Dancing "le Rock"

Pictures from the birthday party (left: the whole family minus my host brother, right: Adelaide, Tiphaine, Marie-Emmanuelle, and moi)

I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would actually come to love the French language. However, there are just some expressions in French that are just better said than they are in English. And I'm feeling rather sentimental about the fact that my French-speaking time is more than halfway over. I am still often very frustrated by the language barrier, however I have a feeling I'm going to miss speaking my "second language" when I get home (I put this in quotations because I am still nowhere near fluent!).

Friday was an unusually great day (not that my days here are usually bad, but this day was just particulary wonderful). On Tuesdays and Thursdays during lunch, a Hope graduate, who studied in Nantes two years ago and who now lives in Nantes, eats lunch with us so that we can practice our French in a more relaxed setting but with someone who knows the language better than we do. A group of us (specifically us three Hope girls) have gotten to know Brianne through these lunches and so she invited us over to her apartment Friday afternoon for dessert and conversation. It was a beautiful day Friday and we spent the afternoon eating delicious homemade apple pie and chocolate raspberry cake, drinking tea, and talking. The apartment that Brianne shares with one of her best friends was so cute - they have a mish-mash of furniture and things that people have loaned them. But for some reason, all put together, it makes for a very chic French apartment. It was lovely just sitting and talking while the sun streamed through the windows. Brianne has inspired me to first of all, learn how to make apple pie (it was so delicious) and second of all, live in a foreign country with an apartment like hers. In all seriousness though, I'm starting to give some thought to a year off inbetween graduating from Hope and either going to grad school or getting a job. I had always planned on just leaping right into my first teaching job. But sometimes I wonder if I should give myself the chance to see more of the world before I become a "real" adult. :)
After our afternoon chez Brianne, we went to my friend Michelle's house to celebrate her birthday. We made dinner for us and her host hom and then we watched a French movie called "Comme t'y es belle." Michelle's host mom was so hospitable and welcoming and spent the entire dinner asking each of us about ourselves. It was very kind of her to have us and watching a movie while eating hazelnut ice cream was a sweet finish to a great day.

The next day (Saturday) was THE day that I have had marked on my calendar for weeks. It was the birthday party day. My two oldest host sisters, Marie-Emmanuelle (19) and Tiphaine (17), decided a few weeks ago to have a shared birthday party to celebrate their 20th and 18th birthdays. I was naturally invited and RSVPed yes. I woke up Saturday morning kind of nervous for what was to come. But I spent the day buying and making birthday presents and catching up on some work. When 6:30 rolled around, I started to get ready and by 7:30, I was dressed, presents in hand, ready to tackle a real French party. I headed upstairs to find my three host sisters and one other guest (the rest had yet to arrive). Marie-Emmanuelle introduced me to her friend Mathilde, who was incredibly sweet to me the entire night. We spent a lot of time talking and having a "you-have-to-make-small-talk" kind of conversation in French was a great experience for me. By the time everybody had arrived and had done the bisous with everybody else (and when I say EVERYBODY, I mean EVERYBODY), it was already 8:30. My host parents served everyone a small glass of kir and appetizers. The food was quite yummy. I got to meet quite a few of the girls' friends, all of whom were very nice and fun to be around. I was always introduced as "our American student" and some people took that and ran with it. Everyone wanted to practice their English! I met a French girl who has spent the past two summers working at a sports camp in North Carolina. She spoke English very well and it was fun to talk with her (even though we had to make sure my host parents were out of earshot)! She and I taught the "Cha Cha Slide" to thirty French people that night (for those of you unfamiliar with popular dance songs, the Cha Cha Slide is almost always played at a school dance and the dance itself is a bit like a line dance). The group there had never done it before and it was quite surreal teaching this very famous American song to all these random French people!

On the other hand, they taught me quite a lot that night too. I learned how to danse "le rock," a very traditional French dance that involves lots of twirling. These "soirees" or birthday parties that French students have are rather modest and traditional (or at least they are with conservative French families). And therefore the dancing is as well. "Le Rock" is a little bit like swing dancing but rather something straight out of a movie made in the 80's. The girls typically wear dresses, the guys must ask the girl to dance, and the dance itself follows this very bouncy, old-fashioned pattern. I was asked to dance three times and each time I was terrible. The first guy I danced with gave me a basic lesson but I don't think I improved very much, even though everybody was kind enough to lie to me and tell me that i was quite good for never having danced "le Rock" before. Anyway, the dancing was an absolute blast and it's nice because the boys try to ask all the girls to dance multiple times so no one feels left out. For those of you who want a demonstration of "le Rock," remind me when I see you this summer!

After everybody had left (around 2:30 A.M.), Marie-Emmanuelle and Tiphanie opened their gifts from me (scarves, jewelry, and a homemade CD). And then we went to bed. It was a long night but one I will always remember. It was one of the more French nights I've had and I loved it.
The best part about the whole evening was when Marie-Emmanuelle told me how happy she was that I was there. I finally felt more a part of the family!

I slept in for quite some time Sunday morning and then spent the late afternoon taking a walk in a gorgeous park nearby with my host family. This week has been rather stressful with schoolwork and vacation plans. But this weekend we are going to Normandy with our program and it will be a welcome break from life.

Love to all,
Madelyn