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When I studied Abroad

Le Poison! Le Poison! Hee Hee Hee! Ho Ho Ho! Well, you would ask...Why in French? Well, my dear guest, if the french flag did not make it easy then I must tell you: I was and I'm a lucky individual to say I studied abroad in France...Twice.

 

 

 

a little french passion

My dream was to go to the place where etiquette was invented, where perfume was appreciated, and where somehow all my childhood and adolescent efforts were put into. Having attended private schools my whole time in the Dominican Republic,  I had to learn some french. Nothing too fancy, but relevant. But my relation to french is no coincidence. 1) My godfather is french, and I still remember when my dad, my godfather, and his french friends would get together, eat fancy meals, and drink wine (something a lot french do not joke with). 2) I also remember going to my mom's french class lessons, and laughing and being silly with the french teacher...French has always been fun for me.  And 3) Dominican Republic is next to Haiti and they speak mainly Haitian creole, which has some french in it, and they also speak French; so geographically and historically it is also relevant. So, When I came to the USA resisting all the pressures to simply study Spanish or Spanish for Spanish speakers I chose French. I wanted to keep exploring this other language other than spanish and english to add to my linguistic and cultural treasure box. As such, I took 3 years of French. I even became president of the French Honor society in my high school and developed a strong bond with my beautiful Djiboutian teacher: Mme.Meidal. Plus, I cannot forget my European history class teacher, Mr. Notidis, as we spoke about Louis XIV, the french revolution, World War 2, etc.  Then in college I could not stop. It was time for all my dreams and ambitions to take form, and I decided to embark myself in a journey to travel to France. I must say, you can be a tourist anytime, but you cannot always be a traveler. And pursuing a french and francophone studies minor as well as studying abroad gave me the privilege to be a traveler and actually immerse myself in the culture. So all in all, I hope you now get a gist of why I chose France, and why anything french sparks my interest... France and I, we are true soul mates.  

Trip #1: UF in Paris

Summer 2013, the strong and feisty freshman in college that I was made her dreams come true...go to the city of lights. I must say, that one month in Paris exponentially equipped me to speak French, understand francophone culture, and reinforce my love for it.

 

The Program:

UF in Paris was a program hosted by my home-institution, the University of Florida.

It was a month program from end of June- July 2013

 

Relevant courses: 

-French in the City: Language and Culture in context

-French art and contemporary culture

 

My Family:

I stayed with a host family, which consisted of a beautiful woman from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), named Margot. I lived with 3 other UF students in the program. My home was located in the 18th arrondisement, famous for its cultural diversity, Montmartre, Le Moulin Rouge, and La Basilique du Sacre Coeur. With my host mom I learned a lot about La Francafrique (the term for parts of Africa that speak french). Since she is from Cote d'Ivoire, she showed us videos of her country, and she made us a traditional home meal.

 

In Trocadero, facing the Eiffel Tower

Growth:

Thanks to Paris, in one month I learned about 50% of all French I know, I celebrated and interacted with locals, and I explored and challenged myself to try local cuisine.Through the various visits to museums, local cultural places, and personal explorations I became appreciative of a different culture, of different people with their backgrounds, languages, and customs distant from mine. Partaking in this culture, such as celebrating 4th of July having a barbecue with francophone families, and going to "Le Ball des Pompiers" (a celebration in each district's firefighter station) made me live as part of this culture, and learn how to blend in.

From Paris, one of the greatest things I learned was to take challenges, and take calculated risks. For example, a friend and I went to Brussels, Belgium for a day following a friend's suggestion to places to go. I say I wanted to explore Brussels, but I also did it to visit the birthplace of one of my favorite francophone artists: Stromae. Despite not running into him, one day I will! 

 

At last, going to Paris showed me that sacrifices are worth the risk, and that dreams go a long way. Thanks to this I learned to invest in my cultural exploration, to be open to novel and ambiguious situations and experiences, to adapt to extraneous and unknown situations, and to accept others' differences. Because trust me, you have to quickly adapt to take advantage of just 1 month of Paris. 

trip #2: Aix-en-provence

So, after a summer in Paris I said yes. Yes to keep exploring and taking advantage of the opportunities to internationally expand myself. So this time I did it for a semester at the beautiful city of Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. Near Marseilles, the 2nd biggest city in France, and a home to an amalgame of diversity in cultures, language, food, and people. 

