Histoire

Everyone at some point finds something that puts them on a rocket and shoots them down memory lane.
For me, that 'something' is Paris, My Sweet by Amy Thomas.


I just bought this book today, but just from the prologue you can tell it's such a delightful book. Her writing style is the kind that I really love; Witty and humorous, but never straying from the point. In a nutshell, it's about how she's torn between living in New York City and living in Paris, since she loves both cities with a fierce passion. And this is sending my brain right back to French class in school, four years ago.


It was the second week of school, since the first week was what we considered 'orientation'. You're still finding your classes and the teachers are going over what you'll be learning, and you're getting packs and packs of information that you're expected to go over. (Hah.) Back then, the system for electives we used for first-year students was called  'wheel'. Each semester, you'd have a different elective, so you get to see which electives you'd pick for your next years there. And the first class I was put into was French, along with a couple of friends.


Every day, our teacher gave us some questions to answer in a format she called something-du jour. I don't remember the first part of what that was, and I don't remember the questions. But it was quite fun. I remember her showing us a video about all the landmarks in Paris, such as the Seine and the Arc de Triomphe. 


In order to add to the whole immersion experience, she had us pick out French names, which she would call us by rather than our real names. I picked Océan, because to me, it was one of the prettiest names on the list that she gave us. And so Océan I was, at least for that semester. 


We started out with just learning vocab, such as the names of places like patisserie and boulangerie. Once in a while she'd bring in some food for us, and one thing I learned back then that I still do on occasion is dipping bread in hot chocolate. It sounded gross at first, but it's actually really good. I refused to touch Nutella, though, and I still do. (Though I might want to try it at some point!)


Okay, enough with the nostalgic fluff. 


I had pretty much forgotten how much I fell in love with French culture until I picked up this book. It feels a little funny, since it's been four years since I've felt this way. France is still a place I would love to visit, and it always has been. But I had just forgotten about how much I enjoyed French class. (And learning a bit of the language, too.) I think I might pick up learning about it, again. And I'd still love to go there one day.


And maybe, just maybe, try Nutella.