Author: coggins Page 13 of 18

My time in Toulouse is quickly coming to an end and the time has passed quickly. It seems like I only arrived a month ago. I am happy with all of the cultural experiences I am had during my three months and I will leave with lots of great memories. Life in Toulouse for American students is filled with culture and activities.

Between my classes and schoolwork, I find the time to try tea salons, travel, play basketball, go shopping and spend time with my friends. Even though I do not have much time to go to museums or plays, I learn the French culture through meals. Firstly, there is not a shortage of tea salons and bars. I have a favorite bar and tea salon and I go so often that the waiters recognize me. My favorite cake is made from raspberries, pistachios and coconut. With a pot of tea, the cake is perfect.

Next, I have tried “raclette,” a stereotypical French meal. Because it is very heavy, it is often eaten in winter and in the mountains. You put the electric oven in the middle of the table, heat slices of cheese, put it on top of potatoes and add some salami or meat. It uses typical French ingredients and when I ate it with my French friends, the environment was fun and relaxed, so we enjoyed the meal after a rainy day.

Finally, I cannot talk about French food without mentioning crepes. I eat crepes at least once a week. Every Sunday, my hosts cook them for dinner. Maybe because of globalization, even Americans like crepes. However, the method of eating them is not the same. In America, they are eaten for breakfast or dessert. In France, savory crepes are more popular and can be eaten at any meal. And, of course, they are eaten all the time.

My life in Toulouse as an American student revolves around food. I have tried new things, like “racelette” and “cassoulet,” and I like to find new restaurants.

-Jessica Sykes

I noticed that the most common misunderstandings are everyday phrases. I find that everyday expressions are more affirmative in English. French is a language of negation. I don’t usually say sentences that are grammatically constructed like that. When I talk with my hosts, I find most of my answers are affirmative, therefore I give the perception that I am optimistic. It shocks me because my friends tell me I’m a little pessimistic. When I ask my hosts their opinions, they reply with a negative term like “It’s not bad.” My hosts seem surprised when I answer positively. I feel that the negative expressions are more honest than the positively structured expressions like “It’s good.” It’s an American characteristic to be more polite than necessary, so I think the reason why I prefer to answer questions in that manner reflect my desire to be reassuring. I think this mentality reflects the fear of being rude. I think that Americans cannot handle criticism, so a phrase like “That’s not bad” evokes a feeling of inadequacy. This fear is an integral quality of the American psyche that affects the interactions between French and American people. For French people, this typically American characteristic evokes a kind of false attitude. The French speak more frankly than Americans and because of this cultural difference, there are misunderstandings between the two cultures. I find that it affects first impressions the most because we are more concerned with how others look at us while that is not a priority for French people.

-Samantha Mendoza-Ferguson

The influence and culture of cigarettes is a subject that has been very interesting to study and understand since my arrival in France. One of my first intercultural “shocks” for me arrived in my first amphitheatre style class at Université de Toulouse Capitole 1, in the famous Amphi Despaux. This enormous amphitheatre seats two hundred and fifty students, and the professor teaches the course through a microphone. After thirty minutes of my business course, the professor nonchalantly put a cigarette in the corner of her mouth and lit it during the course of her lecture. Puffs of smoke drifted across her desk and followed her as she made her way to the chalkboard to write her notes. I was completely stunned. Despite this mid lecture smoke, nearly a half an hour later, the class was instructed to take a ten minute pause as all two hundred fifty students, including the professor, stepped outside to smoke yet another cigarette. It almost seemed as if the syllabus and structure of the entire course were designed to include ample time for smoking. Even as I leave my class every week, I see the same students in my business class lined up outside of the metro getting their last few drags of a cigarette before they head home. Sometimes, students will even take their lit cigarettes onto the escalator and ride all the way down into the station before they are instructed to put it out by an officer. Sadly, the statistics involving smokers in France are staggering with “73,000 people who die from tobacco related deaths each year.” Plus, “the percentage of smoking has increased from 28 percent to 30 percent of the total population in the course of the last five years.”

I find that after a long week of school nearly all of my clothes smell like ash. For me, it was at this moment that I knew I had found myself in a totally different culture when my jeans, shirts, and hair smelled like smoke after every week. It’s astonishing how noticeable this habit is throughout France as a whole. However, I understand that this difference is simply something I must learn to adapt to during my studies here in France. After all, I come from a country where cigarette smoking is frowned upon and where we learn starting in kindergarden that “smoking kills”, so I am still stunned by the amount of smokers and relaxed attitude towards smoking in France. In the end, I acknowledge that smoking is no more than a cultural norm for my friends and I respect their own decision. Having a cigarette at a café is a common practice for many in France.  I believe that, in certain contexts, smoking in France allows us to enjoy the company of those around us and   teaches us to enjoy life at a slower pace. This practice is certainly something every American could learn from.

