Annecy, Etc.
And that’s a wrap! Our return to Boston snuck up on me fast: five weeks are up, so it’s time to kiss France goodbye. Here’s my review of Annecy and the rest of this dialogue.
The films
Based on the numerous films we saw over this course, I feel French comedy excels at one thing in particular: compelling and morally gray stories. French protagonists aren’t the American everyman, and often not even close to relatable. They’re crabby, selfish, and irrational. In Le Dîner De Cons, Monsieur Brochant makes sport of mocking those he finds less intelligent. In Hors de Prix, Irène and Jean manipulate wealthy sugar daddies (and mommies) in order to live lavish lifestyles. Do I like these characters? No. Am I still invested? Oh yes. Because their spark of humanity, no matter how hidden it may be, gets explored throughout these films, usually via the search for emotional fulfillment. Overall, I found the storytelling to be exemplary material that I can draw on for my own work in the future, even if the individual films had faults.
The locale
Annecy was an absolute dream. I couldn’t have asked for a better host during my stay in France. Unlike Paris, Annecy isn’t too big a city to lose any of its character, while still having plenty to explore. It was safe, but not inhibiting: some of us went paragliding, others went hiking, and otherwise, there was always Lake Annecy and its beaches.
The experience
Irreplaceable. Priceless. I will be the first to admit that I’m coming away from France a little disillusioned with what I imagined it to be. Europe isn’t paradise, nor is it necessarily the solution to “finding yourself”, but I am a better person for having been there. I’m more understanding of international differences, and I also got to understand myself better by my reactions to new situations.
If you’ve been following my blog posts in particular, you’ll notice that I didn’t talk about Annecy very much, at least, not in terms of cultural differences. It was fun to notice those little details that changed about life, but I didn’t feel like listing the minutiae would be very productive. Especially out of context, it only serves to make us feel separate from each other, when in reality we share a lot of traits. The similarities are just harder to pick out. The rest of the experience was what made the study worthwhile.
How did my fears play out?
I promised when I first set off that I would keep track of my fears and address them again at the end. So here we are.
Being away from home: Frankly, I was extremely homesick for most of this trip. But that’s a personal feeling, and many of my fellow dialogue classmates didn’t even want to leave. I’m really glad I took this chance, because I learned something about myself, and now I’ll have a better idea of what I’m up against if I decide to do a longer study abroad or international co-op. In terms of fear, though, this was largely unfounded. I never ran into any problems that I couldn’t solve on my own or with the help of Professor Dunand and my host family. I’m bringing home a much greater confidence in my ability to handle myself.
Inability to make friends: Entirely unfounded. With 20 students living in each other’s pockets for a week in Paris, then in small classrooms for another four weeks in Annecy, it would be nigh impossible to not find someone to connect with. Everyone on this dialogue was super friendly, even before we knew each other’s names.
Picky eating and host family relations: Food was definitely a point of concern this trip, but my host family wasn’t. As I said last week, these host families aren’t expecting much. I was especially lucky that my host family has been hosting exchange students for a very long time. They knew what to do to keep the experience from being awkward, even when we didn’t necessarily see eye to eye.
In terms of food, it really was a give-and-take with the culture. My host family had a lot of difficulty preparing meals without tomatoes, which are my number one enemy. Sometimes I just had to hold my breath and gulp down a meal I didn’t like. But there’s no reason to force yourself to be miserable: they were understanding when I just couldn’t finish a meal because of the tomato sauce. And when they started replacing the tomatoes in their salads with strawberries, I ate it with a smile, even though I hate strawberries nearly as much as tomatoes.
(Disclaimer: my friends’ results varied widely, depending on the family. Some found their meals not filling enough and went to bed hungry, while others’ dietary restrictions just weren’t met, and they resorted to eating supplementary meals in their rooms. Most of us matched well with our families, but it was very possible to end up in a less-than-optimal situation.)
French language: Let’s just say I’m not reaching fluency anytime soon. On the other hand, I’m speaking French much better after my time in Annecy. I didn’t actually have to be very good at French to survive living in France, which was a relief. I managed to hold up my end of French conversations 60% of the time; even though that doesn’t seem like much, I’m still leaving Annecy more confident in my grasp of the language.
And that’s it!
My first week, I prepared for disaster. And hoo boy, I was not wrong. I would describe my study abroad as a series of disasters that coalesced into one big, slow disaster. I made a fool of myself in public and in private, was sick for weeks on end (still don’t know if it was allergies or an extremely persistent cold), and narrowly avoided serious bodily injury multiple times. A disaster right to the very end: when my host mom went to bid me farewell, I leaned in for a goodbye hug and crashed right into her cheek (she was going for the French bisous).
But it was the best disaster that I’ve ever experienced. It was so fun and so much good came out of it, even though it was hard. I’m so glad I got to have this opportunity, and I’m returning home with absolutely no regrets. Thank you for following me on this journey, and good luck on whatever journeys of your own are soon to come!
Ever yours,
Anson
