De Texas à France

Today I woke up earlier than normal to go to the university for an orientation. Having worked for Baylor as a Baylor Bound Leader, I have to admit that this orientation wasn’t quite the same as the ones I’ve seen in the past! If you’re reading this and you are a Baylor staff, please know that Baylor has one of the best orientation processes in the world! If you are reading this and you are a staff member of another university, please go here NOW: http://www.baylor.edu/orientation/ ! We sat in a room full of international students from all over the world and listened to three people give us the low-down. They spoke in French, but it was very easy to understand because they spoke so slowly. We were then given a tour of campus that made me think of my days of giving tours of Baylor! Baylor students! We are SO lucky! Student life isn’t as big of a deal in French Universities as it is in the United States. I was with several of my friends from Baylor who decided to go into town to eat lunch after the tour.

We found this really nice restaurant that served these amazing salads and crêpes! It was awesome! The only bad thing is that we started to speak English and I began using my Texas accent once again. When we were done with our meal and began walking through town, I realized that I had become an obnoxious American that was speaking very loudly in a very funny accent. My friends thought it was funny, but I can imagine that there were a few Frenchmen who wanted to kick me. That’s ok. I’ve wanted to kick them because their French is so much better than mine. I also got the opportunity to open a bank account in France! The only bad thing is that I had been speaking English all day, so when it came time to speak in French, I was a bit caught off guard. But things went well and I finally have a way to operate financially in France.

When I went home for dinner with my family d’acueil, I was very interested to hear that Yves-Marie (the father) was in love with the hot sauce that I brought for the family. We were eating grilled cheeses and the family was putting on the sandwich itself! They were eating it with bread and I even saw them eat it with a spoon a couple of times! It was quite funny! We then sat and talked a while about the differences between English and French and other sorts of thought provoking topics that would interest a student like me studying another language.

I am finding it easier to understand and speak the language the more time I spend here. Speaking with the family has really made things easier on me!