-Greg Sellhausen

Dear Readers,

Our students have already been in Toulouse for three months, and for most of them they have just a few weeks left in the Pink City.  That’s why it is precisely the moment to take advantage of and enjoy everything Toulouse has to offer! You’ll see that that is exactly what our students did this past month!

We left the city of Toulouse to visit the Marché au Gras de Péchabou, a village 14 km southeast of the Greater Toulouse Area in Lauragais.  The marché au gras is an annual market that specializes in duck and other types of poultry, but we can also find other products that are typical of the region and season. In addition to food, we can discover local artisans and their work.  The students participated in the market by sharing American delicacies of the season like Apple Pie, smores, brownies and Pumpkin Pie that they made themselves. They ran the stand well, talking with the other market-goers and selling their desserts.  They were such good salesmen and women that they were able to go out that night with their earnings!

Les étudiants de Dickinson et leur stand au Marché au gras de Péchabou.

Since this year commemorates the centenary of the First World War, the Dickinson team incorporated Histoire du soldat, a play presented at Odyssud, in our cultural outings. Before the show, we visited the Toile du Front exposition, which is based on the conception and production of Marc Ménager’s short film Fire Waltz,  an animated film where musical creativity affronts the First World War.

We cannot talk about November without mentioning Thanksgiving. A very dear holiday to Americans, we celebrated together at a neighborhood restaurant that prepared a French menu for us inspired by typical Thanksgiving ingredients.

Our Thanksgiving à la française included a savory pumpkin crumble, tarragon Cornish hen, and for dessert a honey sesame pear tart.

Repas de Thanksgiving

Two students participated in the “Thanksgiving Cook-off” organized by the United States Consulate and the Atelier des chefs in Toulouse.  Read what Shelby and Jessica have to say:

Shelby : It really was like the show  « Chopped » where the participants receive mysterious boxes filled with ingredients. We were in three groups of three, and we had an hour and a half to prepare a Thanksgiving meal.  I had a nice time with my team. We cooked a sweet corn purée, cranberry sauce, grilled potatoes and sweet potatoes, and nuggests with polenta, walnuts and hazelnuts. 

Jessica : My team made chicken nuggets with cornflakes and spices, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe purée and cranberry sauce. Afterwards, the judges tasted everybody’s plate, my team won!

Lastly, this past weekend the students completed their integration into the Pink City by tackling a very important element of the culture of Toulouse – rugby!  Stade Toulousain played against Grenoble in the rain, supported by relentless fans, two of whom were so enthusiastic that they tried to particpate in the game by running onto the field naked. Unfortunately, the fans’ cheers were not enough and luck was not on our side. In the last minute Grenoble took the victory with three points.

Stade Toulousain vs Grenoble

Needless to say, this was a very busy month for Dickinson in France!  I’ll let you continue reading to find out what students have to say about the month of November!

Enjoy,

Julia

Although sadly, with the end coming in sight, my stay here in Toulouse has been filled with tons of great intercultural experiences and exploration. I am extremely happy with my host family, Monsieur and Madame Ovinet, and their son Adrien, a freshman in high school who has also become a very good friend of mine. Adrien enjoys playing handball in school and we have played endless amounts of ping-pong together at the Ovinet’s vacation home in the Pyrénées. During my stay in Toulouse, I have enjoyed many French delicacies cooked by the Ovinet’s. A few of these exceptional plates include, roasted chicken, pork chops, and Belgian mussels that are always served with a fresh baguette and a fine assortment of cheeses. For dessert, there is always a tart or fresh pie that has been baked for the evening. In addition to this, the Ovinets serve their desserts with fresh honey that they gather from their 50,000 honeybees in the countryside. Alongside the amazing food, I have enjoyed living with three other French students named Arthur, Louis, and Camille. During quiet school nights with little work to do, we get together and watch “le Petit Journal”, which is a hilarious French version of “The Colbert Report”, except much more polite.

