A Week of Intensive French in Provence—Summer Camp for Adults

I arrived at the Monastère de Ségriès Sunday afternoon for one week of French immersion at Crea-Langues.   The Monastère de Ségriès was originally a nineteenth century Cistercian monastery, then a villa, and now a maison d'hôtes.  The Monastère de Ségriès is located in the heart of Provence near Moustiers-Ste-Marie.

Provence is one of those magical places that one finds from time to time in this world.  Think Hawaii, Sun Valley, or Paris in the spring (assuming that you share Paris with someone that you are absolutely crazy about).  And Provence in June means field after field of lavender in full bloom.  You can stand next to a field and hear swarms of bees working very hard.  Generally, the bees will pay no attention to you since they are focused on the lavender; however, you might consider removing your bicycle helmet if you are riding next to one of these fields.  And you should definitely ride with your mouth closed.  I think that it is impossible to capture the color of a lavender field in a photo, but I tried.

Intensive French means only French 24/7 and absolutely no English.  Since no English is spoken from Day 1, everyone must have a minimum working knowledge of French.  Students with the least amount of French seem to find it a bit hard, but they are the ones who make the most progress.  We all find it tiring.  About two dozen of us were divided into five classes, each a different level.  I made the middle group and generally felt pretty comfortable.  There were four other students in my class and we got along famously.  Lessons lasted almost 4 hours every morning.  The afternoons were either filled with more lessons or activities such as yoga, sailing, hiking, cooking classes, and visits to local farms or villages—all in French of course.

And I met lots of interesting people too.  Participants hailed from Australia, Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the U.S.  These were interesting people too—a Broadway actress and a woman took 18 months to ride her bicycle solo across Africa to name a few.  Since we all dined together, there was ample opportunity for conversation.

One off the best things about my stay was the food.  Crea-Langues has its own chef.  Christophe is truly an artist.  I will let the food speak for itself in the pictures below.