An American French Major in La Tour du Pin

Otherwise titled: "Why studying a language in college doesn't prepare you for the real world"

I was told by a very wise (or maybe just bored?) and rather forceful person that I should start a blog. So here I am, perhaps a month later than I should be – but to be honest, my life up to this point has been relatively banal. I have read several travel blogs and it seems to me that most people who embark on such trips have grand adventures and great educational, cultural experiences whilst working and making friends of all nationalities and walks of life. I, however, seems to be lagging a bit behind.

Let's start with what anyone who cares enough to read this already knows... Hello. My name is Sandra. On September 26^th I arrived in La Tour-du-Pin, France... and I am still not sure if I am supposed to use the hyphens when writing the name of the town or not. This is my second go at international living, the first being two summers ago when I studied a mere month in the city of Tours, which is – what d'ya know – also in France. Shocking choice of country for a French major.

Though I should point out that I feel quite ridiculous telling people here that I am a French major who has earned her degree as well as the certification to teach the language. Prior to my departure, I would tell people that I was living in France to “achieve a level of fluency that I was unable to attain during my studies.” I would say that I spoke French well, but not great. Here, it is a completely different story. Although I have managed to do several things solely through communication of the French language, like getting a phone and bank account, the conversations mostly consisted of me saying crap like “Desolee, je suis americaine,” and “oui... d'accord... non.” I don't know why I always apologize for being American – it just seems like the thing to do.

To put it simply, I feel like an idiot saying I'm a French major to French people. Instead, when they ask if I speak French, I respond with “un petit peu,” which is what seems to be expected of an American girl my age.

What most of my students don't realize, however, is that I can understand most of what they say to each other in French. At the lycee, or high school, that I am working at, I was told that I could say to the students that I know “un petit peu” of French – which then only confused them as to why I a) am here to begin with, and b) want to be a French teacher upon my return to the States. At the college, or middle school, I was instructed to flat-out lie to them and say that I don't speak a word of French; this, I must admit, has been an amusing game so far – but I imagine that I will grow tired of it the longer I am here.

So that was a tangent. I'm going to be a horrible blog writer, but oh well. This wasn't my idea. Erin.

Let's list it up. I love lists. I shall call it...

Things concerned parties at home should know about my life right now:

• I am in France.
• This does NOT mean that I am in Paris. It would take me a couple of hours and about 60 euro to get to Paris. There is more to France than Paris.
• I am working as an English Language Assistant at a lycee and college in the town of La Tour-du-Pin (with or without hyphens). I am not an English teacher. Here I should apologize to anyone that I told that I would be... it was just easier to explain that I was going to teach English. I mean, I got to the point where I stopped telling people I wasn't going to be in Paris.
• I am NOT IN PARIS.
• My town is slightly smaller than the city of Hillsdale – without the college students.
• I have yet to meet anyone outside of the foyer who is my age in town. They all live in either Lyon or Grenoble, it seems. As do most of the assistants.