It's the little things

I know I promised a post about Chamonix.  Don't worry it's coming, I've been a bit overwhelmed by starting my new internship, Skype and phone interviews with firms in the US and trying to figure out how the hell I'm going to figure out my monetary relations class (how am I supposed to explain calculus in French?! and why do they insist on changing EVERY. BLOODY. ABBREVIATION?).  But I'm feeling really good about the subject of this little post, so I figured I'd just write it quickly before bed :)

So anyone who knows me knows how I'm a bit obsessed with my grades.  It's definitely not one of my better personality traits, but I'm trying to learn how to live with my skewed perception of grading.  So as I've been starting to get my grades back from last semester, I've been cycling through moments of doubt and moments of resolve.  I knew coming into this year that my grades were going to go down, but the last few days I couldn't help but continue to have this conversation over and over in my head: 'Why am I a French major?  French was never my best subject!  Why did I come to a country where they only speak a language that I'm not that good at?  Why am I taking classes only in that language?  Why did I choose to take some of the hardest classes at one of the hardest universities in France?  Why am I staying the whole year?  Do I want to completely kill my GPA?  WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF?'.  Healthy, I know.

But it's the little things that make all the difference.  A few phrases that mean so much more than the person who voiced them can possibly know.  In the last two days, two separate and short conversations - nay, tidbits of conversations - have made me realize why I'm doing this.   They were scarily similar that it's actually what made them so memorable.  They both went a bit like this (French = blue, me = red; Happy President's Day) :

"Vous venez d'où ?"  Where are you from?
"Je viens des Etats Unis" From the USA
"Ah oui ? Où aux Etats Unis ?"  Oh really?  Where in the USA?
"Californie de sud; j'habite à San Diego"  Southern California, I live in San Diego.
"Vous parlez très bien le français !"  You speak French really well!
"Oh, merci beaucoup... " Oh thank you... (get embarrassed)
"Vous avez appris le français où ?"  Where did you learn French?
"Je me spécialise en français à mon université en fait" I'm majoring in French actually.
"Bon, mais vos parents sont français?" Good, but are your parents French
"Non" Nope
"Vous avez un petit ami?  Ça aide beaucoup " Do you have a little friend/boyfriend ? That helps a lot.
"[rire] Je sais, mais malheureusement, non" [laughs a bit] I know, but unfortunately no (I wish, can't have it all eh?)
"Bah, vous avez un très bon accent"  Well, you have a very good accent.

Both times I was a bit taken aback by the conversations.  They were literally almost identical and I just thought it was hilarious that neither of these French people couldn't believe that I could have a good accent without being some how of French origin.  And if not French in origin, their next logical thought is that I must have a French boyfriend.  But it got me thinking - this is what I came here to do.  Maybe I'll never fit in or actually be une femme française, but if I can speak French well, that's enough for me.  That was the goal all along and that's why I'm here for the year, taking classes in French and speaking French with friends.  Yeah, if I pick up a few French habits, that's great.  But I'm here for the language, the challenge of perfecting a different linguistic register and accent.  My grades will matter for grad schools or my first few jobs maybe, but French fluency is what will stay with me for longer (does that mean I won't stress about grades and my GPA?  Probably not ha).

Like I said, it's the little things, those little conversations that take us by surprise but make a big impact.

Bisous xx

Two travel weekends : Part 1

And just like that, January is already gone.  I swear time seems to just fly by - it's hard to think that I only have four more months here.  It feels like so little now.  Since I've been planning out my trips around Europe, I've really started to think about how much time I have left - if I do all the trips I'm planning (and that won't even be half of the places I WANT to go), I'll be spending about half the remaining weekends in Paris itself.  A bit sad :(

But anyways!  I did begin my spring travels with two very different trips - the first one to the South of France to visit old Roman architecture (Ancient History = Love #1), and the second, which I just returned from on Sunday, to Chamonix in order to get in some much needed skiing (Love #2).

I feel like the pictures tell the story the best - but that means two posts, since there are a lot of them :)

After a train ride to Avignon (so sad we didn't get to see the actual city - throwback to my summer trip there with Aidan and Antoine (miss ya'll!)) we took a lovely bus ride through the country side of Provence.  And then we saw this!!

This is the Pont du Gard. Being as obsessed with Roman history, and thus Roman architecture (since they are intimately related), this trip was obviously already a fabulous idea.  But it's something else when you've read and seen pictures of something so iconic, and then to actually see it in real life.

 The craziest thing is to think that the Romans built this basically 2000 years ago.  It's part of a 50 kilometer aquaduct (about 31 miles) that brought water to Nîmes, this town we stayed in Saturday night.  The bridge only descends around 2.5 cm but could carry an estimated 200,000 cubic meters of water a day.

2000 years ago, Romans were building this stuff. Like waaaahttt.

 Kelly and Hannah, fellow annuelles!!

 + Andrew = des annuels :)

 Claw.  We like her.  She tries truffle/foie gras macaroons (see below)

 After the Pont du Gard, we visited Uzès, home of one of the oldest Duchies de France.  The Crussol d'Uzès family is one of the premier noble families in France, coming right after the princes of royal blood.  The title has been held for years, and the dukes were the hereditary Champions of France.

 They've got quite the view from the roof of the old forteresse.

 Hilarious sign found in the little café where we ate lunch.  Of course it's in English.

Adventurer of the day?  Claudia tried a truffle/foie gras macaroon from La Maison de Truffle (truffle salt = amazing).  I had a tiny bite as well - it was very... well... interesting.

 Verdict?  Claudia loved it (me, I could pass, but I did try it!)

 We stayed in Nîmes Saturday night and had a big dinner as a group - lots of wine was imbibed, plenty of jealousy over the melty Camembert the vegetarians were getting (who would have thought being a vegetarian would be such an advantage?!), but it was nice to get to know some of the newbies.  Hotel bonding followed (of course, with lots of wine involved there as well).

The next day we got to explore Nîmes and see more awesome Roman architecture (and even older).  Luckily for you (or maybe not if you enjoy my amateur photography), my Nikon ran out of power, so only a few pictures.

The amphithéâtre in Nîmes is one of the best preserved, though it's not as large as others, like the one I saw in Arles.

For comparison purposes, here's the one in Arles:

La Maison Carrée

Overall, it was a pretty fantastic trip.  Someone at one point mentioned how nice it was to see real trees again (Caro Brown?), and she definitely had the truth of it.  Paris is amazing, but you sometimes forget what nature feels like when you're in a city all the time - the parks just don't cut it.  It was refreshing, and I think that's why the South was so perfect for me this summer - in California and Vermont, I'm surrounded by nature.  I've always felt like a misplaced city-girl, but I guess I just took nature for granted (don't know what you've got till it's gone?).  And the south of France is both, a French society living in a beautiful landscape.  I hope to get back to Aix or southern France sometime at the end of the semester, but if not, it certainly isn't goodbye forever.