Hello, everyone! My name is Maya, and I’ll be going to Tours, France this summer to study French.
A little about me: I’m a sophomore Physics major and French minor in the Glynn honors program here at ND. I’m from South Bend, Indiana. My dad is from the Republic of Georgia, so I grew up speaking English and Georgian at home, and I studied German through high school (and a bit here at Notre Dame as well). I started studying French in the spring of my sophomore year, and am so excited for the opportunity to immerse myself in the language.
Growing up in a multicultural and bilingual household has shaped me in a lot of important ways. Notably, I have experience with being in foreign countries and facing a language barrier (I can speak, read, and write Georgian, but my sometimes stumble over my words when I speak. Georgian grammar is notably difficult). A source of anxiety, though, is the fact that the language barrier has never been this large. I know that many French people speak English, but I also want to respect others and myself enough to make my way around speaking French, and my anxiety about my comparatively weak grasp of the language is something I have to intentionally ignore. I am thankful for the experience visiting Georgia has given me and am excited to grow by facing my fears.
I hope to get a lot of things out of this summer. As I am staying for 8 weeks, a pretty long time, I first and foremost hope to emerge from this experience with a more solid understanding and grasp of the French language. I am confident that this will be the case, but I am excited to feel myself develop and grow in confidence and competence over the course of my time in Tours. Second, I am so grateful and excited to have the opportunity to visit France. I have never been to Western Europe before, despite having studied two western European languages, so being able to experience life in a new place will be so very rewarding. In general, I hope that this summer is an opportunity for learning and growth through challenges. There will certainly be multiple learning curves, but I hope that I take the challenges I am presented with and make the best of them. How exciting!