My time in Tours is going so fast!! It’s very difficult to believe that it is more than halfway over.
I have spent the last couple of weeks exploring Tours and taking advantage of the cultural excursions that the Institute of Touraine offers. We first went to the Chateau of Chenonceau, which was a beautiful castle in a small, charming town called Chenonceaux. Most recently, I visited Mont St. Michel in Normandy and St. Malo in Brittany. Mont St. Michel is an island that hosts an incredible building that has served as a monastery since the eighth century. St. Malo, a city on the English Channel, is about an hour drive from Mont St Michel, and is the prettiest place I have ever seen.
On my excursion to the Chateau of Chenonceau, I spent much of my day talking to a woman from El Salvador named Carolina. Carolina lived in Los Angeles for twenty years but decided to leave about eighteen months ago. About two years ago, her mother had come from El Salvador to visit her, and while in the grocery store they were talking to each other in Spanish. Carolina told me that someone yelled down the aisle at her “This is America! Speak English!”
When she finished telling me this story, I felt angry, but mostly, I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I thought of how many times I had called home in a café during my time here and spoken English, or how many times I had made grammatical mistakes while communicating with cashiers and waiters. I think that I have always maintained, to some degree, the naïve image of the US as the home of immigrants. Evidently, for plenty of immigrants, many Americans have proven that our country does not deserve this label – at least not now. Carolina told me that she believes that the United States underwent a cultural change in 2016, and that she felt that as an immigrant, she could never feel like a part of the country, regardless of how many years she lived there, or how well she spoke English.
Beyond the cultural excursions, I have been so fortunate in my classmates and instructors. The people class come from many places across the globe and range in age from nineteen to sixty-five. I have been able to learn so much, not strictly from the curriculum, but also as a result of meeting these incredible individuals and talking to them about the differences between our cultures.
In one of my morning classes, our daily assignment is to read the French newspaper and present to the class a summary of an article that we found interesting. This has resulted in many interesting debates, often centered around American politics. Following a particularly exciting discussion, I asked one of my friends from the class, who is from India about her impression of the political situation in the United States. She told me that growing up, she had always been infatuated by the idea of American popular culture, because of how easily accessible it was to youth in India. She had the impression, at a young age, from films and television shows, that women were treated with more respect in the US than in her country, and this idea was very inspiring to her. My friend says that she believes that women’s rights are progressing in India, but that certain restrictions still exist. For example, arranged marriages are still very popular across the country. In respect to the United States today, it was shockingly difficult to hear my friend’s current position. I listen to, and typically agree with, my classmates’ negative opinions about our country’s politics daily in class, but it was hard to hear the loss of hope in my friend’s tone. She still wants to work in the United States, but she told me that many of her friends had tried and failed multiple times to receive visas in recent years, despite having multiple degrees. She also told me that she fears that women’s rights seem to be regressing, and that she does not know if she wants to move to a country where that is the case, when she could be a part of the exciting progress being made in India.
I have also found myself becoming more engaged with my host family, who could not be more welcoming. Last weekend, my host mom invited me to her granddaughter’s Confirmation lunch. I was able to meet her entire family.
One of the cousins, Matthieu, was two years older than me and spoke English very well. He was interested in international economics, so, as he explained, English was essential. To learn English, Matthieu had gone to Sweden, which was very interesting to me. It was also fascinating to hear his opinion of American politics. His opinion of the current state of American affairs was far more optimistic that those of my two classmates. Matthieu told me that he felt inspired by the youth of America, in relation to the France’s young population. As he saw it, politically, American youths are more optimistic and hold a more comprehensive worldview. I was inspired by this hopeful, albeit simplistic, interpretation of the American political climate, and it reminded of many conversations from my French classes at Notre Dame, about the differences between political trends between our two nations.
I am so grateful for every aspect of this trip thus far, from my new friends and the beautiful places I have seen, to the improvement in my French speaking and writing, but I think that I am perhaps most thankful for my deeper comprehension of international relations, and the role that the United States plays in global affairs.