About 5 years ago, when I first starting learning French, I found a website called Shared Talk for practicing language skills. You selected the language you wanted to practice, and then you were matched up with someone who was a native speaker. It was all about conversation through an email type platform. I was paired with someone named Romain. He is from Nancy, France, and he was a student like me. We used both English and French while writing to each other, but mostly I wrote in French and he wrote in English. We used to correct each other’s messages too! This was my first time ever talking to a native speaker, even though it was only written and just through the internet. It’s kind of funny to think about my first experience(s) with native speakers because now, while I’m living in Strasbourg for a few months, I talk to native speakers everyday! Anyway, the website shut down about 3 years after I was using it because they didn’t have enough funding or something. Romain and I exchanged emails, and the conversation continued! We just talked about school, where we’re from, our interests, our friends, and sometimes we talked about religion or other philosophical things. It required the use of a dictionary (for both of us!) but it helped me learn a lot. So guess what! After 5 years, I met him in person! He graduated college and now works in Nancy. In the beginning of the semester, Accès took a weekend day trip there. We saw Place Stanislas and the Museum des Beaux Arts. I texted Romain that I would be there, and he ate lunch with us at a very nice restaurant called Excelsior. It wasn’t weird at all meeting him in person even though we’re both rather shy people. We already knew what each other looks like because for a short while we used Snapchat. He greeted me in the traditional French way—la bise. French people don’t hug very often, so la bise (a little kiss on each cheek) is normal. Lunch was absolutely delicious! Just this month I met Romain a second time, this time in Strasbourg! Though he lives about 2 hours away by train, he had never been here. So I got to be a tour guide. I met him at the Gare Centrale (the train station) and we walked first to the cathedral. It was a rather chilly day. Next stop was the Musée Historique de la Ville Strasbourg, where we spent about 2 hours. On the way there we found a bunch of outdoor markets, selling everything from clothes to books to pastries to veggies. Even though I’ve been here for a few months I’d never been to these markets! What a lovely surprise. We both love soft pretzels, so we bought some for the walk. Lunch was at a “döner kebab” place, a very common fast food type of restaurant in Europe. I’m not sure how to describe it….but it’s really good and pretty cheap. It's like a bread pocket with meat, sauce, salad, and fries. Romain and I both love cats, so after lunch we stopped at Chatperlipopette, a cat café! It was pretty busy, and the cats were shy, but it was still fun. Romain told me that the name of the café, Chatperlipopette, actually comes from an old word used as a familiar interjection, “saperlipopette”, which basically translates to, “goodness me!” After that, we found Petite France, the classic “Strasbourg” location with Alsatian houses and the river. We took pictures and found some more markets to look around. There was a little archway that led to a garden that we decided to explore. Inside, there was a little book market! I found some titles on Alsace. I didn’t buy any, but I think I’ll try to find my way back later. After a while it started to rain, so we took the bus back to where I’m staying. I knew Ida would be interested to meet Romain! We ended up missing his train and were left with 2 extra hours though because the bus back was slow…so, the plan was to go bakery shopping! Romain wanted to buy a Kugelhopf. I’m not sure when I’ll see him again, but I’m glad we could meet.
à la prochaine, Elda
2 Comments
Lynn
4/29/2019 15:39:36
How exciting! And your day in Strasbourg sounds like a great adventure of discovery in a familiar city - I love that :)
Reply
Ricki
4/29/2019 16:06:29
How fun that you got to meet your pen pal. And it seems like you had a wonderful time. Such fabulous memories you are creating. This blog will help you remember all the fun times.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHello! I'm Elda, a French/Anthropology major and Applied Language Studies minor studying in Strasbourg for a semester. Archives
May 2019
Categories |