l'amour et le métro.

Up until this week, I had been feeling quite confident in the progress I was making linguistically: cashiers  complimented my french, and strangers stopped me for directions and even asked where I'd bought my handbag. (It was only once, but it still counts!) Yet for some reason, this week marked a noticeable change in my progress for the worst. Discouraged by a trio of drunk passers-by who mocked my accent a few nights ago, I've been reverting to English when I can, and getting discouraged when I can't perfectly emulate the accent of my Parisian friends. Even a light-hearted, impromptu French lesson on the prononciation of goûter nearly left me in tears!

By Sunday morning, I'd had enough of my silly insecurities and decided to download a few podcasts for my metro ride to drown out the frequent sound of chatty teens and the loud beggars. Multitasking always brings out the over-achiever in me, and I stumbled across some French language podcasts on current events, which are great at training my ear and keeping me up-to-date on world news, but since I am a visual learner, I decided that the true immersion would come from watching French movies. Enter, youtube.

French films, even the short-films, have such a different style and sense of humor mostly because of their endings: unexpected, dry and bittersweet. J'attendrai le suivant// I'll Wait for the Next One, is a quick, 3-minute film that captures so much of modern Parisian life and humor: it focuses as much on navigating the metro as it does on navigating the dating world.

The video has English sub-titles so those living across the pond can enjoy it as well. Like most French films, the ending leaves me smirking: half of the fun of watching is being caught off-guard by the less-than-fairy tale endings. This one is no different....

xoxo.