La langue française

I used to hate studying languages. If you had told my 16 year old self that in 6 years she would be conversational in a second language (especially french) I would have laughed in your face. Yet here I am, 22 years old, having lived in France for a year and itching every day to learn more and become better at a language I thought I would never understand further than the franglish "ooh la la" and "trés belle." 

I decided to study abroad in France after a summer program in Paris in 2014. I was going through a rough personal patch and the summer abroad filled me with love for the city and a desire to explore more of Europe. There's nothing quite like the city of love to mend a broken heart, as cliche and disgusting as that might sound. A year after that trip I embarked on my full school year in France with the plan to spend my first semester in Paris and the second in Bordeaux. Stepping off the plane without any experience with the french language, or to be completely honest any language, was a little unnerving. And for the first month I was taken back to my 16 year old struggling with languages frustrated self, unsure how anyone could do this and why anybody would want to. But more and more, things started to click. And finally, around month 6 of living in France I found myself being able to understand more and more and make my way through with much more ease than before. I came home at the end of the year and graduated with my Bachelors, and yet I didn't want school to be over. I wanted to continue learning and I wanted the next time I visited the country I had learned to love so much be with the ability to converse with whoever I chose. 

I'm now back in my home town taking a year to save money to apply to grad school. I am happy to say that I enrolled in my local community college to continue my study of french. Learning a new language has given me so much appreciation for my own language, the world, and the ability to communicate with different people! I wouldn't change it for anything.