In my teens and early 20s I always thought that the first European city I would travel to would be Paris. I could picture myself going to the Eiffel Tower, spending hours at the Louvre and enjoying the sidewalk cafes and of course practicing my French.
My dream about France began when I started studying French. I took five years of French and loved every bit. I watched French films to listen to the language and I would try my hardest not to look at the subtitles. I actually didn’t find French so difficult probably because I speak Spanish and some of the grammar seemed similar. Of course years have passed and I’m sure if I were to go to Paris now I would be tongue-tied.
Anyway, when the Paris in July challenge came up I really wanted to participate to remember my love affair with the language and the dream. Now almost half of the month is gone and I hadn’t been able to do a post but today I just wanted to share a bit of my history with France. And, look what I have kept even as the years have passed by, some of my French workbooks:
I’m happy to report that there are a lot of pages with “très bien” written in them. I really did enjoy studying the language. Life has not taken me to Paris yet but one day I’m sure we will go. In the meantime I’m going to do a bit of armchair travel to Paris via some books. I’m still deciding which book to start with so I’ll keep you posted.
Fun! I still have all my old French lessons, too, but I am tres rusty. 😉
Tiffany – I spent a good while looking through my books yesterday. So fun but I think once I do go to France I’ll probably have to sign up for some refresher courses! 🙂
I didn’t take French until college…way too late. Two of my grandchildren are half French and attend a school that focuses on French in Baton Rouge. The school and their father are making sure they speak well. Right now, they are in France with their other grandparents.
jenclair – That is great that your grandchildren are growing up bilingual. I know personally that my job history would have been quite different if I hadn’t spoken Spanish. Several of my jobs I’ve had thanks to knowing another language. I just wish I knew more! 🙂
Happy armchair traveling to Paris until you get there one day Iliana 🙂
I hope you make to Paris, too! I took Spanish instead of French, so our crash course in learning French before our trip wasn’t terribly effective. Fortunately, the folks we ran into in the tourist areas were happy to switch to English as soon as they realized their English was better than our French.