When in Rome...Wait a Minute

You decide to have breakfast at a restaurant your first morning in a new town. You see the menu and read “pressed lemon” (citron pressé) and you think to yourself, “fresh lemon juice! Yes please!”. However, when the juice arrives, you immediately realize it is exactly that, pressed lemon… a full glass. No water to dilute it, no sugar, no anything. You try to drink it but your teeth actually hurt when you do. It is just impossible. Welcome to the new town.

What I love about learning a language in the country where it´s spoken is that you come to understand it at a level that would otherwise be impossible, no matter how much you read or study. Living the language makes it your own. You also come to understand the world better. Life is not only about our customs and experiences. There are as many different ways of doing things as there are countries on Earth. When in a new place, it can be really hard to adapt to the local diet, schedule, concept of space…  but it sure can be fun.

After many years of living in the U.S., I have realized that I am accustomed to big, open spaces. In France, and probably all over Europe, spaces tend to be rather small. One day, you end up in a restaurant, trapped at your table between other tables where patrons are sitting. If you need to get up, you have to ask them to let you out. I don’t know about you, but I don’t really like bothering people, especially if they are eating. They are probably used to that, but we didn’t find out, because we waited until everybody left to move.

The eating schedule is also different in France. At noon, all restaurants are completely full, but at around 1:30 pm, they start emptying out. From 2 pm to 7 pm, when dinner begins, all kitchens are closed. Some of the restaurants might remain open, but they won’t serve you food. Some of them only open for lunch. Dinner in France is late by my current standards that I´ve adopted over my 10 years in the U.S.

The structure of French meals has my stomach highly confused. I would normally have a Mexican-style breakfast —that is to say, a big one—, a combination of a Mexican and an American lunch, and an American dinner. Here in France, breakfast is just a cup of coffee and toast with jam. When I go to my morning class, I feel hungry and like I’m lacking fuel for my intense class. I anxiously await lunch, but once it rolls around, an obstacle presents itself: menus are handwritten in small cursive print on a type of little blackboard. If you’re not familiar with French dishes and ingredients (and your blood sugar is low and your brain is fried), these menus can be tricky to read. I often end up ordering food without really knowing what I’m getting. When it does arrive, I find the portion sizes to be too small to satiate me.  

That said, the food is always delicious. Also, after dinner, the French have cheese for dessert, and I love cheese!

People here eat bread all day, fresh from the corner bakery. I normally try not to eat so much bread, but that is truly impossible here. Right from the start of the trip, I gave in and decided to just enjoy it.

The million-dollar question is “how will these dietary changes affect us?”. We have noticed that French people are quite thin, and we wonder how that is possible since they eat a ton of bread and cheese. Maybe it’s in their DNA.

The answer to this question will reveal itself over the next few months. I can say, however, that after a week of being here, I am convinced that I could sleep all day long. I’ve been told that the more you sleep the more tired you are, and that might be the reason for my fatigue. But, how could I not be this tired if I spend about eight hours a day deliberately working on a language that is not mine, looking for words, trying to understand the mindset of the people, and trying to remember everything I learn, plus dealing with the jet lag and the different food? Of course, I am tired!

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” We are trying, but it is not so easy!

The Excitement of the Unexpected

I have always thought that it is a good idea to get out of our comfort zone every now and then. The longer we have a routine, the more difficult it becomes to break Some might think that there is no need to change or challenge themselves, but I believe that if you do it, you grow, learn and find out things about yourself. When we decided to take this trip, I didn’t even know where to start. I just knew that I had to find a course, however, I’d had very bad experiences with language courses. Not everybody is good at languages. Lots of times people decide to take language lessons for work or personal reasons. If you ever have, you know that it can be a very frustrating process. Language pedagogy, just like education in general, got stuck in the last century and hasn’t evolved. Most well-known language schools have the exact same class structure based on a level scale and focused on passing tests. Whether you are trying to learn English, German, French or Chinese, it`s all the same. And I speak from experience; I have taken classes in all those languages. But, is that system really practical? Most of the time, there are people with all different levels in one class and the ones who don’t know anything about grammar in their own language (and on top of that, don’t really like it) suffer.

It is tough to find time to learn for fun. We live in a world where most people end up doing things because “they have to,” which makes the process much harder. I love languages; I am passionate about correct grammar (and am still learning about it). I understand that to acquire a language, most of the work needs to be done individually. But people get to language classes without realizing this. They expect to walk out of an intermediate level course, where they go three hours a week, speaking and understanding the language. If, on top of that, they are learning because they “have to,” that is a recipe for disaster.

