Adeline Thompson’s host mother in Toulouse, France, spoke very little English. She was, however, an avid knitter and crocheter, and Thompson crochets too. Early in her stay, Thompson tracked down a crochet shop downtown, where buying yarn and a hook became a French lesson of its own. After she finished her schoolwork each day, the two sat with their projects while her host mother watched an American reality series with French subtitles. Thompson helped translate, and they talked about their days.
“There are so few times in life when you can actually become part of another culture and live inside it,” Thompson said. “Even if you move to another country as an adult, you’re still an outsider. You’re never a member of a family there. Living with a host family may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience that.”
Thompson, a Jones College sophomore majoring in bioengineering, spent six weeks in Toulouse this summer with Rice in France, one of the School of Humanities and Arts’ faculty-led Rice in Country programs. She took two French courses at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse and is working toward the Certificate in Language and Intercultural Communication with plans to add French studies as a second major or minor.
French has been part of Thompson’s life since she was about 4 when her mother started taking her to classes. She studied the language through middle and high school and arrived at Rice determined to keep going. She considers herself conversant; fluency remains the goal.
The city helped Thompson on that mission. She said Toulouse has few tourist attractions and is built for the people who live there, which put everyday life right in front of her. Outside of the program, she met one other American all summer, a woman who happened to be from Texas.
Some of her biggest lessons came at the dinner table. At a recent Rice in Country reunion where students shared photos, videos and posters from their summers, Thompson’s poster examined French meals as a ritual for slowing down and connecting. At her host family’s table, Thompson learned to leave school out of the conversation, an adjustment for someone used to working through meals.
“If you bring up work, they’ll tell you, ‘We’re not talking about that right now,’” Thompson said. “I don’t think that would go over well at a lunch in the United States. But it comes from a sense that this time matters so much it has to be protected. It simply isn’t up for discussion.”
French directness extended well beyond meals and took some getting used to. In Thompson’s culture course, students journaled about the differences they noticed, then discussed them in French with an instructor who explained the local norms behind them.
“For the first couple of weeks, it felt like playing a game without knowing the rules,” Thompson said. “At orientation, they told us not to smile at people on the street because it communicates something different in France than it does in the United States. I remember walking around thinking, ‘I can’t smile, I can’t smile,’ and feeling so rude. But when you’re somewhere that people notice things about you that the people around you every day never would, you learn a great deal about yourself.”
Thompson said she hopes to return to Toulouse, this time with her own family, so they can meet the people who welcomed her.
“Since I got back, my host dad has mailed me books he thought I’d enjoy at my French level,” she said. “When I left, they told me to send a note at Christmas and a photo because they wanted to stay in my life. The experience goes far beyond those six weeks in France.”
For more information about Rice in Country, visit its website.