On the Road with Julie

After (tearfully) saying goodbye to Ryan in Marrakech, he headed stateside and I pointed my sights towards the next big part of my language learning adventure – Germany!

The flights were kind to me to give me one last chance to steep in French before saying goodbye to my 6 weeks of Romance language study. My flight path from Marrakech to Berlin landed me with an overnight layover in Paris!

I arrived in my hotel room at 10PM, just in time to get a good night’s sleep. With a 3PM flight to Berlin today, I didn’t have much time to play tourist in Paris, but I also couldn’t bare to be here and just sit in a hotel by the airport.

It turned out to be an easy 45 minute train ride from my hotel to Notre Dame. I used the time on the train to finally fill out the postcards I had been accumulating over the past 7 weeks.

And, I got one of my best linguistic affirmations of the effectiveness of this trip towards my polyglot goals. I’ve had the pleasure of being in Paris 3 other times in my life. And every single time, within 30 seconds of me starting to speak French, the lovely Parisians let me know exactly where my French stood by responding to me immediately in English. For the first time, when I opened my mouth in French in Paris, I heard French in return! What a fantastic confirmation that my studies are paying off! Now, while they were busy speaking to me in extremely fast French, they also all had a look on their faces that said something to the effect off, « look, how adorable». So, while I’ve made progress, my Paris language litmus test tells me I still have plenty of room to grow. Hey, I’ll take it!

Of course, I found my gluten free crepes, sitting in a cafe with a great view of Notre Dame.

And, I made it back to my hotel just in time to pick up my bags and make my way to the airport.

And, I am here now, in the Berlin airport, ready to step out into a new country and a new language. I’ll be in Germany for the next week and a half and then Vienna for four more. This will be the first time in my trip that I am tackling a language that I have only an elementary base in. I wasn’t able to communicate with the gentleman at the cafe where I’m sitting and writing in order to find out if the food available is food I could eat. I could ALLLLLMOST do it, but, that does not do the trick. After my little pop of Paris, letting me know that my efforts are, indeed, paying off, I’m excited to see what I’ll be leaving my German adventure with 5.5 weeks from now.

For now, merci à Paris. Et, au revoir à français pour ce moment. Hallo, Deutch! Ich bin hier!