This semester was the most frustrating of them all. And I don’t have much to say about it but that I’m so glad it’s over. At the end, I realized that the things that happened, happened for a reason and that now I have an idea of what my future is going to look like.
Sometimes you just have to remember that even though after the sunset you’re left in darkness, the sun always rises the next day.
Classes are finally over and I get to live again. I get to learn all the things I want to learn during the entire summer and not the ones my textbooks impose on me. I get to start this summer with a clean slate.
Almost two months ago I decided to learn French for numerous reasons, but mostly because it has been a language I have always thought about but never really taken seriously. Now that I study literature and want to learn about the world, French appears to be everywhere. From the French names I can’t pronounce and the cuisine I’m unfamiliar with to the provinces and cities I have yet to explore in France. I have never been to Paris, and even though it seems to be on the top of everyone’s travel list, it’s not really on the top of mine. But it’s still there, because even if I’m not one of those true romantics, there’s still a certain magic that showers the city of love that I’m in love with.
That’s what I think about when I hear the language. French sounds like magic, it sounds like gloves holding a glass of cognac next to a gentleman with a mustache and a naked woman in a black and white image smoking a cigarette while laying on top of her lover. French has a certain way of being silly and mysterious, It sounds like my next target.
I started the evening by typing “how to learn french” in Google, even though I’ve clearly learned throughout the years how to look for resources by picking up techniques for learning languages. I clicked on the Babbel site an started their basic lesson…
1. Bonjour!
2. Bienvenue!
3. Comment tu t’appelles?
4. Je suis Monica.
5. Ça va?
6. Bien, Merci.
From this lesson I learned that I’m going to be watching french films throughout the summer and that I’m going to start by focusing on how the language sounds. Once I get the phonetics right, everything else should be able to flow.
Bienvenue to my journey!
Chronicles of a Compulsive Traveler 