La Belle Promenade

A friend asked me the other day what my favorite thing about living in France was. Without really thinking, an image popped into my head of my walk to school in the morning, and I smile. Of course I enjoy the beautiful chateaus and the delicious cuisine; but what I enjoy the most is my daily stroll through town on my way to school. For the first few weeks, I would start my walk by thinking: “Wow, I am really going to school in France.”


When I step outside, the cool, fresh air blows across my face and I am more awake than ever. As I walk down rue d'Epluchard, I see all the French townhouses with their old style of architecture. People start to open their windows above me, as the sun is now up. It feels as though everyone does this at once and if they were talking they would be saying “a new day is here.” I quickly run past at least one window where someone is beating a rug, the dust and dirt falling slowly behind me. My daily stroll feels almost like a musical sometimes, with the signing on mute.

It is only dark while I am walking to school one day of the week, because I have a class at 8 a.m. On the other days, I see a few people out on the street and I listen to them speaking. I hear moms saying “allons-y!” to their children. I hear friends saying “bonjour” as they pass on the sidewalk. I see young children walking to the elementary school around the corner. To me, the French language sounds somewhat formal, so I find it very cute when I hear young children speaking it. One morning I walked past a townhouse when a little boy, who was maybe three or four years old, came hopping down the steps and runs into me. I smile and don't look back until I hear “excusez-moi”from his tiny little voice. I was shocked because in the U.S., you would not hear these words from a small child.

As I get closer to the University, my favorite structure appears on the right side of rue de Jean Fontaine. It is an extremely old church that is not in use anymore. The huge, rusted red doors are locked shut, preventing me from sprinting toward them to walk inside. The stained glass windows are so colorful and inviting to the eye, I wonder what it would be like to sit inside. Every morning I stop, for just a few seconds, and look up to absorb. I will never get over the fact that I am walking by an ancient church with so much history.

The Université Catholique de l'Ouest is just ahead and I snap back to reality and keep walking. I reach the school after my twenty minute walk. I seem to experience a huge difference in my readiness to learn by simply walking past my favorite sights in France, rather than being dropped off by a bus.