First, let me catch you all up on the last couple weeks. They’ve been rather busy, to say the least.
Two weeks ago I finished up at my position as an English teacher at an elementary school. At the beginning, I was excited to teach English to little French kids. How hard could it be, really? I’m not going into elementary education, but teaching my own language should be straightforward enough. As my time continued, however, I soon realized this was quite the challenge. The teachers expected me to make plans for 10 different classes ranging from 1st graders to 5th graders. In English language acquisition, that’s the difference between learning colors with no attention span and learning phrases in a class that will test on the content. Despite the difference between my expectations and reality, I was glad to have had the opportunity of such a position. The French kids were very cute and they would (sometimes) listen when I was trying to teach. I was always a celebrity when they saw me in the schoolyard, and during my last couple days several of the little girls hugged me and gave me kisses on the cheek. From a skill-based standpoint, this experience taught me to be able to think on my feet. It was necessary when I needed to change the lesson or when I needed to think of how to explain specific directions in French, especially when these directions were directed towards children who couldn’t always understand me through my mistakes. It made clear to me that I still don’t want to go into elementary education, but I can handle tasks that aren’t my forte when needed.
On a different note, a Christmas market has taken over centre ville since the beginning of December. Markets like these exist all over France, and are perfect places to drink “vin chaud” (mulled wine), munch on macarons and browse the many stalls of handmade and local gifts. It was quite lovely, and I went several times before we had to leave:
The city also presented a spectacle around Montpellier called « Les Hivernales ». This was a collection of light installations and animations that light up historic places in the city at night. The creativity and technology to create the spectacles was incredible:
And now a bit of reflection…
I had many goals floating around in my mind in anticipation of this trip. One goal of course was to improve my French, which I fulfilled. I am much more confident in my writing skills now and speak fluidly. There are still words that I trip up on or have to ask my French companions how to say, but this is much less frequent. I also gained a lot of vocabulary knowledge throughout the semester, both from classes and day to day speech.
My second goal was to visit cities within France to gain a greater understanding of its culture as a whole. I was lucky to have visited Bordeaux and Clermont-l’Hérault at the beginning of my time abroad in addition to trips to Paris, Avignon and Lyon. I also made sure to spend time around Montpellier, my home away from home. I loved strolling through the twisting back streets of the “centre ville” and trying activities around town with my friends such as seeing movies, rock climbing, and going to the beach.
My last goal was to record my trip in writing, which entailed writing a blog post for my friends and family at least every two weeks. And well… we all know that that didn’t quite happen! I found this goal difficult to achieve as my schedule was highly variable throughout the program. Some two-week periods I had several posts whereas others went by without me writing at all. I would have liked to keep up this even schedule, but as this was my first blog experience along with everything else that happens during study abroad, I’m not too hard on myself about it.
I spent my last day in Montpellier roaming around the city and shopping for souvenirs. I also checked out the Musée Fabre and re-visisted some favorite spots such as by the Arc de Triomphe:
I know I’ll miss Montpellier, but leaving is still rather surreal. It seems to me that I’ll still be in France for a while. In fact, they say that the “reverse culture shock” is more difficult that the original culture shock. Travelers learn about and adapt to their host country, and upon their return they must reconcile the new culture with their home culture. I hope to settle on a good mix.
Despite reviewing my goals, I hope to cherish my study abroad as an experience rather than a checklist. In France I was continually hearing the advice “profiter”, or take advantage. Often it would be simple, such as take advantage of the day or the sunlight. At other times it was more serious; advice to take advantage of your youth or take advantage of your time in France. I found this to be a very wise outlook. Yes, I did fulfill my abstract view of what study in a foreign country means, but I think the stronger marker is that “J’ai profité de la vie” this semester.
Lastly, I want to thank the people that made this trip so great. I was put together with 20-someting other college kids, and together we made the most of our time there learning French and traveling around Europe. And my teachers, the directors at the bureau and my host parents were always so willing to help with French or any of other questions I had. France is pretty cool, but so were the people I met there. I’m lucky, actually, and I’ll get to see many of the students on this trip at school in Minnesota.
I woke up in France this morning, but tonight I will fall asleep in the good ol’ US of A.
