I spent one month travelling the south of France this summer, between Montpellier, Marseille and Nice. I began the trip in a language school in Montpellier. The goal was to spend three weeks there refreshing the stale remains of my knowledge of GCSE French. From there, practice my language in Marseille and Nice. This began with a rocky start. I told my landlady to give me ‘le tour’ in French because ‘oui bien sûr, je parle français!’. At this point in the trip, I really did not ‘parle francais’. Following this hubris, I enrolled into the A1 beginners class. 

I loved Montpellier; the city itself is utterly beautiful with old narrow streets and a cool creative vibe. My French did improve, and quickly, but I’ve always struggled with languages. One reason I chose this LEAP adventure was because I’ve always wanted to speak another language, but the task felt insurmountable. Going to the language school gave me a chance to overcome this. I’d love to say that I’m magically fluent, but really what the whole experience gave me was the confidence to speak and learn, and the inspiration to do so.  The friends I made at the school were from all over – Germany, Italy, America, Japan – and all equally eager to make use of what we were learning in our classes. I took every opportunity I could to speak French beyond the school lessons, even if it put me outside my comfort zone. Every morning, we practised our French in the bakery next to the school, and in the afternoons and evenings we would attempt to converse with bus drivers, waiters, bouncers and students from the University of Montpellier. This was with varied success, from the language exchanges we joined, to an ill-advised bachata dance class where there weren’t enough women… Or, a miscommunication with a bus driver which took us an hour and a half into the countryside outside Nimes. But the failures improved my French immensely. Generally, I found that the French people were generous and patient, and incredibly willing to help me learn.  

Having a basic grasp of French enabled my exploration of the south. No boulangerie was left unvisited, or body of water un-swum. Montpellier was the perfect base to plan our excursions from. We visited the Roman ruins and Arena in Nimes, where we picnicked in the Jardins de la Fontaine. Another day, we swam on our backs under the Pont du Gard aqueduct. I took the train to Avignon, and went to see the aforementioned Pont and the Palais des Papes. I worked out the bus route to Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert and kayaked down the gorge to the Pont du Diable, where we jumped off the rocks. Several afternoons were spent in Sète, the town next door to Montpellier, eating pastries, ice-cream ‘avec chantilly’ and seafood on the beach. I had less time in Marseille and Nice, but I did my best to continue eating and swimming my way through each place. In Marseille, I swam around the Frioul Islands, I ate Tarte Tropézienne in Cassis and I hiked in the Massif des Calanques national park. In Nice, I explored the markets, took the train to Èze, and in the evenings listened to the music from outside the Jazz festival … until a girl in my hostel offered me her spare ticket for the night. 

All in all, an exhausting but fabulous trip. I can’t recommend the LEAP adventure enough. It gave me the privilege to have a break from the continuous cycle of studying, internships, grad schemes and job applications at Cambridge. LEAP offered me the chance to switch my focus to learning a language. To pause and think about what I really want to do with my life.