essay contest winnerfall 2008 essay contest winner
Congratulations!
Jonah m.
Nîmes, France: High School Abroad
"How Much Time Do You Have?"
“Wow, how was THAT?” everybody asks me when I say that I just spent a year living in France, attending a French high school and living with a host family.
At a loss for words, all I ever really manage to respond is “good.”
“What do you mean, “good?” they ask. “Tell me about it.”
“Well it's just that I could say so much,” is my usual retort. “How much time do you have?”
I don't even have enough time in this essay. Those who followed my blog C'est Pas Tes Oignons (“None of Your Beeswax”) that I kept while I was in France would say I should write a book about my experience. The truth is that I don't even think a book could do last year justice. Books can evoke an enormous range of emotions, but no book can come close to conveying what I felt between August 30, 2007 and June 22, 2008.
“Go feel it for yourself” I tell them.
Now, like most guys who have just graduated from high school, I don't cry much. But as I hugged my parents in BWI airport on that day in August over a year ago my eyes watered up a bit. Two days of orientation in France later, there I was, terrifyingly gripping the passenger side door handle as my host mother drove me through the city of Nîmes on the way to my home-to-be. So many feelings rushed through my head: excitement, fear, sadness, eagerness, and most importantly, amazement. I just couldn't believe what I was getting myself into.
Today it's a completely different story. I'm a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park (my twin brother doesn't hesitate to remind me as he's a sophomore now). So I'm a year “behind” him, but what's in a year, anyways? A LOT!
Like the difference between butchering a language and speaking it fluently. Or a whole new set of family and friends that you miss and will always enjoy coming back to. How about all the experiences, like almost getting gored by a bull during a Pamplona-esque celebration? Or living in a town with a castle, and seeing lots of other ruins that are ten times older than your country, and forty times older than your town, including one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Pont du Gard ? And understanding the way your country is viewed from abroad, especially in a political climate that will gravely affect the world in years to come. That's what's in a year.
Reading this essay probably doesn't mean much to you, because I haven't taken the real time required to explain my experience. Like I said, it's just a little hefty to explain without a lot of time. Go and experience it if you haven't already.
