New Perpectives

One of the best things about this whole study abroad experience is, without a doubt, my host family.

My first exam was today. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck. My only form of solace is that these exams can't hurt me, but only help me. Still, 4 hours in a stuffy room with native speakers who are kicking more as than you without even trying is a bit disconcerting.

My second one is tomorrow afternoon, but i'm not nearly as nervous for two reasons:

I am resigned to barely surviving academically

Dinner was so delightful that I realized that my experience here is more important than any academic credits my exhausted brain could muster at this point in time.

Not only has my host family been willing to edit my papers for me and gently correct my speech, but their personalities go along with mine in a way that I feel like this is my home. After a bad day, they always have a way of cheering me up and making me forget about homesickness, pressure, and stress. They also really incorporate me into their family life and traditions. Today, they asked me when my birthday was, and said I could choose what we would eat on that day and Anne would make me the dessert of my choice as well. So here's the question: crème brûlée or mousse au chocolat? Clearly, I have some serious thinking to do.

In addition to all this love, our genuinenly invested conversations enrich my understanding of French people and culture, and it's a great way to get a fresh perspective on global events. The ritual surrounding the sharing of dinner with the family has had a great impact on me durring my stay. I'm eating very healthily and burning calories at the same time from all the laughter. Tonight was especially wonderful. A guest appearance by Charlie livened the mood more than usual, and Anne and I had a marvelous conversation for a whole 45 minutes comparing French and American news broadcasts, passport registration processes, medical systems, work ethic, and presidential connundrums. Oh, it was fantastic! And one of the best parts was that I was able to communicate all of my ideas to her in a way that she was able to understand... IN FRENCH!!!

I must be getting better at it than I thought.

A new perpective on my own linguistic development has also been noticed. Beginning in February, I noticed that I no longer translated French into English and back again in my head. This phenomenon has been exponentially increasing in occurence! I'm very happy with myself. It's gotten to the point that I only translate in my head when I'm searching for a word or expression. Regular conversation and most thoughts are nothing but French. My brain surprises me sometimes.

Those are the new developments on this end. I'll try to include more pictures when relevant in my next posts.