Previously, I wrote a post about how homesick I was; now, I am homesick for the country that was temporarily my home. It has been exactly 38 days since I have returned to Alabama, but the experience of studying abroad in France still weighs heavily on my mind. I long for the days where I could walk to a “boulangerie” in order to get a “pain au chocolat” which is basically a chocolat croissant before going to class at 9 a.m. I miss all of the chateaus that sit so elegantly against the horizon. Most of all, I miss sitting with newly acquired friends on the Loire river watching the sun setting at around 10:35. I feel as if I made life-long friendships.
Most importantly, I feel as if I accomplished the goal that I set when I went to France: I improved my spoken french. My confidence when speaking french has improved tremendously. I, even, picked up a lot of colloquial words. One of the things that I did not realize before I went to France is that I speak French with a country accent! One of my professors at the Institut de Touraine worked, tiresomely, with me in order to get rid of the accent and to sound more “French.” Although my accent eventually went away while I was in France, it, unfortunately, has returned. So, studying abroad gave me a new goal to accomplish here in the States–ridding myself of my country accent!