A Week of French Immersion

I decided to begin France 2018 with a week of intensive French at CREA-Langues in Provence. The language school is housed in a renovated nineteenth century Cistercian monastery located in the heart of the Parc régional du Verdon about 6 kms from Moustiers-Ste-Marie. Moustiers is said to be one of the most picturesque villages in all of France.

Moustiers-Ste-Marie

Le monastère de Ségiès

Le monastère de Ségiès

The courses at CREA-Langues are total immersion French.  All of the students stay in the monastery and are expected to speak French 24–7.  Needless to say, this is  not for those who have never studied the language before.  There are about two dozen of us, and my guess is that the average age is over 50.  In addition to those of us who just have a passion for the language, several students are here because they need French for their work; e.g., diplomats, people who work for French companies.

Waiting for lunch

I am in one of the larger classes—there are six of us.  I placed in the mid-level class
(one person from the Netherlands, two from Australia, one from Germany, and another American).  At first I wasn't too certain of my ability, but I am surviving.  I am only speaking French this week.  We have class every morning until just before 1 pm, then lunch and some afternoon activity.  On Tuesday I learned how to paint with water colors, and Wednesday I learned all about olive oil.  Yes, you can taste the difference.  And now I know what extra virgin olive oil actually is.

My masterpiece looks halfway decent if you stand far enough  away.

Several of us went for a tour of the nearby Lac de Sainte Croix and the very picturesque village of Aiguines.

Aiguines

Every small village should have its own chateau.

An eleventh century chapel.

The food at the monastery is absolutely fantastic!  Christophe is a professional chef, and he takes good care of us.  I will say more about French cuisine, but that's another blog entry.

First Week in France 2018

France (version 2018) has begun.  Last Wednesday (or was it Tuesday?) was quite a long day, I awoke at my usual 4 AM to make it to yoga by 5 AM.  After a few last minute errands, I headed to Houston to catch a 3 PM flight to Amsterdam.  Arriving at 7 AM on Wednesday morning, I had a 4 hour layover before my flight to Geneva.  I finally arrived after 2 PM, picked up the car, and went looking for a gas station that would take cash or an American credit card.  Most gas stations in France are now automatic, and the only way to pay for fuel is with a chip-and-pin credit card.  American credit cards are chip-and-signature—no PIN.  I searched for a good hour and a half before I found a Total station, where I put 78 euros (about $90) worth of diesel into the fuel tank.  It was 7 PM Wednesday before I arrived at the bed and breakfast in Hauteville-Lompnes. All this on about 3 hours of sleep on the plane.  Lesson learned—if you avoid French airports, you will also avoid labor strikes.  Fortunately, I didn't have to learn this lesson the hard way.

Hautville-Lompnes is a small town in Ain, a department in France that is part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.  It lies between Annecy, Chambéry, and Bourg-en-Bresse.  The town sits on a high plateau.  The area is famous for its marble, which was used in the construction of the Empire State Building.

I stayed in a delightful chambre d'hôtes (AKA bed-and-breakfast), La Maison Des Chiens Verts. The room was large with a private bath.  My hosts, Eva and Phil, were very kind.  And the cost was $50 per night, including breakfast!

Here is a list of rides that I did in the Ain.

• Thursday: https://www.relive.cc/view/1593257720.  If you don't check out the difficulty of the last climb, it will be very steep.
• Friday:  https://www.relive.cc/view/1594878098.  Always leave an option to head home early in case you get tired.
• Saturday:  https://www.relive.cc/view/1596942337.  Choose roads that have at least one car per day just in case something bad happens.

None of these rides were very long and there were no huge climbs, but it seems that I was always going up.