Looking back

I can't believe that only 3 weeks ago I was with all of my friends and living with my homestay family in St. Laurent du Var!  Coming back home to New York was definitely bittersweet and was quite an adjustment (culturally and the time change, worst jet lag ever!). The first few days I was home I found myself comparing everything I did or saw to the way it was in France.  Even simply talking to friends or family I found myself saying "merci" and "d'accord" and "ouais" all the time without even thinking. Some things were just easier to say in French! Especially as I started speaking Russian with my family (I obviously didn't get to speak much while in France), I kept wanting to mix French into conversation.  The obvious reason for this is that I spent a month living in France! But I think what really did it was the homestay experience.  A homestay provides complete immersion into language and culture because its experiential and involves, even requires, constant interaction.  I did learn a lot in class, but I think I learned the most just talking to my family.  In conversation we would learn French expressions, proverbs, and slang used daily...and the French love conversing so that meant lots of learning! Our homestay parents would also correct our mistakes and encourage and help us express exactly what we wanted to say.  I believe that during our free time, although we would often speak English to each other, we also got to practice our French a lot ordering food, getting help from salespeople, or asking for directions.  Even though it was embarrassing and everyone in town knew us by the end of the month, asking the locals questions for class exercises definitely helped us develop our speaking skills, especially addressing people formally.  Our teachers made sure to always speak to us in French unless it was concerning check-ins or important times to meet.  We learned a lot from them and they were always available for any problems we had.  We all loved talking to them and comparing American and French culture with them.  And even when we weren't talking, just hearing French around us all the time helped with pronunciation and understanding how certain words and phrases are used.  I know everyone learned a lot about the French language and culture over the course of the month thanks to our great teachers and our awesome homestay families!

All of the day activites planned for us were fun just because our group was so close, but I think my actual favorite ones were the photography elective, the cooking workshop, visiting museums (I wish we could've seen more!), and parasailing.  They were all a great mix of learning and fun. As for day trips, Nice goes without saying, my favorites were St. Jean Cap Ferrat, St. Paul de Vence, St. Tropez, and San Remo. They were all beautiful and very French (except for San Remo) in their own ways. There was no place we went to that I didn't take photos of!

My homestay family made my trip that much better.  The first thing they said to us was "faites comme chez vous!" and I knew everything would be alright.  After about a week we were already calling our parents by their first names and they told us to call them "tu" instead of "vous." They always made sure we were comfortable and included us in anything we wanted to be included in, like cooking! I loved helping chop vegetables and setting the table for dinner.  We even made sushi together and went over to another homestay family's house for a sushi dinner! They were hosting one of my friends and one of my roommate's friends which was perfect.  There were never any issues and our parents were always understanding about everything.  They truly cared about us and wanted us to feel as comfortable as possible.  I loved meeting our homestay mom's extended family who also wanted to know all about us and how we were liking France.  We had many interesting conversations about the differences between French and American culture and life. I am still in contact with homestay family and I intend to keep it that way, they're great people!

Overall I think the most important thing is that I learned a lot on this trip.  There is no way you can learn about true French culture or develop real conversational French except by spending time in the country itself.  I love that Abbey Road gave us a mixture of learning and fun.  I was a bit nervous about making friends coming into the program but now I realize how silly that was! Our group was amazing and I made lots of friends that I'm definitely keeping in touch with. I also realized through this trip that I want to live in France at least for a short part of my life, whether it's a year abroad in college or going to grad school there.  I'm even considering the Sciences Po-Columbia University Dual BA program thanks to this experience.  I can't wait to go back to France and be surrounded by French again! July was exactly the immersion and pure France that I wanted and I loved every minute of it, thank you Abbey Road!!

Slideshow for the talent show

Here is the slideshow of the top 100 photos from our photography class, compiled by me and Fallon!

