Trying to be cool and assimilate

In hopes of blending in and not sticking out like a sore thumb while I am in France I want to learn some common phrases, some common french colloquialism, if you will. My findings are not complete nor are they 100% trust worthy in context but I have heard them before so I am not too scared to use them in public. Once I test them on the streets of France, I will report back to you all on my success rate with each of them.

“-Ça roule?”

“-Comme d’hab!”

Ça roule means  that everything’s great or going well. Therefore, in the form of a question, it means ‘How’s life? Good? or Is life good?

in response one would say in essence, just as normal or comme d’habitude which is then shortened to comme d’hab!

–N’importe quoi!

which means what ever but

 –C’est n’importe quoi!

means that’s nonsense

–Laisse tomber…

not as snappy as drop it but not as relaxed as forget it, slight mix between the two. How I think of it is a Chicagoan “fouwr gett abat it.”

–Ça te dit?

which is are you up for it or sound good to you?  If you make a Saturday night plan and want to know what your friends think add Ca te dit? to the end kind of something like…..Mad Max is playing at AMC tomorrow, you up for it? or does that sound good to you?

Tu t’en sors ?

you doing OK over there?

 Tu fais quoi?

whatcha doin? pretty laid back thing to say.

T’sais?

ya know? super common thing to say.

Also I learned FluentU a site can really help be more conversational and casual with french, it takes real life french media and uses them to teach french to beginners.

I know I will be using these in the near future to make some friends, I hope they just take pity on me and welcome me with open arms. From what I know about french culture that’s highly unlikely.

we shall see

x0x0

Richu

Cou-cou

Which literally translates to hello I am here! in french

A friend suggested that I start blogging about the exciting news I am about to share with you. I AM FINALLY STUDYING ABROAD!! I am a current junior international business major with a weird talent of finding myself in uncomfortable social situation. I have mastered it on my own domestic turf but I think taking it abroad will be far more amusing. So this will be my little recap of all the happenings of my days abroad and what trouble I happened to have been caught in (real time).

So here is the plan. I am shipping off in less that 20 days to Milan, Italy where I will make the most of being in my first fashion capital. I will share all the street style, the food, the sights and sounds and everything in between. Then after a very short stay in MILANO I will be booking it over the border to France where I will be cradled between two very beautiful peaks as a foreign exchange student. That’s right people, I am studying in a valley.

Through out the summer I will be taking excursion trip through out Europe, I am banking on leaving France at least 3 times but lets see how it all plays out.

This is the start to something fabulous! I know my views of the world will be changed forever after this trip and I can’t wait. I think this change is necessary to be successful in the field of work I hope to be apart of. Lets see how this all turns out in the end. Maybe its going to be the best decision I ever made, or its one hot mess. Either way, reader you will be witness to the grace or train wreck that will be my summer.

Lets the show begin

-X0X0

Richu