On my first day of French class in seventh grade, I learned a simple exchange: "Bonjour, ca va? Oui, ca va bien." I have used this exchange countless times while I have been in France. So why was the rest of my seventh grade language class based around a textbook? Having spent about two and a half months learning to...

I have been in France for more than two months and I have not blogged about food. I have eaten a lot of food—trust me—but I have not been able to see where it connects to language. There are words for different menu items, words for how to prepare meals, for ordering and for describing wonderful (and disgusting) tastes. But...

Vernacular is a great word, and not only because it's fun to say. A vernacular is simply any variation of a language a given community has developed. Neighborhoods, towns and islands all have their own. And anytime a group of people separates from their community, their vernacular is affected by their new environment. In any city in the United States,...

I am spending part of my mid-semester break in Glasgow, Scotland. Having been here for less than a day, I already see how much work Scots put into producing and appreciating their culture. Here, plays, artwork, museum exhibits and food are designed to celebrate Scottish culture. I went to a lunchtime event called "A Play, a Pint, and a Pie"...

Sound resonates in a cathedral: footsteps, jingling keys, doors closing, hushed voices. Everyone speaks quietly in a cathedral, because the quiet is precious and so easy to disturb. There is a cathedral on a hill in Bezier, France where my friends visited last weekend. It has beautiful stained glass and a magnificent organ. One of the doors has graffiti from...

Last weekend I took a day trip to Sète, a seaside town close to Montpellier. The town has recently become a tourist attraction, with restaurants filled with fresh fish and coffee shops serving ice cream. A port city dating back to 1666, it has beautiful old buildings lining its numerous canals. After exploring what the city streets had to offer,...

I finally learned how to say leftie in French. And it turns out none of my French professors ever got the translation exactly right. I've never actually heard anyone use the word gauche in English, but I have many adult friends who swear they once knew someone who used the word all the time. It's the type of word that...

My first instinct was to begin writing this post in French – a good indicator of what happens when one is dropped in a foreign country and tries to speak the language. First, it's exhilarating. My brain is working in French! Exhausting. Got to keep this up! And frustrating. Now I can't even remember some words in English! But sitting...

It is nice to think that food is safe, the people who cook it are meticulous and the ingredients are high quality. Presuming that food will not induce a stomach-ache is easy. Although it hurts the stomach to digest or throw up bad food, it hurts the soul to doubt a taco from a taco truck. However, the Los Angeles...

On a stage at the front of the room, the DJ plays the first jazzy tune and the lights dim to a glow. The dance floor floods with newcomers and regulars in full skirts and loose slacks, rocking in the step-step-triple-step pattern. A gangly teenage boy — frog-like with his green pants and long strides — leads a girl his...