Last days in St. Laurent du Var

Our last 5 days in St. Laurent du Var were busy as usual! I didn't have much time to blog, so now that I'm home (more on that later :( ) I'll summarize what we did.  Although Antibes was beautiful, the weather was not. When we got there there was a storm approaching and we couldn't go to the beach! We went to the Musée Picasso in hopes that it would rain while we were inside, but it didn't yet.  The museum was great anyway, there were lots of interesting works by other artists as well as Picasso. After the museum we had about 3 hours of free time to wander around Antibes and explore.  It started to rain lightly during the last half hour so most of us hung out under the huge tent covering several cafés and artists selling their work.  So instead of using our towels for the beach, we used them to cover ourselves while we ran to the train station in a full on downpour! It was a pretty funny experience looking back, but we were all pretty embarrassed when we got on the train soaking wet and panting. The next day it was back to great weather and we were off to St. Tropez in maxi dresses or skirts (it was maxi-dress Monday).  To get there, we first took a bus to St. Maxime and from there a boat to St. Tropez because the traffic to get into the city is crazy! The boat was fun and as soon as we got to St. Tropez we were released for free time! I went to a restaurant with 4 friends and then we looked into some boutiques (which were very expensive but really nice) while walking around.  After free time we went back to St. Maxime for some beach time and a great French dinner at a brasserie.  For the next couple of days we prepared for the talent show we were putting on for our host families! There was singing, dancing, and slideshows.  Fallon and I compiled a slideshow of the photography classes best photos for the show.  It was also a potluck, so we made some pastries and a tomato tart with our homestay mom.  All the food that the families brought was very good! On Friday we went to a Claude François tribute concert at the mairie which was silly but also fun. Saturday was our last full day with the group! We were in Nice for almost the whole day.  We went as a group to the Musée Chagall, which was absolutely amazing.  There were 12 of his Bible paintings which were very interesting, and a lot of his other work as well.  There were also some Kandinsky and Picasso works there that I enjoyed.  After that we had free time until 4:30 to do last minute shopping and appreciate the Mediterranean for the last time in a while.  When we arrived back to St. Laurent we had about an hour and a half to shower and get ready for our last group dinner and the restaurant we all ate at together the 2nd or 3rd night. We had an awesome meal together and did some karaoke afterwards, although we were more trying to enjoy our last moments all together.  Sunday was our last homestay family day and our homestay mom Delphine took us to her sister's house to have lunch with her family and parents. We had a nice, long typical French meal together outside.  Since her sister lives in a gated community, Delphine suggested going to the pool and we swam around and laid out (it was an extremely hot day) with her, Alma, and her sister and husband for an hour or two.  Afterwards, Delphine and her sister took us to Grasse which is the perfume capitol of France.  We went into both Molinard and Fragonard (again!), walked around the old village, and saw the beautiful view from the city. We went back home in St. Laurent for dinner and spent a last night with Delphine and Alma (Alex was on a shift), and had to finish packing! The next morning the whole family drove us to the airport at 11:30 and after a long check-in, we had a tearful goodbye with our family and our friends who were going on the Paris extension. It's still strange being home but I'll write about that in about 2 weeks when I have a better perspective on everything.  Here are some photos of our last days in the meantime!

Antibes:

St. Tropez:

The boat ride from St. Maxime 

Maxi dresses and skirts!

Mary, Hélène, and Sirine

The talent show:

The food we made for the potluck

The St. Laurent du Var train station!

Last day on the beach in Nice

Last day with the family:

The view from our homestay aunt's backyard

Delphine and Alma in Molinard

Molinard

The old village in Grasse

The back of a church

Ice cream!

Last morning together:

Delicious breakfast of pastries

Alma being cranky :)

Alex demonstrating how we use a bed

Delphine demonstrating how to use a shower

Family photo at the airport

Maggie got one last baguette for the flight home!

