I would love to go to France this year, but making plans in 2020 or early 2021 to travel in later 2021 was a risky business. Both the US and France seem to be doing pretty well with Covid at this point, but that was far from predictable 6 months ago. All things considered, I decided to stay put this summer and travel only late in 2021, or more likely not until 2022.
So I’ve been looking into constructing a French-themed “staycation” this summer. The plan is to set aside a few weeks for intensive study, reading, writing and listening. I’ll take the time off from work, minimize domestic chores, and enjoy myself. Of course, not buying airplane tickets or paying extra for lodgings gives me a lot of leftover vacation budget, which I’m hoping to redirect towards getting professional instruction into the mix. And since my motto is “why do it when you can overdo it?”, I’m aiming for something like 20 hours per week (!).
I did some new research and dug up some of my past research on this, and have made successful contact with two vendors. The first is creatively named “A Breath of French Air“, and looks to be a sole proprietorship run by Virginie Bordier, who recently moved from France (Annecy?) to the US (Arizona). I swapped a couple of emails with her and am scheduled for a meet-and-greet tonight. If that goes well, I’ll likely do a week of intense study with her in late July. The second is Institut Linguistique Adenet in Montpellier, France. They primarily offer on-site immersion experiences for teens and adults, but also run online group classes through level C1 and private lessons. I sent them an inquiry this week and learned that the 6 hour France / Boston timezone offset rules out any of their group classes for me, but they did offer to arrange private lessons at a discounted bulk rate. I’m pursuing this further.