It may only be our second day of classes, but I have already noticed improvement in my French. In a way, just being in France and interacting with the French people is like a class.
My class mostly discussed our weekend. I found this exercise to be very helpful because during it, I realized I was a little rusty, and this lesson refreshed my French. After talking about each of our weekends and the excursions to Monaco, Eze, and Antibes that we took part in, we moved on to food, We talked about French food, but especially candy. We learned about different types and adjectives to describe them. After our lesson, we regrouped with the other class, and we all walked to a local confiserie (candy store) that also made its own candy to sell. I was surprised to find out that it was only a 5 minute walk from the residence
At the candy factory and store, we were given an English tour of the first level of the building. The confiserie, called Florian, specialized in a hard candy with three specific flavors: rose, violet, and verbena. The petals of these plants were dried, soaked in a sugar syrup, let to dry again, and coated in more sugar. Overall, this was a very long process. We were given samples, and then finished our tour. We then headed upstairs where the tour continued, but in French. I was proud of myself and others for understanding what the tour guide was saying! She gave us samples of crystallized clementines; chocolate; salted caramel; rose, violet, and verbena jams; and chocolate-covered coffee beans. We were all then given a basket and sent free to roam to store. Mostly everyone bought something for themselves or someone back home. I tried almost everything, but bought chocolate covered rice and caramel, which was unique to the store. I would like to take some candy home to my family and friends, so I will definitely be back!
-Anna