Who are these People Studying at Coeur de France?

+I was a bit apprehensive about what the other students would be like when I was planning this lengthy trip.  I was concerned that all students would be a lot younger.   I was also a little anxious that everyone else would be attending with someone they knew.  This apprehension increased as many of my friends/acquaintances seemed surprised that I was coming to France alone.  It turns out this should have been the least of my worries.  

In my class, there are two other women.  We are all came to Sancerre alone and are all about the same age.  Okay, my son would say that women who are in their 40s are not the same age as me.  I guess that depends on your point of view.   But from my perspective, these women are similar if not actually the same age.  In other words, none of us our in  in our 20’s.  We enjoy each other’s company in and out of the classroom.  In the classroom we are encouraging and supporting.  We are serious about learning French, but we also laugh a lot. One of them was part of the trip to Bourges that I wrote about earlier.   Everyone in our class now laughs at the mention of Sennecay.  I expect that we will stay in touch after France.  We are “grande debutantes.”  This doesn’t mean we are big or debutants.  It means we are at the beginner 2 level in French.  Both of them speak French better than I do and they are very patient when I slow them down.

In addition to the two students in my class, I became friendly with five other students the first week.  One was accompanied by her family, but they did not participate in classes.  Two are a couple and the other two are in Sancerre alone.

The school had a total of 20 students my first week, divided between group, private and family classes.  Of these, 11 were in family classes (four different families).  A young student taking private lessons completed our group.  Of those not part of family classes, only two were men. 

All 20 came from English-speaking countries.  Of the 20, nine came from the United States.  In addition to myself, three others came from the DC area.  One individual student and one family came from California.  One student came from Seattle.   Australians are the next largest group with two individuals and one family.  Two families came from the United Kingdom. One Canadian completes our group.

It is an interesting group of people.  Individuals have lived in a variety of places and pursued a diversity of careers.  I clearly had the least experience and education in speaking French of any of the group class people. 

Some of the 20 stayed only one week so I've already said good bye to some of my new friends.   For example all the DC people except myself left at the end of the first week.  We had only one new family in week 2 so the total number of students at the school dropped to 11 this week.  (The only other person in my initial group that is staying beyond the first two weeks is the young student.  I think she is leaving a week before me.  She seemed to really enjoy beating me at a French game that seems to be a rough equivalent of Go Fish, called Pioche.)

The reality is that we do things together constantly.  In fact, I keep trying to say no to activities so that I can do my studying.  I’ve had guests for dessert twice and dinner once.  I’ve been to dinner at the home of another student once and for drinks and appetizers  three times.  We’ve also gone out to dinner three times and lunch several times.  This is more than what I do in DC in months.   

The bottom line is that the school is full of individuals  who I enjoy.  We are all serious about learning French and try to speak French 100% of the time.  We try to assist each other and correct each other.  I am a little nervous as all my original group except the child will be leaving tomorrow but if these two weeks are any indication I have no need for concern.