 

The Program:

This was a program at IAU (Institute of American Universities) co-hosted by ASA (Academic Studies Abroad).

It was a semester long program from January 21-May 15th 2015

 

Relevant courses:

-Advanced French 2: Composition and Stylistics

-Contemporary French Civilisation

-Human Development in the Cultural Context

-Regional Wine Trade and Economics

-2-month Internship at Language Institute Inlingua

 

 

Family:

So again, I stayed with a host family at Aix. Host families give you an indepth and intimate approach to the local culture, as well as resources to maximize your experience at the given place. This time I also stayed with a strong independent french woman. Her name is Sophie. I lived in the house with Sophie, her daugher Ines, and my housemate, Natasha. Sophie owned a jewelry store named Tangerina, where she sold Brazilian-made jewelry and accessories. I developed a great bond with my host family. I still remember my host mom's incredible food, her homemade pizzas, her quiches, her homemade vinagrette for salad, and the chocolate cakes with a touch of fleur d'oranger (aka Orange Blossom).

 

 

Thanks to them I explored the Aix markets that happened every tuesday, thursday and saturday, and opened myself to the local culture instead of secluding myself in a room trying to evade a 30min walk to the city center. The cultural exchange required in my host family was great as every day I learned how different people with different personalities, customs, and cultural backgrounds communicated and interacted. For example, my host family would only eat toast and coffee for breakfast, whereas I do not have a preference, and my housemate loved typical american breakfast foods (eggs, cereal and milk, yogurt, etc). This was a big difference as one day I heated the left over dinner from the day before to eat for breakfast (i.e. potatoe and fish casserole, which by now had no fish, and was topped by a slice of cheese and ham by truly yours). When my host mom walked into the kitchen she almost had a heart attack of surprise. I simply said "Sophie, I just can't waste food." 

My host family (from left-right):

Me, Natasha, Sophie, and Ines

A highlight of my time in Aix was a local cafe named le 3c (Cafe Culturel Citoyen). The 3c is a local cafe, and an "association." This means this cafe is run mainly by locals and volunteers as there are only 2 part-time employees. Working and volunteering my time for the 3c humbled me to know how work and community have no price, how to appreciate something for its unmaterialistic value. the 3c runs on a local and fair market where all its products come from small businesses, and are nature-friendly. The other volunteers from the 3c became my family during my volunteer days, saturdays. Thanks to the 3c I learned to appreciate the collective effort put into a product, to value small cultures, to respect different cultures, and to immerse myself in others' worlds.

 

Growth:
I learned to improvise and approach despair and unknown situations in a creative and pragmatic way, and most important of all, to not give up. This I learned mainly through Italy. I took a flight to Palermo, Sicily to hopefully (hence the risk) meet my friend's grandmother who lived in Catania (on the other side of the island). Well, communicating with grandma was hard, so I bought the flight to Palermo hoping that was where she lived. The day I got to Palermo (that is 1 month after buying the flight) I got in contact with grandma. So, I had to take a 4 hour bus to Catania, and then take an hour bus to the town she lived. That was an adventure. I spent a whole day figuring out the Italian transportation system, getting lost in Catania trying to find the bus that would take me to "Linguaglossa" (where my friend's grandparents lived), once in Linguaglossa waiting an hour and a half for my friend's grandparents at a local bakery that resulted in becoming friends with the owner, and missing my bus back to Catania (which meant having to stay over at my friend's grandparents place). But then the next day missing the last bus that would take me in time to Palermo to catch my flight to Venice, because I spent the whole night talking with my friend's grandparents about wine, culture, and traveling; having to buy a new flight to meet my aunt in Milan; almost missing my bus back to Catania and then Palermo, and once in Palermo getting lost trying to find my hostel. That was a lot to take in, and it was confusing. But it was an experience that taught me that life is an adventure, that I cannot control everything, and that one cannot ever give up. One just goes with the flow and becomes better at it. 

Working behind the 3c bar

© 2016 By Ericka Vargas. Proudly created with Wix.com

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