Why I decided to take french

I decided to take French 1/2 my senior year because, having taken Spanish for 5 years, I had a familiar background with romance languages and it is a heart-wish of mine to be able to speak the romance languages fluently in my adult years.

I figured time spent learning at least the fundamentals of French was a productive way to spend a free period, and would help me in my planned travels next year, as I intend to take a gap year between my senior year in high school and my freshman year.

Also, I spent three to four months when I was eight living in Paris with my mother. Though I will answer this in a photo post, French and France to me are those memories I hold of being a little girl in Paris. Of watching French cartoons about a teenage vampire, going to the Jardin du Luxembourg and riding the carousel; eating delicious, large ice cream cones, having picnics outside the Picasso museum and riding rented scooters around Parisian streets...

Over the years, my view of Paris has been significantly influenced by media, such as television and movies, and education. When I visit France again, I will go knowing its history through two world wars and I will be beside myself to visit Versailles (Louis XIV is le best...and Marie Antoinette, I feel, has always been so misunderstood...). The media has romanticized the idea to eat and drink in little boulanges, to wander the countryside, to visit the discos, to buy french lingerie and enjoy french cuisine. On top of that, I plan to add a whole lot of cultural exploration and possibly a stay at an organic farm through the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) organization.

French is also a very expressive language...as the character The Merovingian, from The Matrix Reloaded, puts it, "I love French wine, like I love the French language. I have sampled every language, French is my favorite. Fantastic language. Especially to curse with...It's like wiping your arse with silk. I love it." I also find it quite a poetic, musical language, especially when spoken softly.

So yes...taking French serves many a purpose :)