Jean-Louis (from left) and Claude, the coordinator for our group in France, are members of Rotary District 1780. David (back left), John, me and Kent finally arrived in France after a long day in flight.
Bonjour mes amis ! My name is Ashley, and I am part of the Group Study Exchange team from Rotary District 5840 in San Antonio to District 1780 in France. Because of many blessings, John, David and I have become members of this year’s GSE team. Our fearless team leader is Kent Fischer, a Rotarian from New Braunfels who has been involved in the Rotary’s youth exchange program for many years. We are in France for four weeks to study French culture and professions. We will be learning how the French do the jobs that we do in the United States so we can build relationships and bring back fresh ideas to the USA. Kent is a veterinarian, David is a lawyer, John is a police officer and I am a journalist. Each of us will be following and talking with those who do those jobs in France. And because of the generosity and kindness of the French Rotarians, we will be staying in the homes of the people here to help us better understand the language and culture. We arrived in Lyon, France, amid French greetings (avec des bisoux et des fleurs) at about 12:30 p.m. local time on March 30. Then we made the trip to Valence, which is a little more than an hour south of Lyon, where the first of our host families live. Because of lack of sleep on the long flights, we first got settled in at our host families’ homes for a rest, and then we attended our first French Rotary Club meeting. The program was completely in French, and the speaker talked about some of the problems at French high schools and universities. Afterwards, I spoke with him about some of the ways U.S. universities try to make higher education more accessible. Many of the French Rotarians speak English, but I insisted on practicing my French, and I am happy to say that I understood most of the conversation. My teammates also worked on their French, and we all hope to be much more comfortable with the language by the end of the trip. It’s exhausting, but well worth the effort!
Je suis heureuse que les Français ont beaucoup de patience !
Claude and our team at the first meeting of the trip. The French were very welcoming, as you can see from the flags in the background!
Somebody chopped you in half in this photo! I was really looking forward to seeing your left ear.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. I love that every time you use a French phrase I discover that I know what one of the words means ... well one approximately. Avec. Score. Fleurs. Check. Beaucoup de patience - I'm practically becoming French as you speak! Glad you're off to a great start; now I'm on to the next post :)
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