Erin
Fayetteville to France


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Why I chose to study overseas for a year

More than the obvious "well, why not?" answer, I chose to study abroad for a year because I wanted to become fluent in another language, throw myself into another culture, make new friends, see new places, eat new foods, and ultimately develop a passion for another group of people that would broaden my whole perspective on everything. My favorite films are those like The Motorcycle Diaries or Lost in Translation because they show parts of a world we in the US don't normally see or think about -- and they show them with a clarity that brings with it a daunting, but exhilerating sense of humanity's global scale. I wanted to live that sense of scale, to be humbled and motivated every day by the sheer size and aliveness of our planet. I think it's important to gain an awareness of how big the world is and how, though we individually are comparatively tiny, we're all part of one transcontinental civilization.

Travel Blog

Note: Most Recent Entries Appear At the Top

Date/ Entry Title	Entry
April 5, 2007 5:56 AM	Much to say since I last wrote! The trip to Spain at the end of February was a major thrill. I'd kill to live in Barcelona; it is absolutely imperative that I learn some Catalan at some point in my life. It's an unbelievably beautiful city, but it's not devoid of the well-meaning Mediterranean chaos I came to love in Rome and have been missing so much in France. There's a really great ambiance in the area around the cathedral, full of damp shadows and rough white sunlight and lazy arches and old, old stone. And of course, like everyone says, the Sagrada Familia is truly an impressive sight. After a week on the Iberian Peninsula, I was up in the Pyrenees with my host family. They skiied every day despite the mediocre snow; I tried once and then decided I'd rather keep all of me in once piece. And so I spent 4 days snuggled up with hot chocolate, homework, and a striking view over the valley. The day I was set to leave (I came back up to Tours with my first host family, who were also in the South, because there wasn't enough room in the current host family's car), which was also my 18th birthday, it snowed half a meter and to get down from our cluster of apartments clinging to the mountain, we had to haul uphill maybe half a mile through the slush to the téléphérique that would take me in a cable car down to the main part of the town. It was less than fantastic at the time but at least it's a memory of my 18th that I'll never lose! Soon after my Dad came for a week. We spent 3 days in Tours and then went to Paris... it was wonderful to finally show him around all of the places that have become my home in 7 months. In Paris we went to the Basilica of St-Denis, where almost all the kings and queens of France are buried or in any case memorialized. It's also significant for being the first real Gothic church, and with its massive stained-glass windows letting in late-afternoon light it was really astonishingly beautiful. In the underground part of the basilica was a tiny, unlit room behind bars in which plain wood coffins (like something out of Dracula, seriously) hold the remains of royals that got mixed up during the Revolution when they dug everyone up and threw them together to spite the monarchy. Let it never be said that Robespierre, et al. weren't hardcore. On our last night we went to see a Chopin concert at St-Julien-le-Pauvre, the oldest church in the city of Paris. Some not-terribly-well-known Japanese (I think) pianist played an hour and a half of nocturnes, études, and a sonata but I don't remember which. There was almost no lighting save the votive offering candles, and with a lingering air of incense (since it was just after Mass), and an audience of less than 30, it was undoubtedly one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Speaking of concerts but less highbrow, my plans for the coming spring break include about a week at my counselor's house in Bourges to see the Printemps de Bourges, a festival that includes great independent rock shows among other things. I'm super excited to be going to Cold War Kids/Bloc Party with Tessa. !! Among other news, I know now that I'm coming back to the US on June 26. Expect to hear more interesting stories of a marauding francophile before then!
Mon, 19 Feb 2007	I changed host families for the first time in early January, but after about 4 weeks things weren't clicking between us so I changed again. I'm now with my host club president's family, and it's fantastic! They live in a very cute 18th-19th century farmhouse south of Tours; I've got 4 siblings: Constance, 18, Tiphaine, 16, Ségolène, 14, and Jacques, 8. I feel completely at home with them, though I'm glad to be having dinner once a week with my old host family too. School's going really well. We just got our grades for the second trimester, and I've got the highest average in my class of 34 native French speakers! :) Don't think for an instant though that I spend all my time doing schoolwork-- I've been busy otherwise. By busy, I mean that I spend my afternoons after school dancing around the city center, listening to a mix of music from the US and France, getting myself lost in the old quarter, delicately shaping the cream on my chocolat viennois in a sunny corner of my favorite café (where the waiters all know me and what I want before I even order), making small-talk with the group of 4 elderly women who are there every single afternoon. I'm playing a lot of flute lately, which is doing me so much good. I'm giving mini-lessons to Ségolène, who's just learning, and as of last weekend I'm playing with the upper-level symphonic band at a municipal music school here. It's not terribly professional or serious, but it's not too demanding and it reminds me of 3 years of band back at FHS. 3 weeks ago an australian exchanger arrived! Her name is Tessa and we get along super, super well. Our host parents are friends so we see a lot of each other-- movies, dinners, gossipy sleepovers. Since we don't have class Wednesday afternoons, we're instating a weekly lunch date to try as many restaurants in Tours as we can. Exciting! After this week we're on vacation until the 12th of March. I'm going on a RYE trip to Spain for the first week, and I can hardly wait. Hoping for sun! I'm back on the 5th, turn 18 on the 8th, and my dad is coming to France to see me on the 19th. The time is flying now! Bisous, Erin
12/22/2006 12:28 PM	"Hello everyone! I apologize for not having written earlier, but my first 4 months in Tours have been very, very full. I got here at the end of August and started school September 5. I'm in the equivalent of 11th grade, in the course set that emphasizes French literature. The first couple of weeks were pretty difficult, in terms of adjusting and making friends, but since about the beginning of October it's going quite well. Four years of French in the US really helped-- I'm able to follow all of my subjects and my grades are sometimes some of the best in the class, plus I haven't had any problems communicating, for which I'm very thankful. It's the day before Christmas vacation starts and I'm in my last 2 weeks with my first host family. They've been fantastic and I'm very lucky to have met them; they have three kids who are 14, 15, and 17, which for me was a totally new and amazing experience (seeing as in the US I have just my 14-year-old brother). We're spending the holidays at their house in the South, where we went for fall vacation at the end of October as well. Right now I'm the only Rotary exchange student in Tours, which has been hard at times, but just last weekend all of the exchangers in my district got together at my counselor's house in Bourges. It was the first time we'd seen each other since late September and was very, very fun; we're all from the US or Mexico, and as it happens more speak Spanish, or Spanish and English than just English, which means whenever we're together we speak sprengfrish (or whatever you'd call a mad combination of Spanish, English, and French). One of the best experiences I've had so far was going to Paris a week ago to see a friend of mine, a Rotex who went to Belgium in 2003-04. He knows the city really well and we had a fantastic afternoon strutting around the funky, artsy quarter where Sartre hung out. There's so much history here! It gives you a lot of perspective to see buildings almost every day that are in some way connected to the basis of Western culture as we know it. I've been awful about taking photos these last few months, but I'll be sure to take more as 2007 starts and I'll some along the next time I write (which I promise won't be in April). Thank you to the whole club for giving me the chance to live this life! It's something I will always deeply appreciate. Happy New Year!"
10/8/2006 3:02 PM	Things are going well here. My host family and I get along famously, which has made things fairly easy for me. I have 3 host siblings-- Clément, who's 17, Emilie, 15, and Victoria, almost 14. We have a lot of fun, though it's still bizarre for me to live with 3 other teenagers. School was pretty difficult for the first 2 or so weeks, just in terms of finding friends, but it's working itself out now :) I'm in série L, for Littérature, which means I have 6 hours of French per week. It's alright, though; I'm understanding almost everything and my grades have been pretty respectable, all things considered. I'm also taking English, which I enjoy because it's an hour in which I don't have to think, and German, which I'm glad I got to continue. I'm a serious flutist at home so I was worried at first about finding a teacher here, but now I've got one lined up and I'm extremely excited. She's in her early 20s and studies in Paris with Philippe Pierlot, the principal flute of the Orchestre National de France. Within the first few weeks I was here we went to Chenonceau, the château that bridges the Cher, and Villandry, which is famous for its gardens. There was also a dinner at the château d'Amboise, to celebrate my Rotary club's being twinned with a German one. I'd like to go back to all three maybe later in the season, when we can really be sure there won't be hoardes of tourists. As for other interesting things, we went to the théâtre the other night to see Molière's "Le Misanthrope." It was written in the 1660s but the mise-en-scène was very modern and there were some great songs by indie bands of the '90s as transitions between scenes. I really, really enjoyed it. More next month! Bisous, -Erin
8/26/2006	Hello all! I'm in Tours, finally. My family, the Chidiacs, are wonderful and have been very supportive. They all have impeccable English, but we've been speaking almost completely in French. They assure me that mine is wonderful, but it's frustrating when I don't know the gender of something or get tenses mixed up. Their house is very comfortable-- I'm including a few pictures to give you an idea. That wall of bookcases in my room is pretty well-stocked: on a first glance, I'm seeing a shelf and a third of Mark Twain, the complete poems of Emily Dickinson, a number of French classics, several dictionary/encyclopedia sets, and a sizeable number of National Geographics. I'll dive into it at some point when I don't feel as guilty about spending time in my room. Yesterday Victoria and Emilie took me on a tour of Tours. It's a lot like Rome, but the architecture is completely different and it's more organized. It smells mostly the same, though-- like European fuel emmissions (which are different from ours), coffee, bread, and cigarette smoke. I'd like to explore a bit on my own sometime later this week; the city center seems pretty compact and most big roads lead either to the main square with the town hall or to the cathedral, so there's not much chance to get really good lost. I thought I'd be in an awful emotional state when I got here, but so far things are going well. Getting here was incredibly hard, though. 9 hours in O'Hare sitting in my gate crying uncontrollably and wonderful what I was thinking. I thought seriously several times about buying a ticket right back home. Right now I'm sort of shoving everything under the rug. It's hard to be deeply depressed when you're forcing yourself to be thoroughly agreeable all the time. On Monday I'm visiting my highschool with M. Chidiac to meet with the principal and figure out my classes. I might write before that, but if not you can expect to hear more Monday afternoon or Tuesday. The Chidiac have wifi-- through a heroic effort, M. Chidiac got it set up for my laptop this afternoon-- so keeping in touch shouldn't ever be a problem.

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Erin Fayetteville to France

Erin
Fayetteville to France