Speaking French

As I mentioned in my last post, the most difficult piece for me thus far about being in France is the language. Having only taken one year of college French, I am finding myself often at a loss for how to communicate with the vast majority of people here. I say this as though I am surprised by it, but in reality I knew it all along. As a matter of fact, I came here especially for the purpose of being in this situation of struggling to communicate so that I could get better at it. Nevertheless, there really is no way to prepare for it. People can talk all they want to about culture shock and how to deal with it and all, but in the end, what I am finding out, is that you just have to go through it and make whatever decision seems like it will reach the best ends. Certainly, I've managed to make a fool out of myself at times (for instance, asking the bartender 'where does the bar close tonight?' instead of 'when') but that's all part of it what it's about. I only better off for having made these mistakes. And besides, now that I've done that once, I know that I'll never ask 'Ou est-ce que vous fermez ce soir?' again!

However, while it's easy to know rationally that it's good for me to wade through this language until it starts to make some sense, that doesn't make it any more easy to do. It can be very disconcerting at times, knowing that it takes a concentrated effort to order a cup of coffee, or ask for directions somewhere. But like anything, the more difficult it is, the more rewarding it is. Every day I'm able to talk with my host parents a little better, and each time that I go somewhere I'm able to talk with somebody in French a little more effortlessly. It's the best feeling! It makes all the difficulty of struggling to communicate worth it, instantly.

On a separate note, the farmers markets here are awesome. Not only are there three or four big ones in Angers, but all the local foods are very cheap! As opposed to in America, where more processed foods are cheaper than locally grown or organic ones, the locally grown foods are more abundant and cheaper here. At any rate, things continue to go well here! I'll attempt to write again in the next several days.

Steven

First few days

So I've now been in France a little under a week and am beginning to settle in finally. I am living with a retired couple who live in an apartment building in downtown Angers. I live in the top story loft of their place. Luckily, my host family lives close to the university and the downtown area, so I only have about a ten minute walk to either of those.

The town itself is very nice. It's about the size of Salem, but it seems much bigger as there are no suburbs. Rather, the town very urban. There are also two universities in Angers, so it's a pretty youthful town, and nightlife is said to be pretty good (though I haven't had a chance to check it out yet). Additionally, Angers is a very old town, older than any in the U.S., and there is a chateaux in the middle of town that the Willamette group visited a couple days ago.

In general, the town is not all that unlike a town in the U.S., and adjusting to the layout of the town hasn't been too difficult. Adjusting to the language, however has been the difficult part. I'm out of time on the internet for now though, so more on this later.

Cheers!
Steven