France The City of Lights: Photography in Paris

Each student has a unique and individual experience on their Experiment program. The following essay is a single glimpse into a program from one student's perspective.

Danya Contreras

France (FRPH)

"Est-ce que tu connais Sandwhich?" HUH… "Non, je le connais..sorry"

What I loved the most about my EIL experience was the homestay. With my homestay I was able to improve my French comprehension and communication. At first, though, I mostly spoke what I call franglais, the mixture of English and French. Whenever I couldn't come up with a French word, I would either say it in English with a French accent or I would try and explain it by speaking a bit of English to my host brother.

I was in France working for the photography program, and my host father happened to also do photography as a hobby. He enjoyed teaching me how the camera worked in French. There were times when I couldn't really understand him, so he would speak slower and use hand gestures to try and explain it to me. In the end, he did help me understand the concept of light and exposure very well. I was able to have a better handle on the shutter speed, and slowly I was able to understand my French father more as he spoke faster to me in French.

There was one time when my host brother tried to teach me how to play a card game in French. "Est-ce que tu connais Sandwhich?" I stared at him blankly. Then he said "je te montrerai comme jouer d'accord?," I'll show you how to play ok? I was really scared. Oh my goodness, my host brother was going to try and teach my how to play a card game in French. This happened on the second day. I could barely understand his father or when he tried to explain to me what we were going to do the next day; how was I going to understand him try to teach me to play a weird card game? Somehow in the end, I had learned how to play "Sandwhich". I was so proud. He basically spoke really slowly to me, taught me the card names and acted out a whole game for me. He pretended to play with himself and then he said "Tu essaies", you try. I laughed and said "d'accord". We played really slowly and he told me all of my mistakes and before you knew it, we were playing at a higher level. I even ended up beating him in one game. Yes! the American had beaten the French pro! After my victorious laugh, I showed him how to play goldfish by also trying to speak French or demonstrating. Then, I felt like I was French because I was able to teach him to play a game. My language skills had to have improved after that.

During the homestay, there was also a lot of exchange between my family and me. There were times for example when my host brother and I stayed up late just showing each other music videos on Youtube. He would show me what was popular in France and I would show him what was popular here in America. In the end we just ended up giving each other music from each other's mp3. Another important moment of exchange was at the dinner table. Every time we had dinner, the family would question me and learn about America, or I would learn about their culture. One day, my father asked me what the capital of New York was, and I had told him Albany. He replied "non, tu es sur?" No are you sure? I told him I was 100% sure, but he wouldn't believe me. I told him New York City was in New York but it was not its capital. Then he was confused because he didn't know New York City was not the whole state of New York. He thought Manhattan was its capital. He still wouldn't believe me when I told him that New York City was not New York State. He even went and told my host brother that I didn't know what I was talking about. He thought I didn't understand, but when he heard me laugh at the comment he started to laugh. He got up from the dinner table and got a map. All I could do was laugh. My host father was very serious. After checking out the map, he realized I was right. We then just smiled at each other and that concluded dinner.

It was because of those instances that I loved my host family so much. They treated me as one of the family and there were a lot of funny miscommunications or misunderstandings. I learned a lot about the French culture and hope to go back in the future. My French improved a lot, and my self-confidence also grew. If I was able to make a fool of myself with my horrible French accent by trying to communicate with people, then I really can't make a worse fool of myself in New York where I speak English. With this confidence, I am now able to talk to more people at school and just anywhere in general.

Currently I still communicate with my French family especially my French brother and father. My father and I still have the photography talk through email and he still calls me a nickname he gave me like he does to all his children, the "Bronx flower".