By lacymyrman
Now that I have just finished midterms, I think it is probably a good time for me to reflect a bit on the first half of the semester and to speak a bit on what's to come.
During the first week of the semester, I met all of my professors and classmates and went through a lot of the standard introductory material - Why did you choose Marseille? Why French? What do you aim to accomplish from this program? The list goes on.
In my History of Marseille class focused on Diversity and Urbanization, the professor asked why we each chose the class (given that there were only 4 of us, and now only 3 in the class). I said that I wanted to learn a lot about the city I was living in and take advantage of the bi-weekly trips to different neighborhoods to see the development of different communities as a result of immigration patterns. He quickly corrected me in that in France, no "communities" exist. Well, throughout the semester I've found that that isn't exactly true. At least not to me, since I am looking at Marseille as an American and with a different idea of what a "community" is.
A major emphasis of American society and culture is the appreciate of diversity (or at least hypothetically). Our nation was founded on the diversity of immigrant populations coming to the New World for better opportunity. For the French Republic, the focus denominator among all French and that is their citizenship. The only thing that is common across is that they are "French citizens." Anything else is not relevant to the state (unless it becomes a problem for the status quo). To the French, the idea of communities is a threat to that status quo. And so while neighborhoods or "quartiers" do form, there is a fear to acknowledge or allow "communautarisme."
In fact, in France, it is illegal to record demographic statistics on ethnicity! In Marseille, you can see that there are pretty clear neighborhoods (or what I would refer to as communities) of Italians, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Algerians, other Maghreb populations and "gens des colonies" or people of the colonies - mostly West Africans. At the same time, however, these "communities" interact and can commonly be seen at the same public spaces.
The reasoning for the strong French emphasis on the common denominator is the French Revolution where they sought to eliminate all groups - aristocrats, clergy, and tiers-etats - to remove the large gap between them all. They wanted to make liberty and equality available to all via a stronger brotherhood (hence "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité"). There are two other distinctions here that are important to make for Americans. In the United States our idea of liberty and freedom is the ability to make our own decisions and to have our own property. For the French, being an "homme libre" (essentially, a free person) means that you are able to be noble in your thoughts (Enlightenment) and to basically transcend the need for monetary or other worldly objects. This really impacts the way that the French conceptualize perserving the status quo - they protect the individuals by emphasizing the collective, whereas we preserve the good for all by protecting the rights of individuals. The final noteworthy difference is in the conception of equality. This one was really different for me to think of. The French see equality as an absolute - everyone has the same as in a house, food, etc. Americans view equality as equal opportunity which is very different from French "equality."
These are all very interesting things that I've taken in from my classes and in living in France. It is a completely different way to think and it is normal for the French given their history. It was made me much more aware of how my background as an American shapes not only my culture but my world view and my thought processes. I think this is something that I would not have experienced as much had I not studied abroad and not participated in this program specifically (American University Center of Provence - Marseille: Bridge to the Mediterranean).
***
Another thing I'd like to note in general is that it is CONSIDERABLY more difficult to learn a language after you have stopped speaking it for a while than when you first start. So anyone taking a language currently, NEVER stop. There have been many times when I have thought about just quitting French because it's so much harder now and even after living in France for two months, I feel like my French is still nowhere near as good as it was two years ago when I left high school with six years of consistent studying. In fact, I'm starting to feel like I'm going backwards in my ability to speak and it's becoming a source of anxiety for me. I just keep reminding myself that I'm doing something that a lot of people aren't and I am here trying to relearn and that's not an easy thing to do - especially since I'm fully immersing myself. I was hoping to be fluent by the time I leave so I need to really focus on that goal for the second half of the semester.
Another goal is to really focus on Arabic and learn as much as I can during my semester. In about two weeks, we will be going to Fez, Morocco for one week and each of us will have an individual host family. I really want to take advantage of that opportunity as much as possible. So here's to two weeks of intense study of French and Arabic and just under two more months of study abroad in Marseille.
As I packed for my midterm break last Friday, I realized that Marseille and my host family were really a part of me now. I was also sad though because I realized that soon I will be leaving here. In fact, that made me really sad and nostalgic. But, no need to be sad yet - I have November and most of December left so it's time to really start taking advantage! Au revoir for now!