Submitted by Kara Kimos the 2024 Spring program in Aix-en Provence, France…
This past weekend, I visited Paris! One of my American friends previously hosted an exchange student in high school, and he lives outside of Paris, so we were able to stay at his apartment for the weekend. He also lives with his mother who spoke French and Spanish fluently, but very minimal English. Even just from this weekend, I feel that my French comprehension skills have greatly improved! I wanted to be able to communicate with our generous host, and she was able to help me with the pronunciation of certain words I was struggling with. We also were able to learn from each other: she asked me how we say “Bon appétit” in English, and she was surprised to learn that we just use the french term!
Before traveling to Paris, I had heard stereotypes of Parisians being rude or cold to Americans, but I did not at all have this experience. While eating at an Italian restaurant near the Louvre, our server was happy to engage with us in a mix of French and English to talk about where we’re all from, where we go to school, and places we had visited in each other’s respective home countries. Overall, I found that making an effort to speak French not only helps me to learn, but also helps to make connections with the locals in their beautiful native language. (Submitted on February 18, 2024)