Hello all, I was referred to your travel forum by Kaydee who said I could find many people like myself here!

My name is Bonnie and I am 50 years old this month. My family moved to Aix-en-Provence for 3 years in 2002. My kids ages then were 6, 9, and 14. They had tutoring for a year before our move and the two youngest went straight into the public (all french) school. My oldest son went to an international school in Aix where approximately half of his classes were in French, the other half in English. They learned FAST and became fluent -- the youngest within 6 months with no accent, according to his french teacher. It was beautiful to watch!

Me, on the other hand -- I attended the University of Provence in Aix where I took French lessons. Then I studied at an institute similar to the one Kathy just finished. I learned much more by far at the institute, because it was a small class and more one on one instruction. Of course I learned the most by having to try and communicate in French and making lots of mistakes. I still didn't learn as much as I had hoped and blame my age for making it difficult, plus I am hard of hearing which makes it even harder.

Also I was able to be lazy since my husband is fluent and did a lot of the difficult things, plus the kids came to my rescue many times! I still want to learn more for myself though and it would be a dream come true to become fluent in French. I envy those of you who are. We got to know a side of France that I don't think we would have otherwise if my husband hadn't been able to speak the language so well.

Our dream is to move to France again after the kids are on their own but until then I visit as often as I can in person and read and talk about it a lot!

I hope this wasn't too long of a post. I look forward to getting to know more about the board and more about the members!

Bonnie

Hi Bonnie, welcome to Slow Travel and, of course, a friend of kaydee's is everybody's friend here.

We look forward to your participation in our discussions.

We were in Aix last year and my wife and I decided that we would love to return there to stay for a while longer, which we may. A wonderfully young old city.

Bienvenue, Bonnie. Glad you made it here!

Your three years in Aix sound like such a fabulous and enriching experience, both for you and your kids. Would love to hear more about that!

Looking forward to seeing more of you on the boards, especially France!

Welcome Bonnie - it sounds like you had a wonderful time in your previous long stay in France. We are going to Aix for our first visit this September and are really looking forward to seeing it.

Welcome to the board, it's a friendly group you'll find.

Bonjour Bonnie!

I'm so glad to see you here-- and I hope we see a lot of you! The French board is an especially compatible group. You can live vicariously through the travels of others, learn more about other areas of France, and talk about the areas you love.

A bientot!

Kathy

Welcome, Bonnie! Do come and join us on the France forum!

Hey Bonnie -- great to have another fan of Provence on the board. Bienvenue!

-- Janie

Welcome Bonnie....we always love new folks!