I stepped away from my busy life in Florida and for 10 days I embraced quiet life in the tiny, French village of Volvic. Surrounded by ancient sleeping volcanoes, early spring was magical as the world woke up to new life. Soline is the perfect teacher – patient, kind and forgiving of mistakes big and small. I came to renew my French after more than twenty years of only speaking English.
Shy at first, with Soline’s encouragement I found my fluency once more. My years of study at university were rigid with so many rules, but in Soline’s gentle teaching I stretched my language skills to new places – adding subjonctif, futur, and so much vocabulary. When my professors at university would have said, “NO!”, Soline said, “Yes! And try it.” Our time together was comfortable and conversational as we talked about our families – our children were similar in age. We discussed education and how the schools worked in our respective countries. At lunch sometimes her partner Jérôme joined us, and we discussed politics in France and America or his work. We talked about my husband’s job as a boat captain and the beaches where I lived.
The places we visited were beautiful – so many amazing churches. With a love of geology, I spent a lot of time looking at the stone used to build the churches and the difference in the colors. We drove around looking for jonquils and bonded over identifying flowers. It was fun to compare the flower names in French and English. I spent a lot of time painting the flowers and places we visited. Puy de Dôme was my favorite outing as the view was amazing.
However, the best part was the day to day talking and feeling like part of her family. Her boys were great and I enjoyed helping them with their English. They were so patient with me and my French. She introduced me to some of her friends and by the time I left I felt comfortable finding my way around the little village and had explored almost every inch of it.
The Gîte de la Planche accommodations are more than comfortable and had everything I needed to feel at home. The food – Soline and Jérôme are amazing cooks! I ate better at their table than almost anywhere else I dined in France! I didn’t want to leave, and I can’t wait to return one day and bring my children so they can start to learn French as well. Also, I would be remiss not to mention the cat. She made my stay so much happier.