why france?

Story time! Might as well start from the beginning and that takes us back to 7th grade. We all had to choose between Spanish and French. Everyone chose Spanish with us living in California and I wanted to be "cool" and "different" so I chose France. At that moment I decided I was going to live in France one day. I'm not sure if I decided that was my new goal as a simple answer for all the "But why French?" questions I always got or if I genuinely decided at age 12 that I was going to pick up and move one day.

Thus began my tumultuous relationship with the French language. At first, we were great together. Or rather I thought so. When I started university at UC Davis, I got to skip the first three French classes they offered. How cool! I must be good if I can skip not one, not two, but three classes! I started with FRE 21 (the numbering system of classes makes no sense, I know) just as an elective with no intent to major or minor in French. At the time I was a science major destined to become a physician's assistant. It was not long before I was failing science and math classes and overall being very unhappy with my academic life. At the beginning of junior year I took a hard look at my academics. I was not performing well and I had no desire to try harder. I felt like I was killing myself, and for what? To enter into a field solely for the money? That didn't seem like a good reason to continue to push myself in this way. So, I made the huge decision to change majors late in the game. I thought about which classes I actually enjoyed and the answer was French! Luckily since I had taken numerous French classes beforehand, I was on-track to complete the major in four years. I began taking three French classes each quarter, which let me tell you, is a lot of French.

Collegiate-level French classes are apparently harder than they were in high school and middle school? I learned that the hard way. I was used to not putting in much effort to my French classes and still doing well. FRE 100 was my first rude awakening. Any Davis French alum will tell you the same. I nearly failed the damn class!

I continued on taking an insane amount of French classes, deciphering ancient texts, and attempting to sound coherent when writing about them. It came time to decide my ~future~. My options, in my mind, were to teach English in France or become an au pair. I've worked with kids my whole life, so neither was necessarily daunting in that respect. Many French students go on to teach for TAPIF, but a lot of aspects of the program are up in the air. You don't find out your placement until a couple of months beforehand and it's up to you to find lodging. The thought of finding a place to live on my own, in a foreign country, where I was a bit far from fluency, seemed like too much to handle. I know a lot of people who did it successfully and loved it! It just wasn't for me. One of my professors kindly, but brutally pointed out that maybe I would struggle a bit more than is comfortable if I decided to go through with it. I'm sure he was right, but I would probably be fluent by now if I had done it. C'est la vie!

Yes, I chose to be an au pair. Living with a family seemed like a much easier transition for me. I found a company called InterExchange, applied, Skyped with two families, and made my decision. The process is mutual selection not unlike sorority recruitment (lol). If I didn't feel totally comfortable, I could say no to a family and they could do the same. I was lucky enough to meet my family before moving as they lived in New Jersey for three years prior to my moving. After spending an entire summer attempting to obtain a visa, it really took months, one rejection, and hundreds of dollars later, I finally moved in August of 2019! I'm going on my seventh month of living here in Limours, France and I could not be happier.