December 14th, 2008

Look at the date.
I have been in France for 2 days shy of 4 months. How has that happened?
While there have been times in which I've been frustrated, tired, homesick, people-sick, even the tiniest bit of regretful of my decision to come to France, the time has flown by, and I've realized that I have truly enjoyed my time here and learned and grown so much. The other day, I bought my train ticket to return to Paris to catch my flight back to the United States in January. Already. It's that time.
Last night, Claire and I went to our friend Nathalie's apartment for a French dinner with our mutual friend Simon. They are from the town of Poitiers which is a long 10-hour drive Northwest of Aix-en-Provence. They are both just a year older than us and studying at the Fac, also, but they are studying what is an equivalent of International Studies and language. They both studied abroad last year in German-speaking countries, and are both very proficient in English. The dinner was absolutely amazing! The food was mouth-wateringly tasty. On the menu?
Appetizer: Salad with lardons (bits of pork, kind of like bacon bits but much better quality and tastier) and a mustard-balsamic vinaigrette.
Main dish: Tomates farcies, or tomatoes stuffed with ground beef that has been seasoned with herbes de provence (a blend of rosemary, thyme, marjorum, and other various green herbs)
Dessert: Profiteroles (pastry puffs/cream puffs) with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
But not only was the food amazing, the company, and the conversation were, as well! We talked about everything, ranging from getting to know our hometowns better (Little Rock, AK, Princeton, NJ, Poitiers, France), politics in both the United States and France, languages, food, religion...all sorts of things. We ended up staying for 4.5 hours (!!). It's great when you make friends, but it's even more valuable when you find that you learn from your friends. I've found that while I've learned a lot about art history, cooking, living in a tiny house with 4 other girls, how to ask for a pitcher of water, and how French train tickets work, I've learned an immeasurable amount from Nathalie and Simon. They've taught me about all sorts of little traditions from their hometown, they explained the reasons for and causes and results of all of the youth demonstrations in France in the past 5 years or so, they've taught me how to order peach syrup in a beer, how to say that I'm full without saying that I'm a pregnant animal, and the reason why the politics of the United States is so important to France and how the downfall of Sarkozy makes Obama's presidency exciting but raises doubts among some French people.

So much.

There are some people who would look at my study abroad experience and say that I wasted my time for 5 months, that I didn't take advantage of the French culture, that I didn't go out enough (or at all, rather), that I didn't meet French men, that I spent too much time and effort on classes rather than frolicking about Southern France, that I should have been more liberal with money and traveled around Europe. Even other people on the program think that my approach to study abroad has been silly, that it's ridiculous that I've only been out to one bar, and that I haven't yet been to a nightclub.
But in a month or so, when I'm back in the States, I'm certain that I'll be able to look them directly in the eye with a smile on my face and say that I learned more than I could have ever hoped to learn during my 5 months in France and that I know now that La Princesse de Clèves is every so subtly a book about female empowerment in an oppressive society, that most of the time no one is judging you or making fun of you that it's usually something we make up in our own insecurity, that the "primitivist" movement of art did not just aim to copy ancient art forms but was developed with a theory based on simplification of the form and the attribution of religious signification to the art of sculpture, and that eating beef tartare and escargot is actually quite pleasant.

I'd say that's pretty good :)