on Wednesday I went to a class with at the Conservatoire, which is the fancy studio in town and loved it but the problem is the only way I can take classes there is if I take four a week, which I don’t really want to do and isn’t really possible for my third host family. My host parents said they were looking at a third dance studio in the city.

Also on Wednesday I went to a Rotaract meeting at a restaurant. For those of you who don’t know, Rotaract is Rotary for people under thirty. It was really fun and it was one of the first times I felt really comfortable with French. I felt like I understood almost everything that people said to me. It was great and I look forward to having more moments like that.

When I left I knew it was going to be hard and I knew that I would miss everyone and everything terribly, but while I was in the US it was just an idea. I didn’t really know how it felt to miss home. It’s hard sometimes but I always come back to how amazing and transformative this year is going to be and how lucky I am to be here. Today I was feeling homesick during the car ride and we stopped in this beautiful town in Brittany and I remembered why I was here and really touched that I was able to do this.