A Dream Soirée

19 October 2012

This week, my friend Zuzana from class invited me to a soirée she was having at her apartment this evening. I was looking forward to this night all week! When it finally came time to get going, I went to the nearest tram stop to head over to her apartment. After getting lost and having to ask some very nice Grenoblois where I was, I finally made it to Zuzana’s cozy apartment. At this little soirée, there was Zuzana (my Slovakian friend from class), her French husband, their mutual French friend, Tshi-hi (a Korean in my class) and a friend of hers, Angelina (a Colombian in my class) and her French husband, and myself, the American. J What a fantastic little gathering! I cannot even begin to explain how amazing it was to have so many different cultures all together in one room, sharing stories and sharing laughs, all of us managing to communicate mutually thanks to the beautiful French language. I still can’t believe just how awesome that was! In a room full of people who spoke either Korean, or English, or Spanish, or Slovakian, we all managed to communicate together in French. If we didn’t all speak French, we wouldn’t be able to get to know each other at all – we’d be completely lost! The beauty of language, especially foreign languages, continues to amaze me every day. After spending some time chit chatting over some glasses of wine, we made our way to the kitchen where Zuzana served a delicious Raclette feast, a dinner consisting of melted cheese on top of potatoes, ham, salami, and other meats. It was really delicious, and a lot of fun! Everyone melted their own cheese in a sort of fondue-like fashion, and then everyone got to drizzle their melted cheese over whatever dish that pleased them. I tried the cheese on ham, potatoes, and salami, and it was all mind-numbingly delicious. Even better, we all continued our French conversation around dinner. We talked a lot about politics and how things differ in each of our countries, and we also discussed how we viewed the politics happening in other countries as well. I was amazed to see that everyone knew so much about American politics, even more so than I did! If anything, it was a moment that made me realize I should be a little more involved in both my own and other foreign governments as well. Time to take advantage of some newspapers!  After this delicious dinner, we returned to the living room and shared a really amazing experience: One after another, we all listened to a song on YouTube from our respective countries. For example, Tshi-hi played some popular songs from Korea, Angelina played some traditional dance songs from Colombia and also taught us the dance moves, and I serenaded everyone with the sounds of Britney Spears, RuPaul, and Gladys Knight. Everyone had a turn and everyone got to hear some great and interesting music from a whole variety of different cultures, and I had just the greatest time. It’s moments like this that I would never be able to experience back home in the States! A story like this is the kind of story I like to tell once I get back home and my family and friends ask me how my trip was. It isn’t the Alps or the Eiffel Tower and I am going to remember fondly. It’s this night that I am going to remember vividly, and I am going to look back at this night and admire it greatly for the rest of my life. Not even just this night, but this whole day. What an amazing day in Grenoble, France!