Update

Hello everyone! We've been so busy here that I haven't had time recently to post anything.  So here's an update on the past week! On Monday we had our classes and electives as usual, and the theme for photography was black and white with a high ISO.  At first I had no idea what that meant but after transferring the photos onto my computer I saw the amazing effect.  All of the photos had a grainy quality and looked like film, which I absolutely loved.  We took lots of cool photos that way in the old village of Nice where there are many touristy shops and art workshops.  On Tuesday we spent the entire day in Nice, including classes which took place at the market (flowers, art, and food) on the famous Cours Saleya.  We walked through the market in small groups taking note of regional specialties, taking lots of photos, and even buying some gifts. We had lots of free time to shop and walk around, and we met around 6 to have dinner together.  After that we took a train to Villefranche to see Rock of Ages, or in French: Rock Forever, outside dubbed in French.  It was definitely an interesting experience! I was happy that I understand more than I thought I would and the movie itself was not bad.  We got home very late (around 1), so classes started at 10 the next day instead of at 9.  Another treat on Wednesday was the cancellation of our electives and a trip to Cannes instead! We all enjoyed some relaxing beach time and pizza for dinner like last time.  Thursday was yet another fun day. After classes we all took the train to Villefranche for some more low key beach time and snorkeling! I was in the first group to go snorkeling.  We went about 10 minutes out from the beach on a boat with 3 instructors and were equipped with wetsuits, masks, snorkels, and flippers.  We saw octopi (one of them inked!), jellyfish, sea urchins, a starfish, and of course lots of small fish.  It was tiring but a beautiful sight, and we rewarded ourselves with ice cream afterwards.  We had dinner with our families, and my homestay mom Delphine took Birte and I to her friends house for dinner.  I've gotten used to late French dinners, but I was surprised that it was already midnight when we left! The next day (Friday) was typical, except we came back from photo in Nice earlier because we were having dinner and a soirée at le Centre Nautique with the students from Nice as well.  We had dinner by the beach and there were lots of pictures and dancing afterwards! Yesterday we went to San Remo, Italy.  It was my first time to Italy so I was super excited. My friends and I walked around the town, and you probably know I'm going to say this but we got gelato and it was the best I've had in my life.  After exploring for about 2 hours we went back to the beach and spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing after a hectic week.  We had a great Italian dinner (bruschetta, pasta, tiramisu!) at a restaurant on the beach, and then we each discovered our inner child and played on the playground on the beach! Today our rendez-vous is at 1:30 at the train station to go to Antibes for the Musée Picasso, free time, and a picnic on the beach. Excited!

Black and white Nice:

The market:

Villefranche:

More Nice:

Maggie and Kate

Me and my Southern belles!

Ali, Maxime (photo teacher), and me

Italy:

Bastille Day Celebrations

I always thought that Bastille Day in France (July 14) was the equivalent of the 4th of July in the USA! It turns out that the French aren't nearly as patriotic as Americans.  On both the 13th and 14th after dinner, our group went to the beach to see the fireworks (which were both nights!) and the live music playing on the boardwalk.  The fireworks were beautiful and the music was typical cheesy celebration music that everyone loves. We had lots of fun both nights, but noticed that there were barely any young people around.  We seemed to be one of the few groups of teenagers walking around and dancing. We asked some of our counselors why that is, and they said that maybe it was because France is a much older country than America is.  They also added that they don't really care about Bastille Day either! I wonder if that is the reason, or if perhaps it's just because we're in a smaller town and most of the young people are away on vacation or at camp.  I was definitely expecting something different than we got, but it was fun to be together regardless!

Trips to Nice!

Every time the photography class goes to Nice, we get to see even more parts of the amazing city.  Most recently, we climbed up to Le Château de Nice for the spectacular panoramic view of the city and the sea.  Although it was one of the hottest days yet, we appreciated the view after resting for a couple of minutes and drinking some water.  The water is a truly unreal blue, and when you look over the city it looks like it has come out of a story book! After coming back down to street level (by elevator!) we walked through some of the old village where there are many art shops, touristy stores, and places to get food.  I've really enjoyed getting to visit Nice so often, however we haven't gotten to hear about it's history at all.  That's why our teachers are planning an excursion to Nice for next Tuesday which will include history, beach time, and some free time to explore.  I'm so excited!

It's even more blue in real life!

Claudia, me, Olivia, and Ali

The St. Laurent photography group!

St. Jean Cap Ferrat

On Tuesday after lunch, we went to a beautiful town called St. Jean Cap Ferrat for a cooking workshop and some beach time! Each course was made by a different group (our French class groups).  Group 1 made the main course, group 2 made the salad, and group 3 (my group) made the desserts.  While the others were cooking, we got to lay out on the gorgeous beach and swim in the sea.  It was the first rock beach we went to and we loved it.  The water was the perfect temperature, and for some reason the water was particularly salty.  It made for some nice bonding and relaxing time with the whole group! When my group went it, different people were assigned to make different desserts.  Samantha, Claudia, and I made a delicious tarte aux pommes.  We had dinner in the small restaurant where we cooked the food, with a view of the Mediterranean Sea.  Instead of taking the bus to the train station (as we did on the way there), we walked along the path by the sea and took in the amazing sunset over the sea.  Here are the photos!

Tarte aux pommes before...

Tarte aux pommes after!

The always fashionable Sirine

The view on the way to the train station