Coucou! Qu’est-ce qui passé?
Yes, that is me in the
splits…and yes it was easy to do in jeans (:
Coucou tout le monde! My name is Dinah Benford and I’m a Fulbright College student double
majoring in French and Public Relations. This past summer, as a Gilman
Scholarship Recipient, I participated in an Intensive French Faculty-Led Study
Abroad Program in Perpignan, France. In a month alone, I learned more about
French culture than I could ever learn through years of studying in school.
As a foreigner (and an American one for that
matter), it took some time to adapt to a society that didn’t have a mass
consumption mentality. We Americans are so used to everything being a
convenience and France doesn’t see this as a priority. I used to think that
traveling to the nearest state in America made you somewhat of a foreigner but
I was so wrong. It wasn’t until I physically placed myself outside of my
comfort zone that I truly experienced what it is like to be a foreigner. And I
honestly am so thankful that I did because I now have an understanding on what
it is like to be different outside of my home and I appreciate the little things
within my own culture.
In France, I was provided
with a host family. This ended up just being myself and an early-retired mother
named Marie-Claude. Each night, I would come home to one of her friends sitting
on the couch. We would eat dinner together and then go out in the town. I
listened to her friends tell their life stories and I am truly honored to have
met such down to earth people. Marie welcomed me into her home, her life and
treated me as if I was one of her own children. She was vibrant, fashionable,
thoughtful, caring, and would go out of her way to make sure I was comfortable.
One time I had a terrible toothache to where I couldn’t even eat a grain of
salt without crying. Marie went to the store and bought me soft bread since I
couldn’t eat the hard baguettes. (‘: Marie isn’t just someone I was lived with.
She is now a dear friend of mine and I consider her as my second mom. She still
sends me messages on WhatsApp like “Hello from Perpignan! I miss you!” or she
would just check in with me to make sure everything is all right, like any mom
would. This is the fabulous Marie-Claude.
The university I attended was
very small and it consisted of everyone except French students (lol). Everybody
who attended the summer session was from a different country. I made friends from
Russia, Portugal, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Australia,
Norway, and England. Class was from 8:30 – 12:30 with a break at 10:30. I had
no tests and no homework! All I had to do was participate and learn in class.
It was very chill and the mentors took us to a different beach/village at 2
everyday! One of my teachers actually invited me to go scuba diving with her
and her boyfriend on the their boat! Everyone was so accepting and patient and
I loved being able to get to share this experience with them.
I have made so many memories
that it would take me a good 2 hours to go through everything that put a smile
on my face. But even out of all of he great memories I have, I cannot forget
the challenges I had while staying abroad. Here are some things that I wish I
would of known while abroad.
BREAKING A BILL:
BREAKING A BILL:
Tip: I
always suggest exchanging your money BEFORE you leave the country because my
friends would spend a lot of the time finding an ATM and it was a bit annoying.
However, if
you exchange your money before you leave for your trip, don’t evenly distribute
the money in 100 Euro bills like I did. I figured if I exchanged it that way
that I would be able to budget easier but I had the HARDEST time breaking a 100
because they mostly use change to pay for anything! Most of the time I would
have to wait until I went to a big tourist city to be able to get change. The
banks don’t even exchange or break a bill for you unless you have an account
with their company and even then the account is for deposit. I was told to go
to an exchange center but if there was one nearby, it was usually closed. So I
suggest getting your money in 20s or 50s.
Which leads to my next point.
VACATION MONTHS:
Be aware of what holidays and
what months are considered vacation months because the whole month of July is a
vacation month in France. Planning a day out in the town was extremely
difficult because the buses would stop running at 20:30 (8:30 pm) and half of
the places we wanted to go to either in the day or night time were randomly
closed. None of us could figure out why until we were told July was a big
vacation month. So even if Google tells you they “we’re open”, there is a 50%
chance that it couldn’t if you’re in a vacation month here.
And last but not least..
CUISINE/DINING:
There is no
“to-go.” You eat it there and that’s it. But the biggest thing of all is
mentally preparing yourself for dinner. American dinner usually lasts 1 hour to
1 hour 30. The French spend roughly 2-4 hours at the dinner table. You have
your appetizer, meal, dessert, and then cheese and wine. As a group, in one
night we spent 5 hours at a restaurant. Guarantee it was a group of 20 people
but we were there forever! And the waiters/waitresses don’t check up on you
every 5 minutes like they would in America. If I was going somewhere to eat
with my host family, I knew it wasn’t going to be short. Prepare yourself
because dinner can be long. Oh and if you ask to separate the check, they
automatically know you’re American if they couldn’t already tell lol.
I’ve learned now that in
order to fully experience and accept anything, whether it be a person, an
adventure, etc., is that you must take in the bad as well as the good. Nothing
can be completely good and sometimes things require the bad or the unknown in
order to appreciate the good.
France will forever have my
heart and I wish good luck to all looking forward or currently studying abroad.
À bientôt!
Dinah, a French & Journalism major, studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: French in Perpignan program.
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To find out more about the French in Perpignan summer program, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/perpignan.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
