It is interesting to think about what we might end up doing one year from now. I know that for some, there isn’t much suspense. You might have different classrooms and even different schools, but not much change to everyday life. A year ago, I would have never thought that I would be living in France!
There is a lot of unknown territory when it comes to living in a foreign country. The language, culture, food and viewpoints might differ from yours. For example, I’ve taken French classes for two years, but they would have never prepared me for the real deal. It is one thing to speak in a classroom and another to speak with a local. You might not realize, but native speakers, like yourselves, speak English very fast! Understanding another language is even harder because we usually speak using colloquialisms, or slang, when we speak with each other. In French class, I wasn't taught a lot of slang, so there are some common words that I don't understand. In French, most words aren’t completely pronounced either, and this makes understanding the local language even more challenging. For example, the word mangent, which means "they are eating," is pronounced "manj," so the -ent is not pronounced at all!
The food is also likely to differ. For example, in Mexico, we eat tortillas nearly every day as part of our meal.
