Fun Fact: La semaine de la langue française

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Un café

      This week is la semaine de la langue française, French language week. The French adore their language so much that they have an entire upper organization called the Académie Française devoted to preserving it. Any new word that comes into the language isn't officially a French word until it is approved by the Académie. Our classes have been all about French influences in other languages this week and we viewed a video announcement against inputting English words into French conversation. For example, someone would say: "Je suis overbooké" (I'm overbooked). The Académie is as horrified by this as I was when I heard Zayn was leaving One Direction.
     Don't get me wrong - the French love to use English words in their daily conversation, especially the young. It's considered very cool. But others fear use of these words decrease the value of the French language. 
    And now for some fun facts: 1) There is no French equivalent of the phrase "fun fact" and that makes me sad and 2) the English word "mushroom" came about when the English sailed to France, pointed to the mushrooms and asked what they were. In French, mushrooms are champignons, but a meadow where mushrooms are grown are called mousseron. The English heard mousseron (and ignored champignon) and by the time the word settled into English, it became mushroom.




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Sète and Carcassonne

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Sète and Carcassonne
(And More of Montpellier)

Sète
    In the past few weeks, I've been able to explore a little bit outside of Montpellier. Though Montpellier is a city with an unimaginable amount of things to do, the other areas of the Languedoc-Roussillon region are worth visiting.

    Last weekend, some new friends from England and Switzerland and I took the fifteen minute train ride to the port city of Sète. It's a town heavily dependent on it's fishing industry, and one of the problems plaguing their industry is over fishing by larger companies.

   After a (now typical) lunch of a baguette and cheese, we made our way up Mont Saint Clair, the small mountain that looks over the city and Meditteranean. We couldn't find trail up to the top, so we followed the cars and took the much longer route up to the top. The panting, the heavy stomachs, the ill prepared hiking attire, the feeling like giving up and realizing how out of shape you actually are, and the occasional bickering on the way up (we all had different ideas on what the French "dead end" road signs meant), it was all worth it. It always is.




   This past weekend, I went on the excursion with my school to Carcassonne, the medieval town where Robin Hood (the Kevin Costner version) was filmed. It was a chilly day, and the wind made the visit slightly miserable. But the castle was straight out of a fairy tale, perched on top of a hill overlooking the countryside.




   This past Monday, I got roped into volunteering at a local middle school by one of the directors at the Accent Francais. I was nervous out of my mind because 1) I had to ride the tram to get there, and me and the tram had decided to live separate lives after the tram workers decided to give me a 35 euro fine for not stamping my ticket, and 2) I had no idea what to expect.
   I should learn never to trust my anxiety, because the experience was beyond anything I expected. I walked into the classroom, decorated in American and British flags and a cardboard display the length of an entire wall advertising the Fast and the Furious, and was greeted by the sprightly English teacher. He explained to me that he hadn't told his students I was coming and was very excited for me to help them learn English. Some students shied away, some giggled when I said hello to them, and some waved enthusiastically and exclaimed a hearty hello in return. The teacher had them ask questions in English and write down my responses also in English. I was told not to speak any French, but having just come from a class where I had to speak French and nothing but French, I slipped up a few times. 
   Their questions ranged from "Where are you from?" to "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" to "Do you see famous people?" to "Will you marry me?". Their faces became an amusing look of incomprehension when I said that I was from Connecticut. They were very interested in the fact that I had a twin brother. One boy was very upset I didn't listen to heavy metal or Doctor Who (but not too upset, this was the same boy who asked me to marry him). A group of girls strongly recommended I watch the TV show Empire, so I told them I would watch it and let them know what I thought. 
   They are all so bright and curious, and it was thrilling to be back in a classroom, listening to the teacher-student dynamic, finding out what they're learning and answering the students' questions. I'm looking forward to my Monday afternoons now.
   
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Une Semaine à Montpellier

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One Week in Montpellier

My walk to school
     I'm back at it, here in a new city where I have absolutely no idea what's going on half the time. Where I smile and nod and politely lie about understanding the French phrases rapidly spoken to me. Where it feels like an unnecessarily long amount of time to greet everyone with the customary three kisses on the cheek. Where I've eaten more bread in the past week than I've eaten in two months back home.
   But it's also where I feel like laughing during conversations at dinner with my host family because I am so ridiculously happy for the opportunity to work my way through their dialogues. It's where the people love coffee was much as I do and sit outside at the numerous cafes, sipping their espressos and talking with their friends. Where I can have wine with my lunch and eat as much bread as I want because the French assure me this habit won't make you fat (ask me again how I feel in two months).

    Montpellier is located in the south of France, fifteen minutes from the Mediterranean. It's known as a student city because of it's many universities, and one of the best places to study medicine (Nostradamus studied at the University of Montpellier in the early 1500's). 

  I am living with a host family in the centre historique, the historic district that's a four minute walk from the Accent Francais, my French school. Next to the school is the main town square, the Place de la Comédie. 

Place de la Comédie
    According to Jean-Paul, Accent Francais' beloved animated tour guide, Montpellier is regarded as a new city, new in the French sense that it was built after the Greek and Roman empires (which is consequently the reason the architecture looks more Parisian). But compared to the historical timeline of the United States, Montpellier is an ancient city. Many of the buildings are older, hundreds of years older, than the United States itself.


Place de la Comédie at night

    My classes are an adventure, and I've never concentrated so hard in my life. The classes are taught and explained all in French, and my classmates include people from Belgium, Colombia, Switzerland, Qatar and Japan. 

   In the afternoons, I walk around the city and find myself wandering through streets or stumbling upon churches. Or, sitting at cafe, sipping un café and doing homework or reading a book (I've started reading, or trying to read, Wild by Cheryl Strayed in French).

   I've found myself feeling 1000 different emotions everyday. From excitement to nervousness to homesickness to the desperate need to express myself to the intense joy when I understand a word I hadn't a week ago. It's an incredible way to live, and I'm looking forward to two more months of it.
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