Well, I think that when we came here people had the stereotype that life in France is the dream, but for us, that hasn't exactly been the case.
The first day of school was overwhelming, period. Everyone was of course speaking French, and every class there was a new teacher to awkwardly figure out we were American. The first day I came home and never wanted to go back.
After that our motto was 'Heads down, hands down, don't say a word'.
Since then it has gotten a lot easier. Eventually the words people were saying started to slow down and make more sense. The kids in our class seemed less intimidating after they stepped back from trying to get as much information from us as they could, and now we know who to ask questions to and who to stay away from. We survived math class with 3 different teachers, and a ski trip with a bus full of sick kids. We survived going over to a French family's house, and we even survived learning different verb conjugations, though it seemed almost impossible.
So even though it might seem hard, we will survive this year knowing much more French than before.
And for the record, I don't think I've ever seen a person in Albertville wearing a beret or black and white stripes.
The view of Albertville
