June in France
Wed 01 June 2011
On my way home, I'm spending a month in France with a French family.
Way back in September, I attended Meet, Plan, Go in Boston. Meet Plan Go encourages people to take career breaks. For their first event they hosted panels of speakers in thirteen major cities on the same night. Only two weeks away from my departure date, I had already done the "plan" part. I needed a dose of encouragement to sweep me onto the airplane.
Thanks to the event sponsors, the event included a raffle. I don't recall all of the prizes now. I remember thinking of it like a lottery ticket - I enjoyed imagining all the possibilities, but never expected anything to come of it. Much to my surprise, I won a spot in GeoVision's Conversation Corps program in France. They were able to accomodate my volunteering schedule, and voila, here I am.
I'm staying with a family near Lyon, France for the month of June. The logistics are very simple: in exchange for room and board, I speak English with the family for 15 hours each week. In practice, I'm learning about France in a way I would never get to on my own, while enjoying warm hospitality and good company.