I spent hours upon hours trying to find something different. It is not that easy to make the decision to spend a couple of months in another country solely to study the language and culture, so I really wanted to make sure I found something that would meet my expectations and help with my goals. And I did. I found a school that offers French classes to interpreters. There are courses throughout the year, but I couldn’t make it to those. That is why I will take individual lessons with the teacher. To bolster the experience, we are also going to live with someone who only speaks French and who will spend time with us. I don’t know if my expectations will be met; the only thing I know is that I got out of my comfort zone once again and the excitement of the unexpected fulfills me.

Jet Lag and Setting Up Shop

The flights didn’t necessarily go as planned. It was so hot throughout the entire first flight that I just couldn’t fall asleep. I had never experienced heat like that on a flight. Quite the contrary, I always get cold, so I was dressed for that. I even grabbed a blanket just in case, but the plane was small and the air conditioning didn’t work. I spent the entire flight watching Big Little Lies. I had never seen it and it at least helped distract me. We had a layover in Reykjavik. Originally, it was going to last a whole hour, but we left late. I don’t know how, but we were able to deplane, go through immigration, and get to the boarding gate for our next flight in less than 30 minutes. Our baggage even made it. This second flight was shorter, but the plane was bigger and we had more space. This time, I was really cold and didn’t have a blanket, yet I still managed to fall asleep because I was really tired.

We weren’t in any kind of rush when we arrived, so we took our time to wait for our luggage, go to the bathroom and find our way. We managed to keep calm while figuring things out, which is quite difficult to do when you are that tired. A friend had told us to bring a small picture with us to get a public transportation pass, but we weren’t able to, so we needed to get one taken. Luckily, there was a photobooth right before the ticket counter; the only thing is that we spent about an hour trying to figure out how to use it. It wasn’t only us, everybody was having trouble with that machine. In the end we printed pictures and were able to get on the train to Paris.

People are able to keep functioning as long as necessary even when they haven’t rested or eaten well. But it is important to try to get rest, otherwise you become susceptible to all kinds of mistakes and maybe even accidents. I’ve been told several times that the worst thing you can do when arriving in a different time zone is to sleep, and that you need to stay awake to adapt faster. However, I believe that everybody is different and you need to do what works for you. We decided to take a nap and then go out for dinner. 

The first morning in Paris was a bit hard, but we took our time to get our day going. We had bought things for breakfast the night before, so we only went out to get bread (a must!). I had booked a free walking tour in French in the afternoon, so we left early enough to leave plenty of time to walk around a little bit and eat something. The tour was really great. The guide was Spanish, but spoke near-native French, so she gave us the tour in French; after all, that is the language we came to hear and there is no time to waste. She spoke very clearly and explained the history of Paris in a very entertaining way. The tour ended at a candy shop where we drank a coffee. We then walked to a branch of a local phone company to get local numbers. This company only sells SIM cards in vending machines and it took us a while, again, to figure things out, but we managed in the end.

I am amazed at the way our brains work. The French that I learned more than 10 years ago is stored in my brain somehow. I also have the advantage that I don’t mind speaking in French, even if I make mistakes. Our time here is precious and I want to make the best out of it. But speaking in the local language also makes things flow better. People like it (most of the time), and that motivates you to continue doing it. We walked through most of Paris, but not all of it, because we really took our time to admire and feel the city. When we got to Sacré-Cœur, I realized that there was an artist playing “My Way” on a harp. And I was there, looking down at Paris, imagining my dad singing that song with my mom, my brother, and everybody else I care about there with me. I am very happy to be here and I will make the best out of every moment.

Here We Go Again

My suitcase has been my best travel companion over the past five years. If it could talk, it would have hundreds of stories to tell. 

It all started with the promise my dad made a very long time that my brother and I would not have to experience the anxiety that he felt the first time he traveled abroad. Our life stories have ended up being very different from his. We have had more opportunities and the personalities to seize them. Just this year, my suitcase has traveled more miles with me than in the last five years put together.

Yesterday, I packed my suitcase to fly again. This time, it took me a lot longer. I waited until practically the last minute to do it and I couldn’t think of what to take with me. I am about to spend two months studying and living French. 

In school, I was never good at languages, though I really enjoyed Spanish classes. What I really liked was sports. In fact, I would have loved to be a professional basketball player, but life knew better and led me to become a language interpreter. It was spot on. I have spent my professional career working hard, and thanks to that and the support I have received, I am happy with what I have accomplished so far. But it is time for the next challenge, so I am on my way to France. 

I can never find the right words to explain to non-interpreters all the work that goes into truly knowing a language. It is not just about grammar and vocabulary. It is about understanding the mindset of the people who speak that language and their culture and lifestyle. Thus, the best way to really know a language is to experience it. So, my husband and I are heading off. To get here, we had to work countless hours, make difficult decisions and sacrifices, and do a lot of research and planning.

In the end, I was able to fit everything into my suitcase that I think I need to spend two months in the French winter. What for? To get fully immersed in the French world in order to really understand the language and, one day, interpret from French into Spanish.