Aside from home-life, I think it goes without saying that my experience in the city of Toulouse has been nothing short of extraordinary. Before my arrival, I had always been told that Toulouse is an extremely special place for any student. After a semester studying here, I can safely say it has lived up to any and all expectations. Throughout the semester I have been taking courses at l’IAE, a school of business and management here in Toulouse. I have found the students and professors to be incredibly nice and they immediately wanted to show me around and give me an idea of what this amazing city really has to offer for its students. Of course, Toulouse has endless historical sights, churches, and famous gardens, but one of my favorite things has been to discover my favorite spots all over the city with my friends. This way, when you frequent certain areas of the city, you can start to get to know the owners and workers of some of the local bars, clubs and theaters. It is an amazing feeling to be able to create these types of relationships with friends and colleagues in an entirely foreign environment. It creates an unbelievable level of confidence to know that you can not only succeed, but also thrive in a country with as much rich cultural history as France. Finally, one of my favorite parts about the city is the quality and speed of the metro. The A and B lines of Toulouse are not only spotless but incredibly easy to navigate. This makes it so easy to traverse all over city in only a matter of minutes, and unfortunately puts the New York City subway to shame.

If I had to recommend this city to any student interested in a French-speaking environment, I would have to say that Toulouse is your destination without hesitation. Sign up for the program and discover an entirely new way of life. If you are brave enough to apply and take the plunge, a beautiful city in the south of France will be at your disposal and with enough work, in your back pocket.

-Greg Sellhausen

For me, most of the possible misunderstandings I could think of revolve around academic life. The way in which we, as American students, interact with our peers and our professor in the United States is completely different from the French cultural norms.

With students, the class environment is completely different. For example, it is perfectly normal to carry on a completely unrelated conversation with those sitting near, even when the professor is in the middle of giving a lecture. Before I got used to that and to not listening to the conversations, I wanted to tell the students talking around me to be quiet. However, that would be very culturally strange in France, and some could consider it rude.

The student-professor relationship is also very different, and could easily be the source of some misunderstandings. One big difference lies in the communication with professors. In the United States, I can easily email my professors for the small things- clarification of the syllabus, a quick note as to why I will be absent from class. In France, it is really only acceptable to email your professors to warn them you will be absent; even then, a doctor’s note is necessary at the next class. Thankfully, Mme Lebreton saved us from many of these email misunderstandings in our French language workshop; otherwise I would have made some embarrassing mistakes.

In general, the relationship between students and teachers is much more formal and much less warm than what I have experienced in the US. Of course, one must be respectful to professors in both cultures, but the professors in France are much less forgiving and much less involved in students’ lives and scholarly efforts. They also rarely distribute syllabi, so it would definitely be a faux pas to ask about the dates or specificities of various assignments.

Thankfully, with the help of Mme Lebreton and my French tour guide, Justine, I have avoided most of my mistakes. Now, going to a professor for a question is a technique that I definitely consider a last resort. I am interested to see if that will change when I get back to Dickinson!

-Grace McCrocklin

There is not a lack for misunderstandings between the French culture and American culture. One can find many situations every day that are rich with opportunity to make mistakes. Some days I think I make these mistakes less frequently, and other times, I have no more hope. Yes, perhaps that is a bit melodramatic, but welcome to my life!

At the start, even the smallest of cultural differences presented misunderstandings. For example, at the cafés that are so adored by the entire world and typically French, you have to, of course, pay. But how? Inside? Outside? Eventually you can figure it out. The real trick is how you tip. What percent? Is it necessary? As it turns out waiters are well paid in France and tipping is reserved for great service. One time, a friend and I went back to a restaurant because we were in disagreement with the cultural rules of tipping and felt bad that we didn’t leave a tip. The waitress was truly happy and told us that it truly wasn’t necessary.

Misunderstandings also come with language mistakes. I spent an evening with friends of a friend who were quite nice. It was pleasant, but I was the only anglophone there, so it was also a little tiring. “Alright,” I thought to myself, “I’m going to sleep. Wait, what is the more slang term for that? …Oh yeah, that’s it.” Needless to say, I was terribly incorrect. So, I said, “Thank you for the evening, I am going to sleep with you.” Even though this phrase was not coquettish before, today it indicates having sexual relations with someone. The sister of the guy to whom I directed this poor phrase, could not stop laughing. Finally, she explained that I wanted to use the reflexive of this verb, “put myself to sleep” to indicate that I was going to bed. After this incident, I quickly took my leave.

But all is well now. I have found a way to reduce misunderstandings! Change the language! Change the grammar! In my opinion, it is much easier. Last week, I was speaking with my host sister about her internships. She worked with retirees last year and this year with be working with people who have been clinically diagnosed as mentally unstable. As a psychology student, I know the word “fous” to indicate this group of people, but for some reason, I could not find the word. I mixed “fou” (masculine singular of “fous”) and “folle” (feminine singular) to say “foulle”. This word does not exist, but maybe we can change and develop the French language. Times change, no?

-Shelby Duncan