Before I came to France, I really believed I would have only French friends. But by the end of my seventh week, and even now in the middle of my eleventh or twelfth, I don’t have any that I see very often. And no, I don’t wear berets when I go to class, I don’t know all the French slang; I often wonder if I’m not really living “la vie française.”
It’s true that I’ve met several French people, but it’s harder than I thought to become close with the “natives.” French students my age already have their circle of friends, like I have mine in the States. The French, however, are not the only inhabitants of Toulouse. I go to a very large public university, Le Mirail, where there are almost 400 ERASMUS students from all over Europe. These students are the perfect study abroad friends for me. They gave me a friendship I wasn’t expecting, but that I desperately needed. Like me, they came here to learn French, and thus they speak a version of French that is easy to understand – which was especially important when I first got here! They come from throughout the continent – England, Ireland, Germany, Russia, Portugal, etc. Even if they’re not French, they’re European, and I never would have gotten to meet anyone like them if I had stayed at home. When you’re in a foreign country and don’t know anyone – and even when you’re in your own country, for that matter – there’s nothing you need more than friends. My first few months here have been a bit like being a college freshman again – tons of new faces, new names, new events. And although you know you won’t remember them all, you’ll remember how you felt being a part of it. And you never know which of those new faces belongs to your next best friend.