On the Road with Julie

January 31, 2026

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to France, and to French, for now.

For anyone interested in my attempt to describe my experience in French, you can read this article in French, here. Now, mind you, I only got through the beginning of writing the post in French using my own French skills. My time was so busy that I ran out of minutes in France. Professor Google helped me with the rest. Once you start seeing the “passe simple” forms in there (this is a form of verb conjugation that is only present in French writing and I don’t know how to do it myself at all yet), you know that is Professor Google helping me. And, French speakers reading my blog post in French, don’t worry. Although I wrote the beginning of the post in my own French, I had it reviewed by my French teacher before publishing it. What I’ve learned during my studies here in France, while learning a new language, is that it’s possible to say some pretty crazy things unintentionally, or things that don’t make any sense at all. For me, that’s the thing I struggle with the most—how to express myself coherently with sentences and ideas that make sense. And, of course, prepositions too. Oy, yoy, oy—prepositions!

My time in France has been truly wonderful. I fell in love with the first city where I studied, Villefranche-sur-Mer, a beautiful little town by the sea.

I made great friends in my first French program who came from all over the world to study French, and wonderful teachers who gave us fascinating lessons.

The program at the French Institute was fantastic, and I definitely improved my French. I had many seaside adventures, like a beautiful hike around Cap Ferrat (twice! Once on my own and once with my dear husband when he visited)…

…and jogging alongside the sea. I also had adventures in the sea! It’s winter here, so hardly anyone was swimming in the sea…except me. I couldn’t bear to see such clear, beautiful water and not swim. I found a local coach to swim with. He and I swam together in the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean at sunrise, as the sun burst into the morning in magnificent shades of pink, orange, and yellow. Absolutely stunning! Oh, and the sea and the sunrise were beautiful too.

The main reason I had a swimming instructor with me was for my safety in the water, but the fact that he was a handsome guy didn’t hurt. Yes, I’m married, but I’m not dead. Don’t worry, Ryan knew I was swimming in the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean with a beautiful man and it didn’t bother him at all. He even told me he was happy for me. Traveling is about discovering the beauty that different countries have to offer. I married a wonderful man, the best in my humble opinion. There’s no man in the world more handsome in my eyes than my husband, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind. Even my French teacher noticed when my coach came to pick up the wetsuit I’d rented from him. She told him so out loud, right to his face. He just laughed and smiled. He knew. He’s a modest man, but he knew. The dude is simply handsome, objectively speaking. But above all, and in all sincerity, he was an absolutely fantastic coach: encouraging, knowledgeable, fun, and kind. I highly recommend him to anyone traveling on the French Riviera!

And, all joking aside, swimming in the magnificent Mediterranean, the cool water on my face and the azure blue before my eyes, was one of the highlights of my month in France.

Not to mention all the wonderful people I met, the exceptional teachers at the French Institute, my amazing host family, and the beauty of life on the French Riviera. And of course, I found gluten-free crêpes.

The first 3 weeks of my trip were spent at the Institut de Francais. We had 3 weeks of French, 8 hours/day. It was school rules that we were not allowed to speak English while at school. Those of you that know me and how much I like intensity and fully immersive experiences, you know, this is one of the main reasons why I chose this school and I loved it. Occasionally, people in my class would start to speak English and I had to use every ounce of my internal strength not to let my inner Tracy Flick burst out in all of her righteous glory (where are my 90’s kids at – I know you get the reference). But, I breathed through these infractions and pretended to be totally chill, hiding the stick up my butt as best I could.

The lunches they served us at the Institute were absolutely out of this world. It was gourmet eating everyday. There was one man in my class that was not a fan of the food, but, this is also a man that proclaimed himself an enemy of vegetables of any kind. A classmate of ours thought it would be fun to surprise him with a special gift just for him.

Every day was a different salad course of some delightful blend followed by a main dish delivered with style, presentation and deliciousness – at least for a palate that was interested in anything other than just meat and potatoes.

