An American Girl in Avignon

May 27, 2009
French people are friendlier than we give them credit for. Case and point: my host mom. She is one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. Last night, she took us to a fête des voisins, a national holiday in France where neighbors get together for food, music, and drinks, to “show us off.” She is planning on taking us to Aix-en-Provence next Sunday and also Les Halles on Saturday. She is like the French mother I never had. (Love you mom, but she is like a second mom to me, now :)…by the way, you need to come to France and meet her. You would love her!) She offered to let me, Sakinah, and Katie stay with her if we ever make it back to France. Trust me, I will be back.

Thankfully, I was spared having to give my literature presentation today because of the heat, limited time, and technical difficulties. Thank, God! More time to perfect…and be nervous. After knowing that my stress was over, at least for the day, I felt like I could finally rest (I didn’t do this the night before, because of the fight). Sakinah and I threw on some clothes after our naps before la Fete de voisins, ready to socialize with our French neighbors. Katie’s parents are in town, so she went to have one last dinner with them before they leave tomorrow.
When we arrived in the courtyard by le Palais des Papes and saw all the French friends and families standing around, drinking wine, discussing intelligent things, and listening to jazz, we felt way out of our league. So what did we do: head straight for the wine and les hors d’oeuvres, of course. When in France…
Feeling awkward after being introduced to some neighbors, we took our seats at a table away from the main party. Of course, there was someone already sitting there: a family with 3 girls and one little boy. The mother came over and started talking to us, and inevitably, recognized our accents. Dang it, one day, I am going to fool somebody! Once she found out we were from America, it’s as if we became the hot topic of the evening. Several adults came over just to talk to us, and the woman’s daughter, who happens to be ten, wanted our phone number and kept asking us the most adorable questions like: Have you been to New York? Do you know George Clooney and Brad Pitt? It was so cute. She had been studying English for 5 years, so she spoke really well. Again, another point for my advocacy for starting foreign languages in elementary school.
My highlight of the evening though is when we met the mayor, yes the mayor, of Avignon. She, yes she, shook our hands and talked with us for a little while. Her photographer got our addresses and after we took a picture with her, he said he would send the photo to our houses in the US. I hope that it is in the paper here…how cool would that be? I can dream, can’t I!?
Well, when the Americans come to Avignon, man, they come to Avignon! After the party, we went out with our OU friends and met students from the University of Indiana who are studying here as well. They’ve been here for only a week or so and are staying as long as we are. Coincidence, n’est-ce pas?! They are all really cool and are studying French like us. The only difference is that their program is only a month. They went out with us for a little last night, and of course, we want to show them around town and spend time with students we can all relate to. Funny the people you meet when you’re not looking to meet anyone.
Okay, I seriously need to get off this blog and do some work so I can have fun tonight. I am super excited for this weekend though, because it is our last overnight excursion with the OU group. Gotta make it count. Here I come, Marseille!
Merci for reading, and Bisous tout le monde! XXX