Pardon my French, but I’m taking classes now, and need to practice:). Every Saturday I meet up for four hours with my study-group and my teacher, a very tall and very sweet and very patient man with French-Swedish origins.
There are just seven of us, but we are all total noobs, like my son would say, which means we are at beginners level A1. Some have already bought their French retirement houses, others have plans and one works for a French company. Its a nice group, and we have a nice 30 minute break for coffee and sandwiches in the middle of session, when we get to know each other better. We even have a Facebook-group…
Well, its good we can talk in our break. Because we wouldn’t know much if we had to rely on our French:) “Je mappelle Angeline, je suis suedoise.”
I practice every night in bed, so I can now count to twenty, and a few more useful phrases. I do not know the alphabet. There are some very weird letters in French, let’s make that clear.
I do enjoy my classes. We will only have 6 Saturdays, then I think we can continue with the same teacher. I’m not sure I´ll be able to, because of work.
The lessons in French has opened my eyes to some things.
I´m a sociable person, but I’m also an introvert. I like to meet new people, and interact and watch them, but I do not want to overly connect, if you get my drift? I don’t want to be BFF with someone after 45 mins, not even after a few hours.
Learning a new language is great fun. And people-watching is even funnier. I enjoy watching how we all tackle the language differently, some with laptops and charts for all the irregular verbs, others simply by listening and rehearsing, me with my old notebook…
French is not an easy language to learn. Especially not writing it, or finding some logic in the grammar or pronunciation. Why don’t you pronounce the s or the t unless…? My teacher writes and explains and then he just shrugs in that typical French way and says “you’ll learn, its what it is”. And to be honest, it just makes me even more stubborn to learn! I have booked a flight to Paris in June, and before that I will learn to order some nice food in French, and maybe even ask for directions – just you wait and see!
Age is just a number 
I admire your diligence – I know a few words but really I must try harder, I am off to Paris in a week and a half for a long weekend with a friend (Klimt exhibition in lights, but really any excuse….). Paris in June sounds amazing – perhaps first and foremost you should perfect the french shrug – that seems to be part of the language.. Like you I am probably quite an introvert – I can be friendly enough but really I am happy in my own skin.
I hope you will have a great time Juliet! I’m envious of that fantastic exhibition, wish I had time to travel to Paris and see it:)