Oui, Je Parle Francais!

Earlier this week I went to a wedding. The bride was a coworker of MJ’s who spoke French. I wished her congradulations, told her she looked beautiful, then had conversations with some of her friends. When one of them turned to MJ and said “You choose beautiful women” (meaning me), I realized we'd all been speaking French the whole time.

I love the French language. A French person can read from the phone book and make it sound like the most erotic thing ever. Automatic ten sexiness points if you speak French. I figure if I learn the language, I will immediately be a total babe. It won't even matter if my hair is messy or I have an entire four-course meal stuck in my teeth. I am hot and I speak French. Bow DOWN.

I took French class from fourth grade to the end of high school—then went to college, got distracted by theatre and creative writing, and promptly forgot all my French (except how to say “I live in a box behind the McDonalds with my goat.” That will always stick with me). Then I started dating a French guy. I started pestering him to help me learn. And we go to Paris together sometimes, where I get to speak French with his mom's French friends (his own friends all speak English). I’m getting to the point now where people in France no longer automatically switch to English around me…which is a point of pride in itself. Last night I watched a French movie and only read the subtitles half the time. Okay, maybe two thirds of the time. I get inordinately excited when I can understand a full sentence, spoken at normal speed, even if it’s just “Let’s get coffee.”

The more I’m in the Netherlands, the more I wish I’d taken the time to learn Dutch. Dutch is a hilarious language where everything is WAY too direct (or at least I assume it is based on how Dutch people use the English language...for reference, see my "fish cookies" status update on Facebook). If I knew I’d be here so often, I would have tried to learn from the beginning. It’s a bit late now…but at least my French is progressing. I have wild plans for going to French meetups when I’m back in the states and maybe moving to Paris for a few months in 2012. My brother’s fluent in Spanish…and sometime, I’ll be fluent in French. I hope. Now i just have to get my sister to learn German.