It’s taken five years for the Barefoot Blogger to reach the point where she’s progressing in her new language. Now I’m learning French in Aix-en-Provence.
Learning French. What’s taken so long?
If you’ve been following the Barefoot Blogger, you’ve read at least six blog posts about “learning French,” starting with this one from 2013: “I’m Not Learning French.” There’s no real reason you should believe I’m serious now, is there?
Au contraire. Until now, I’ve never “committed myself to a two-week, live-in, immersive French school experience.
Why now?
The big reason that I’m taking the leap to attend an immersion language school is that I might have a chance to be successful. The recent 10+ week experience in French hospitals gave me an intensive dose of listening to, learning, and muttering French, live or die.
Seriously.
With practically no one around who spoke French during my hospital stay, it was critical that I pay attention and wrap my mind around the language: speaking and being heard. It all began to make sense to me. Now that I can utter a few intelligible sentences in French, I’m ready to build on it.
Learning French in Aix-en-Provence
A couple of years ago, the language school IS Aix-en-Provence contacted me about their French school. I guess someone at the school read my blog and thought, “If we can teach this 60-something American lady to speak French, we can teach anyone.”
After a few tries to schedule my visit, complicated by travel and other issues such as accidents, etc., we settled in on the first two weeks in February. It fits in between my move to a new apartment in Uzés and a trip back to the States.
The date also suited my two good buddies in Uzés, so they volunteered to drive me to school to explore Aix-en-Provence. So off we went.
Exploring Aix
Arriving in Aix the day before the start of classes, my friends and I filled our time with shopping, picture-taking, and eating–our favorite pastimes, regardless of locale. The Hotel Le Concorde where we stayed was cheap, cheerful, and within easy walking distance.
Retail navigation
Since the purpose of our early arrival in Aix was to explore the town, we had no idea where when we started out. We resisted pulling out a map or GPS. It would be too “touristy.” Interestingly, before long, we were navigating around town by memory. We’d learned our way by recalling stores and shop windows we’d seen and visited.
Dinner at Portofino, a restaurant in the Place Forum des Cardeurs, was memorable–especially the gigantic “bowl” of fresh Parmesan cheese where the chef mixed fresh pasta and herbs.
Sunday Market
The markets are among the best things about visiting Aix on the weekend. We arrived late in town on Saturday to go before it closed. So, on Sunday, we headed to the food market near the Hôtel de Ville, which was cheerful and bustling despite the cold weather.
What an excellent way to start a new adventure!
