French Full Speed Ahead
Today is officially my third day in Quebec city but I am going to recap my last couple days. In one month I leave for France for my high school abroad program, but I have already left my life at home so I feel I should share what that is like since it is part of the exchange process regardless of where in the world I might be.
The night of my last day, my family, Noah, and I had a tea party with French pastries and macaroons. For supper my mom made french onion soup which is my absolute favorite and tasted completely amazing and fit the French theme of the night.
I flew out of Alberta and landed in Quebec on July 6th (My Birthday) I said goodbye to all my family an my best friend Noah. He even made the effort of waking up at 4:00 in the morning to see me off the plane. When I finally landed in Quebec City I was driven home to meet my new French Canadian family. Now, I feel compelled to type in French because I have been using it all day! Especially when I am alone my brain mentally speaks in half English, half French and it takes me a while to type this blog because I am not used to the English language, it is not accepted. In fact at my French school, If I am caught speaking English 5 times I can be sent home.
When learning French the word “Oui” (yes) will be your best friend because it is a plausible response for majority of comments. However, this tip is only useful for the first day or so. It is important to try and respond to people in complete sentences even if it includes repeating half of what the other person asks because the best way to learn a new language: repetition. Already my family and I are making conversation at the dinner table all in French, as broken as it might be it is in French and we are communicating.
One thing I find difficult in Quebec is the bus system. Because I am from a small town, I don’t take the bus often. I am also living with a girl from Mexico in the same house who doesn’t know how to use the bus system. It turns out yesterday we took 4 hours to finally get home to a well deserved supper and and extremely appreciated bed.
