This past week was my first and last spring break from BYU
classes! For those of you that don’t know, there is no such thing as “spring
break” in a Winter Semester at BYU—No it does not have anything to do with Mormon beliefs! In fact if I had it my
way I would allow students at least three days off, because my three days of a
European spring break was phenomenal.
For my break I went with two friends to Paris, the city of
love. In a nutshell we climbed the Eiffel Tower at night, ate French pastries,
enjoyed Montematre, walked through Notre Dame, stared at some amazing artwork,
explored the Latin Quarter and locked our love on a bridge over the Seine. We
had the time of our lives. As magical as it was to do all of those things my
favorite part was something that money cannot buy. My favorite part of the trip
was interacting and talking with other people.
 |
| Our love is locked! |
 |
| Faith at a love locked bridge near Notre Dame |
We ran into so many random people of different backgrounds.
The first group was three 15-year-old boys that were obsessed with the United
States, one of which new English and wanted to practice talking with us. We
literally chatted for a whole hour about the differences between France and
America as well as movies, actors/actresses and sports. It was so fun to hear
about what they thought! They went on and on about how they thought Vanessa
Hudgens was “the most beautiful actress in the world” and that they wish their
schools had sports teams and “pom-pom girls!”
 |
| Faith and Juliana with some Frenchies in Trocadero |
We also ran into lots of Asians that we photo-bombed a
couple times. I really wanted to talk to them some more but I didn’t really
come off very polite when I asked some Korean hotties to teach me the Gangam
Style.
When we were in the Eiffel Tower looking at the pretty view
we ran into a group of Frenchmen in their late 20s-ish (don’t worry we didn’t let them creep on us
or anything scary like off of the movie Taken.)
They spoke just as much English as we knew French—aka next to none. Despite
the language barrier we had a hilarious conversation that consisted mostly in body
language about the basics.
If we both spoke the same language, this is how the
conversation would’ve happened:
Us: Hey we’re from the United States.
Them: Cool! I kinda like Obama because of his stance with
the war in the Middle East.
Us: Really?
Them: Yeah! I mean it’s also pretty awesome that he’s black.
Us: (chuckle) That’s where it is. What do you think about
President Hollande?
Them: I hate him.
Us: What’s that supposed to mean? Why?
Them: He’s raised taxes so high that it’s ridiculous.
Us: Hmm… That’s interesting… (striking a thoughtful pose)
Here’s what really happened:
Us: We are from the United States.
Them: Huh?
Us: America?
Them: Obama!
Us: Oui!
Them: Like Obama?
Us: Sometimes (giving the so-so hand signal). You?
Them: Oui! Obama… (striking a Hercules pose and flexing
muscles). President Hollande bad! No like him!
Us: Why?
Them: (slouching to show pop belly and pretending to eat
like a slob).
Us: American boys like… (mimicking the slob posture)
Them: Oui! American boys…(slob) American girls…(making the
curvy hip lines in the air with their hands). Oo la la!
That is when we started laughing so hard we were about to
cry.
 |
| Love wall in Montematre |
By being in a country that literally everything was foreign
to me (although I’ve been to Paris twice before) I learned a ton about
communication that I didn’t see beforehand in Spain or in English speaking
countries.
Here’s what I feel like I learned:
- Communication is so, so, so much more than what comes out of your mouth. What you wear, your posture, your eye contact, you face and hand gestures all contribute to how information is perceived on the receiving end. Even though the only things I knew in French were “Bonjour,” “Merci,” and “Baguette” I could tell the intentions were of the people I was chatting with.
- Communication/language is what makes us human. I took for granted that in Spain although I am not fluent and often times come off as an idiot I can at least communicate and understand someone else. Whereas I can’t understand a lick of French even if I wanted to! Being Paris was awesome but I really missed being able to crack a joke or ask an intelligent question and actually get to know people a bit. It amazes me that no matter what language you speak, the purpose of that language is just the same as English or any other tongue. That purpose being to express yourself! I can’t even begin to stress how awe-inspiring it is to realize that those strange French sounds can convey emotion, tell stories, and give instructions.
- Learning a new language is such a smart idea. Even the basics help A TON no matter who you are or your profession. In America it is really impressive to know more than one language, and rightfully so because learning a new language is difficult and it takes time, blood, sweat and tears. But the street vendors in Europe know the basics of at least two languages, if not more to be able to accommodate as many people as possible. SMART! No matter what your profession. That’s all I have to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment