In Which Rayla Parle En Français Très Cassé

In embracing the whole point of SYA, me and a few of my friends have taken to speaking French during lunch and after school. It's actually very entertaining. This started yesterday, when me and Kelly and Katie (my two friends in 'bleu' - SYA's highest French level [I'm in 'rouge' which is the second level out of four]) went to the crêperie that's never open and got some delicious crêpes and galettes for lunch. We decided that we would speak ONLY French during lunch and it worked out really well. It's actually not that hard when you're speaking just with other Americans because it's easier to understand them due to their limited vocabulary which is similar to yours, and the fact that they talk slower than real French people.

Anyway, I told my other friend Maggie about this glorious French experience, and we decided that we should speak only French when we went to a café after school. This was all a very good idea, but it's funnier for us because we're both in 'rouge', so we don't have that semi-pretentious "I'm good at French" confidence that comes with being in bleu (no offense to them though, I'm just saying that they all know that they are pretty good at French, so have more confidence speaking it). So we both knew that we kind of sucked (relative term, of course) so it was really funny to speak our "français cassé" (broken French). Anyway, I was dashing across the street with Maggie behind me when I exclaimed quite loudly:

"J'AIME PARLER LE FRANÇAIS TRES CASSE!"

And this French woman gave me this really weird look. It was amazing.

That's all for funny stories for now, but BEWARE, if you happen to be one of my best buds from French class last year, a very interesting letter from me will soon be on its way to you. Watch the mailboxes.

Speaking of letters, if anyone does want to write me randomly, please do! Did I mention I'm collecting postcards from everywhere and anywhere? Also normal cards. I'm putting them on my wall. I promise I'll write back!

Rayla Hylbom

RE: School Year Abroad

5 Allée Sainte-Marie

35700 Rennes

FRANCE