As I get more used to life in Nantes, I strangely enough feel as if this is the life I have lived for a while. My room in my host family’s home is as comfortable as my own. The jokes and general antics of my 11-year-old host brother are a familiar routine. The friends I have made feel like friends I have had forever. In all honesty, I am blown away when I see a calendar and remember that I have been here just two weeks. 

Living abroad I expected there to be these huge cultural differences and an extreme adjustment. There are the little things that are quite different from the U.S., bread in France is kept on the table, re-usable water bottles are just not a thing, and when you go grocery shopping you have to pay for a plastic bag if you did not bring a reusable one. But other than these rather nondescript differences, I have realized that life here is really not much different than the life I’m used to in the United States. 

The biggest adjustment has been in terms of language. Luckily, I have almost no problem with understanding or communicating with the IES Staff or my professors. I think that because I’m much more used to a slightly slowed down French and talking in a more formal, academic sense, this comes easily to me. Because I have become quite used to and comfortable with communicating in French at IES, I’m surprised that I still have some difficulty with the language in my host family. This seems to come in waves. There are some days that I will chat away with my host brother, we’ll watch French TV shows together, and I won’t give the fact that these interactions are all happening in French a second thought. However, even the next day I will be unable to form sentences without hyper-analyzing every sound and pronunciation I’m making, asking my host parents to repeat themselves a little slower, or simply just giving them a look of desperation and confusion. These are the days that I think I struggle with the most. My host family is very patient and kind, when trying to orally work my way through a past-tense conjugation my host parents are more than happy to help me out, and work with me as I try to explain things in a roundabout way when I can’t remember the wording for the simpler way to express something. This is often when I seem to beat myself up the most. On these days where I feel like I can’t express what I want to say I feel as if I am silent. I will hear a funny comment at dinner and want to add to the conversation, but I just can’t find the words, so I say nothing. I know that it’s a lack of confidence, not a lack of ability, which is the most frustrating thing for me. 

In these moments of frustration and isolation I find solace in the kindness of my host family. Gestures such as encouraging me to take another bite of dessert, inviting me to watch a movie with them, or to accompany my host mom to the boulangerie shows me that French is not an obstacle or something that should render me silent. If my host family is able to brush off my frustrations, I should be able to too. I’ve heard that I have the best host family in all of Nantes, I am so lucky to be with them this semester, and to find this statement to be true!

As a part of the orientation weekend with IES Nantes the students and staff go on a weekend trip to the Loire Valley to see many of the famous châteaux. After a morning of language testing and a long lunch spent walking around the streets of Nantes, we left Nantes for Tours. The long bus ride through the French countryside was a great way to start to get to know the other IES students. It was nice to be in the hotel and surrounded by students my own age instead of the more family-oriented lifestyle that the host family offers. I shared a room with another girl on the program, Hannah, who is very friendly and genuine. She is from Chicago and goes to school in Washington State…this program has let me make friends from all over the country! 

Saturday we saw two castles, Cheverny and Chambord. My favorite was Chambord, the size and grandeur of this castle was incredible. 

Sunday it unfortunately rained which made it difficult to fully enjoy the experience of seeing the castles Amboise and Chenonceau. Amboise had an amazing view that looks out onto the Loire River. Chenonceau was probably my favorite of the entire weekend. It was so elegant and had huge gardens. 

Tours, France

After a long, long weekend we returned to Nantes Sunday night. My host family was having a get together with their friends to eat galette des rois. Two of their friends host American IES students, too, so they came back to the gathering with me. It was fun to show them chez moi, and the rabbit that I have told nearly everyone about. 

A full week of orientation starts back up tomorrow!

After a long day of travel, I arrived in Nantes yesterday! As soon as my dad and I got to the hotel I fell right asleep after not sleeping for 24 hours. That night we ate dinner with my host family! It was great to meet them and their son Louis (11) and their pet rabbit. The rabbit (named Monsieur) is funny, he is absolutely massive, about the size of a cat, and just roams around the house freely. The dinner was a challenge, my host parents speak very little English and my dad does not speak any French. It was hard to be constantly switching back and forth. 

Today was my first full day in France, and it sure was busy! After a night of somewhat restless sleep my dad and I were up to see Nantes before I had to check in at my abroad program. We had lunch, delicious Croque Monsieurs, and walked around Nantes. 

Then I made my way to the IES Center to check in with my abroad program. I met a few other students as we waited for our host families. They were all very nice and I’m looking forward to getting to know more students tomorrow. 

Today is Three King’s Day in France, which is celebrated by eating a galette des rois (King Cake). In this tradition a small figurine is baked into the cake and the person that gets the king in their piece is the king for the year. Louis is the king this year! 

Tomorrow we are starting orientation in the afternoon which is good because I definitely need to catch up on some sleep.

A bientôt!
Marissa