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Stocking Stuffer Alert! More great gifts for language travelers:

International Student Identity Cards (ISIC)

Worldwide Cell Phones & SIM Cards: Mobal 

Europe Cell Phones & SIM Cards: Eurobuzz

Best Study Abroad Luggage

Lonely Planet Guidebooks

AmeriSpan Gift Certificates

While riding the Metro during my first few days in Lyon (it?s a wonderful Metro, by the way), I sat across from a couple who were speaking in sign language. Here I was, just a little ways away from them, feeling very isolated from the general public due to a language barrier, and then I saw this couple that must feel that way all the time (or, at least, struggle to communicate with others). It struck me that learning a new language is a good experience not just because you can put another language level on your resume, but also because 1) you get to learn so much about what so many people go through when they immigrate to another country 2) and, therefore, you can relate to so many more people. 3) Third, learning a new language is also very humbling. I?m a Ph.D. student in English in America; I?m paid to read and write for a living. I read Eliot and Proust, and I write complicated critics. In French, however, I?m reading baby books about the colors and the alphabet and the names of different types of fruits. I think I can relate much better to the ESL (English Second Language) students that I tutor back home. Language is hard, and my professors are patient with me; this makes me want to be more patient to those I meet in the states who don?t speak English very well. In short, I think learning French is making me a better person.

That said, learning French is manageable. When I first arrived in Lyon (four weeks ago), I could barely put a sentence together. I?m pretty proud to say that I can now say just about anything I want in very broken, terrible French. Still, I can communicate nearly anything I want to! That?s pretty magical. Learning French is hard, but learning French is something anyone can do. The wonderful thing about having classes everyday is that (if you?re like me) you can?t really forget all the words you learned the day previous; you?ll have to deal with them everyday after too. So, even if I forget what the word “gravir” means, it?ll probably be in my worksheets tomorrow and the next day, and I will know the word “gravir” like the back of my hand by the end of the week (“gravir,” by the way, means “to climb up”).

Click for more information on AmeriSpan’s French school in Lyon, France.

Click to see all of AmeriSpan’s French schools in France.

Read all of Ashley’s blogs from Lyon France.

Watch a video blog from our latest guest blogger, Christina H., who is studying French in Quebec City, Canada. In this video, Christina takes us on a tour of her homestay and school.

See French in Quebec City.