French lessons

LILLE, France – When I first told my parents I wanted to live in an apartment in college, they adamantly refused. They told me all about the dangers and difficulties of living alone and living away from home. Of course, they eventually agreed, and for almost three years, I’ve been staying at an apartment near my university from Mondays to Fridays, and sometimes Saturdays, too. After a week away, I always appreciate coming home and sinking into the couch in front of the TV, eating home-cooked food, and seeing my family.

I’m guessing they’ve gotten used to the idea of my living away because they allowed – even persuaded me – to study abroad, when that meant living alone and far, far away from home. Here I am in Lille, France, and there’s no coming home for me until January.

I was lucky enough to get accepted in the Junior Term Abroad program at my university along with eight fellow students to the IESEG School of Management at Lille Catholic University. This entailed us to a tuition-waived semester abroad. I had my qualms at first about applying but everyone encouraged me to take the opportunity. After all, when else can I study abroad without having to pay for the tuition? When else can I spend five months in France around people my own age? I knew it was going to be a challenging to live in another country, far away from the people I love, meeting new people, trying to speak another language, searching for the cheapest place to eat. But I was sure the experience would all be worth it. Paraphrasing from the movie The Girl Next Door, the juice would definitely be worth the squeeze. Months after making that difficult decision, I was pushing my bulging luggage into the airport and waving goodbye to my parents.

Everyone adjusts when they get to college, from keeping up with the fast pace to finding your niche in the huge student body. When I was a freshman, I also had to adjust to living away from home. Eventually, I learned how to cook my own dinner, wash my own dishes, take out the trash, balance study time and chika time with my roommates, change my own bed sheets, and try to keep my own desk tidy (the operative word being try).

Two years later, I’m back to square one. I’m adjusting all over again. First of all, I’m in a totally different country, and figuring out what to say is difficult enough. I took a single semester of French, and that is definitely not enough for me to survive the entire five months. I can greet people and ask them a few basic questions, but beyond the where-are-you-from and the where-is-the-bathroom questions, I’m helpless and hopeless. Imagine going to the bank and trying to open a bank account when you can’t talk in French. Imagine going to Mass and only understanding, "And also with you." Imagine trying to buy a LAN cable and having people stare at you as you do.

Second, I no longer stay in an apartment for three, but a dorm with several floors of fellow students. This means sharing kitchen space, Internet ports, and bathrooms. I’m sort of used to cooking quickly or cutting Internet time for someone else, but the bathroom has to be one of the biggest adjustments for me. Not only is it common, but it’s also for both girls and boys. Do you know how weird it would be to use the toilet knowing that a guy is using the next stall? I’m getting used to walking down the hall in my fluffy bathrobe to take a shower though and taking a bath in my flip flops. The common bathroom experience hasn’t been as horrible as it is always portrayed.

The hardest thing about being in France is definitely dealing with the expenses. Everything’s incredibly expensive. It’s unbelievable. Taking the MRT back home costs about P12 for me while a trip on the subway here costs 1.20 euros. Knowing that a euro is nearly 70 pesos, that’s a huge and very painful difference. Back in the Philippines, I always got food supplies from home to store in the cupboard. I also always had the option to buy my own food from the nearest grocery or sari-sari store with my allowance or buy fast-food. Here, eating has become a challenge. My friends and I always search for the cheapest places to eat or whip something up in the kitchen. Grocery shopping becomes the highlight of our day because we spend so much time figuring out what food we need, what ingredients we can use in future meals, and of course, what are the cheapest and most sulit brands we can buy. Practically everything is cheaper back home, and you miss being able to buy a whole lot for your money.

There are a lot of other things I’m adjusting to, from walking absolutely everywhere to avoiding dog poo while walking to doing the laundry to figuring out what the temperature is by touching my window glass. Yes, it has been a lot different and a little difficult, but it’s only been two weeks and I’m already having a great time. I’ve met a lot of new friends from all over the world and bonded with my friends from the Philippines. I’ve walked around Lille, just looking at the beautiful buildings and feeling the cool wind blow. I’ve learned new and very useful French words. I’ve started to memorize the streets around me and I’ve learned the correct pronunciation of certain French words. I’ve always dreamed of going to France on a romantic vacation, going to all the gorgeous sights like the Eiffel Tower, sharing delicious French food and wine. Well, I’m here in France, and even though it’s not exactly the romantic getaway I’ve always imagined, it’s still a dream come true.