I’ve been in Aix for about 2 weeks now. It has been an interesting experience thus far and I can honestly say that I’m quite excited for my next 4 weeks here. I arrived two Saturdays ago after about 24 hours traveling that took me from New York to Iceland to Paris and finally to Aix. Arriving Paris was an experience. I had never been outside North America and I had never been forced to use a language other than English. This all changed when my plane touched down in France’s biggest city.
After an hour or so of wandering I found my train station. Problem was that I had no idea the procedure for boarding the train. Do I just hop on? Do I need to check in somewhere? I had a ticket but it was a print out and I thought I had to exchange it for a real ticket. With these questions piling up I eventually got over my nervousness of testing out a foreign language for the first time and found myself in front of a very stern looking Parisian woman. She was very slender with a hard, worn face that was honestly a bit intimidating. I immediately regretted my choice of help but that went away as soon as she said “Bonjour”. I posed my questions and she responded very kindly clearly, as if I was her lost American pet. I’m guessing I wasn’t the first to look bewildered in front of her. At this point, I had my first real French conversation. One where the other person wasn’t’ a teacher and didn’t speak French. I couldn’t pass off any Franglais here, but something amazing happened; she understood me.
I had a fatigue-induced revelation following our little exchange. It blew my mind that she made some noise, then I made some similar noises, then she responded with more noise for about 30 seconds, and finally I said “Merci beaucoup et bonne journée”. The conversation lasted for maybe a minute but in my sleep deprived state; I had a bit of a realization. It dawned on me that language is at its most basic element, just making weird sounds in different patterns. Not knowing the language is like being color blind (in that you are blind to that pattern), the color exists but your brain doesn’t have the ability to discern it. The only way you can “see” the language is to learn is to its pattern. Maybe this is a weird thought, but it seemed normal after 24 constant hours of travel.
I arrived in Aix without much problem, and soon after I was at my homestay’s house. My homestay family consists of Madame, who is a very sweet middle-aged lady, and her boyfriend (husband? Not really sure) seems to be quite nice as well, though he has a very thick accent so I find it hard to communicate with him. For the first week that I was here we were also home to two Russian students. They were with a different study abroad program and were only about 13 or 14 years old. “Les garçons” spoke a bit of English so we bonded over the weird stereotypes that we had of each other’s country. For example, they were quite surprised (and very disappointed) to learn that not everyone in California has long hair and skateboards. I also learned that Vodka really isn’t that big in Russia. It’s used like bread here in France, as an addition to a meal, but not the meal itself. I’m going to blame Hollywood for those misconceptions.
My host parents took the russians and I to the beach (in Sausset) the first day I was here. It is absolutely beautiful here.
The Russian kids. Who were actually addicted to soda, they had six each during our little excursion to the beach.
My classes have been wonderful. I’m taking Ethics of War and Peace, with a truly great professor. We are looking at what the ethical constraints of conflict are, and what they should be. We incorporate real world examples, such as the conflict in Syria and the NSA wiretapping scandal, and ask what we would do if we had control of the situation. It is a lot of work, with long readings every night, but I find myself so interested in the subject that the readings are somewhat enjoyable and they are often articles I would’ve read on my own.
My other class is advanced French which I’m enjoying greatly as it is being taught by two French woman who live in France. I like my French professors back home, but I find it a bit more interesting to learn French here because both my professors and I are constantly immersed in the subject. It seems like I’m learning a more current French, as if I’m learning French French, not American French. Also a tip to those learning French in America, please learn how to pronounce what your saying. I never really practiced that, mostly focusing on grammar, writing and vocab and less on the speaking aspect. Dumb. I now have such a poor accent that a lot of people here can’t understand me. It has gotten much, much better since I’ve been here, and I’ve even passed for a Frenchman on several occasions, but it would’ve been nice to start out with a high level of confidence in my speaking.
All in all it’s been a really good experience so far and I’m only barely a third of the way done. I’m going to end this post before I begin rambling on something else (I have much to ramble on) but I will post again soon regarding my experiences so far in le Luberon and Monaco.
But until then, Bonne Journée.
And some more pictures..
My other class is advanced French which I’m enjoying greatly as it is being taught by two French woman who live in France. I like my French professors back home, but I find it a bit more interesting to learn French here because both my professors and I are constantly immersed in the subject. It seems like I’m learning a more current French, as if I’m learning French French, not American French. Also a tip to those learning French in America, please learn how to pronounce what your saying. I never really practiced that, mostly focusing on grammar, writing and vocab and less on the speaking aspect. Dumb. I now have such a poor accent that a lot of people here can’t understand me. It has gotten much, much better since I’ve been here, and I’ve even passed for a Frenchman on several occasions, but it would’ve been nice to start out with a high level of confidence in my speaking.
All in all it’s been a really good experience so far and I’m only barely a third of the way done. I’m going to end this post before I begin rambling on something else (I have much to ramble on) but I will post again soon regarding my experiences so far in le Luberon and Monaco.
But until then, Bonne Journée.
And some more pictures..
At night the city often projects different slogans onto the buildings. It's become a game to see who can find all of them and apparently there is one for each letter of the alphabet.
The Market in Aix is stunning. Anything and everything is for sale, and the food is absurdly good.