Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde...

So I don't want to say that I have two personalities, but I kind of might have two personalities. This weekend I was with a couple exchange students to prepare for Paris at the end of March. I spoke in English for a majority of the weekend. I didn't really want to go into English mode, but it wasn't too bad. One of them said that she feels like a different person in the different languages that she speaks (Portuguese, English, French). After thinking about it, I realized that I do too. Also, that I prefer myself in French. 

It's a little weird, but I find that I'm different when I speak French. I don't think it's just because I've been here for six months and that it's my life now. Honestly, French words are just more accurate when it comes to describing things that happen to me. In English I tend to ramble and use a lot of different words to say the same thing (kind of like I do in these blog posts...), but in French I find that I'm more concise and I really have to choose my words. Because of this, it's a little easier to express what I want to say. 

Then again, there are times when I don't know the word for something (which bugs me... a lot). That's more a matter of translation though and not really being me. I just find that I articulate my ideas a little bit more in French than I do in English. Since this is the case, I am more of the person that I want to be and my personality is a little different. As you have probably noticed, I tend to ramble a lot when I speak or write in English. That can be great for a blog post, but in person it's tiring and makes me sound as though I don't know what I'm trying to say.

Basically, I prefer speaking French instead of English. That's actually pretty convenient seeing how I'm in France. It's just a little concerning for the return (which I will probably not speak of at all in any of my upcoming posts seeing how I HAVE NO DESIRE TO GO BACK). So I guess I just wanted to say that I've finally found out who I really am and it took learning another language for me to figure that out. But now that I have figured that out, I hope I won't switch back to the person I was before this all began. I guess we'll see how the cookie crumbles (yay, expressions that I haven't used in forever are suddenly useful!).

 Amelia

PS: To any of you reading this who are exchange students, I hope you have been able to see another side of your self, even if it isn't your favorite side. It may be different for those who are finding a side they don't like. If you're having a little battle with yourself, just remember that if exchange was easy, then everyone would do it, and that just isn't possible. Keep on going. :)

PPS: I have an issue with the fact that there isn't a word for the plural/formal form of you in English. Whenever I speak in English I always hesitate before saying "you" when I'm talking to a group and I wonder if I forgot the word. It's honestly getting really annoying.