I loved every minute of my time at the institute. Even what was, for most, the dreaded “Labo” where we were escorted into a room that was clearly brand new somewhere circa 1972 and used a somewhat ancient, but still functional, headphone technology to go through a set of drills pounding us with grammatical application, one sentence after another. Most students dreaded it. Once again, I found myself in intensity heaven – and quite alone there. I loved the Labo. It was brutal, but only in the sense that it insisted on us learning French. And, that was what I was there for, so I loved it. 

The views from the school were jaw-droppingly beautiful and all of the students became fast friends. I feel so lucky to have this wonderful group of international French learners that I look forward to being friends with for years to come! 

All that said, through my first 3 weeks, since most of my French speaking and listening was done with other French learners, I found myself craving a truly immersive experience were I could feel terrified being surrounded by real French spoken by real French people.

So, for my final week in France, I participated in a program where you live in the house with your personalized French professor. It was in Nice. Because I am my father’s daughter, of course, I have to say, “Nice was nice.” Groan all you want, I know my Dad is smiling.

I had four intensive hours of French instruction in the morning and then, I lucked out, my French teacher was also a music teacher, so we spent a few hours in the afternoon studying music in French! I was in heaven! We even worked on my musical a little bit IN FRENCH! This definitely made it on the highlight reel of my time in France, and maybe of my life.

We sang, we played piano and my French teacher even gave me my first violin lesson. She was smiling encouragingly as I mimicked the sounds of a painfully dying animal with my first few sad strokes on this new-to-me instrument. She was gracious and I loved every minute of it. 

I learned the hard way that the heating standards inside of a house in France are very different than what I am used to. I was freezing the entire week. This was a real challenge for me. But, though my body was cold, my heart was warmed as this wonderful family welcomed me into their home and their lives for the week. I got to see their daughter, Clemence perform in two concerts as the wonderful clarinetist that she is. One of those times was actually at the Sainte Devote procession in Monaco – a sacred event in Monaco to honor their patron Saint. And, believe it or not, I found myself unintentionally IN the procession! And then, I found myself accidentally in the right spot where the royal family came up and started shaking people’s hands – including mine! I am in France for not more than 3 weeks and I’m shaking hands with royalty! I felt like Forrest Gump. It was incredible. My host family showed me a link to a Catholic News Report and I was in it shaking hands with the royal family! Unfortunately, I don’t know where the link is, but I did manage to grab my own video of it!

Another one of my highlights was one evening when my French professor was out of town for the night with plans she had made long before I had requested my stay with them. I stayed back with the family’s 18 year old daughter that hosted me for dinner. We spent the evening exchanging information on our countries’ respective gestures and what they mean. There is a whole other language we speak with our hands. We showed each other the sign for “crazy person” and “fed up” and “I don’t know”. Then we moved on to discussions of World War I and what were the real causes. We discussed what freedom means and the differences between what it means in France and what it means in the US. It was such a fantastic conversation. Every night at dinner with the family was a highlight – getting to be part of their warm connection, their laughter, their conversation – and all in French – it was just fantastic! And, getting to spend hours a day listening to my French teacher talk, sometimes about French grammar, and sometimes, she would pour out stories about her life that left us both getting choked up – well, it was just a stunning experience and I was so grateful to be welcomed into their homes and their lives in such a way.

And, the best part was realizing, it was all in French, in real spoken French, and I understood it all. I wasn’t translating in my head (except the numbers), I was just there, listening and being a part of the stories and the conversations. Now, speaking naturally was not nearly as easy, but I made my way through it – but the sounds I heard didn’t land in my ears as foreign and in need of translation. They landed in my ears as carriers of meaning. And for me, that was glorious. 

My time in France was truly wonderful from top to bottom. And, I left with a fire lit to up my game when it comes to my French studies. It was clear, when leaving that I was straddling the B1/B2 level, leaning more strongly in B1 than B2. My fire, my focus and my hunger to get up to that solid B2 territory is in full force. But, more than linguistic fervor, I left with a tremendous warmth in my heart, for the language, for the people, for the scenery, for the history, for the culture and for the feelings of friendship and family of which I am so grateful I got to be a part.