In 1999 after taking a month long trip to Europe with my parents and oldest sister, I decided that I wanted to learn French.
Why?
Well, why not?
Before that trip with my family I did zero preparation in the language. Zero. I speak German and I know how much time it takes to learn a language. The thought of trying to learn just a little before the trip seemed ridiculous because I knew how much time it would take to learn something, to be able to have a back-and-forth with a French person. So I did zip. Nada.
After several weeks of not getting what we really wanted for breakfast (coffee, I’m talking the kind of coffee we really wanted), I took my sister’s phrase book and came up with something to use one morning in Annecy. And it worked! For the first time on the trip we got large American-style coffees–black for everyone except me, cream and sugar for the youngest). “Now that’s more like it,” Dad had said.
Did I keep learning during that trip?
No. It just seemed pointless.
At first.
Then my little pea-sized brain started churning and thought, “Why not? Why not learn French?”
I had subconsciously checked “Learning a Language” off my list of things to do in life. I hadn’t even realized that I’d done that, but I had.
So, I put it back on the list and got busy. Well, sort of. In the midst of my “real” life I would manage to put in an hour here and hour there with my wonderful textbook which came with cassette tapes (a good thing, or I never would have gotten an inkling about the correct pronunciation. French pronunciation has nothing to do with how it’s spelt when you’re thinking as an English speaking person). Complete years would pass without me doing nary a thing to reach my goal of being able to speak French conversationally.
In June 2008 I realized that my “deadline” was approaching (in 1999 I’d set the mark of 10 years as my goal for being able to carry on a conversation in French) and that I needed to kick this learning program in the butt. I got on-line and found a school in Lyon that seemed perfect. I had a heart-to-heart with my husband and he said he’d support me 100% in reaching my goal (which meant that he’d be willing for me to go to France without him and that he’d carry on our business alone for that month). I booked 4 weeks in Lyon at this school starting in January 2009, set-up our flights using frequent flyer miles (Our? Yes, our. The plan was that I would study in Lyon for 4 weeks and then my husband and I would meet up somewhere in France where I could use my new found skills. We’d do a home exchange for another 4 weeks; surely we could find people who’d want to spend a month in Hawaii. Wouldn’t you want to spend a month in Hawaii?), wired the money and then couldn’t quite believe that it was really going to happen!
What comes next is the posting of many, many letters that I wrote to friends and family around the world during my stay in France. I didn’t even think about writing a blog at the time. My brain was too full with new French words and grammar for anything else. Also, there was a point when I wasn’t sure if I was even going to be able to do the trip . . . but you’ll have to read the earlier entries for the why of that. At the time, I was doing well to just keep it all together.
It was an incredible trip and I invite you to join me. I look forward to meeting you along the way.
