Language Leap
Anna and I in front of the chateaux
My final week in Amboise, France I have to say, is a bitter sweet one. Amboise, at first seems to sound like a tucked away little village in France somewhere, it is not until you are actually inside of Amboise when you see that it is hustling and bustling, with plenty of things to do and places to see. When walking under the clock tower, if you get lucky, there might be a street performer or a musician just playing one of the sweetest songs that rings through the street. Life here is nothing compared to how it is back in America, I try not to talk about home much or even compare everything to my home since they are two different ways of life completely. If I had to choose between the two towns, I don’t know which one I would pick. Like everything in life, there are pros and cons. But coming here has made me become more independent and more self reliant.
It has been difficult for me only having one year of self-taught French. I must say I would recommend taking a crash
Random Fountain in the Street
course in vocabulary and in grammar as well before you leave. As much as you think phrases and little words will get you by, and it certainly does help, when you have French spoken to you by a native speaker, it feels like it is going at a rate of 110 mph. It can be quite intimidating. Euroscentre is a resource I have found very useful. It has given me a lot of help, guides and tools for understanding the language much better than I ever would on my own just by “picking it up.” When I arrived, my listening comprehension and speaking levels of French were nearly non-existent. I would say now that my speaking still needs quite a lot of work, but my comprehension of what is being said, has improved by leaps and bounds. Still, there is so much to learn. I found that by not understanding or being able to speak much French, that living in a small town that speaks ONLY French was quite difficult, and could become stressful. Though after 3 weeks of feeling completely mute, I am starting to find my voice and doing my best with composing better sentences. The first week of being in Amboise, I found myself wanting to tell my host mother “I have a dog.” Instead I said “Je…suis chein!?” basically saying “I AM a dog.” At least it made my host mother and foreign exchange sister have a really good laugh at the dinner table.
Me in front of the Chateaux
I have come to realize how much languages are a major thing to learn and know, after not being able to express myself in any way or form and just pointing to objects or making some weird movement to tell what I am trying to say. It certainly sounds and looks funny, but if you really go somewhere that your mother tongue is not spoken and you find yourself not being able to talk, after a while you just want to stand up and finally be able to speak.
So, to sum everything up, going to a foreign country and not being able to speak the language, I learned a lot faster and much more in a short period of time. But caution to the traveler, your patience will run short and you might find yourself getting stressed out. Just from personal experience, I would most likely say that when going to a language school, grammar skills in the language is a big help, but if you are just vacationing sit and watch movies and T.V. without the subtitles in your language. It will all help for comprehension and vocabulary, but no matter how much you try to learn and understand it, there will always be one or two things that you will not be able to understand.
Excursion to Chambroad
