A dose of French inspiration

It takes years to learn a foreign language. There is no way around that, unfortunately. So isn’t it remarkable that just five days away from home can make a significant difference when learning a language?

“From the very first day, we were fully engaged. It was so well-organised. We landed in the middle of the day and went straight to a restaurant where we had pre-booked lunch. Immediately after eating, our teacher, Célia Gelardi, and her colleague Sandra Dæncker (head of the French department) took us on a tour of Lyon. We started in the old Roman district, located at the very top of the city centre. We strolled through the tiny, densely built alleyways and gradually moved down towards the more modern parts of the city. Over the next few days, we also learned about the city’s history, the religious wars, and its modern development,” says Ulla Knudsen. She has a deep love for the French language. Both of her parents were French teachers. At the age of 20, she lived in France for a year while studying the viola, the instrument she has played throughout her career, including many years in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Since 2019, Ulla has been retired—and a dedicated French student at Studieskolen. She continues to improve her French because she wants to communicate better with the locals when travelling in France.

“I just had to go on this trip!”

“I enjoy connecting with the locals when I speak some French. You can use the language when you’re in a restaurant or visiting a shop,” Ulla explains. So, joining Studieskolen’s trip to Lyon felt entirely natural to her. “I just had to go on this trip!”

“There were two of us from my class. The rest were strangers to me beforehand. But we got along well, and even though only some meals were planned as group activities, we spontaneously decided to dine together on the other days too. In fact, we ended up eating together every evening. Célia and Sandra booked tables for all of us. It was so cosy! And to practise, we spoke French to each other during dinner until we got tired and switched to Danish!”

Guided tours in French

Two guided tours were arranged in Lyon with local French-speaking guides who had been instructed to speak at a reasonable pace so everyone could follow along. “One tour took place in the old district, Vieux Lyon. The other was in the bohemian area of Croix-Rousse and focused on the silk industry. Our guide shared an incredible wealth of knowledge about the industry’s importance to Lyon, and we finished the tour with a visit to L’Atelier de Soierie, which still produces beautiful traditional silk prints,” Ulla recounts.

A market visit as a French lesson

One morning, the participants visited a market where they had to talk with the stallholders about their products. There is a big difference between a melon that is ready to eat today and one that will ripen in two days—and that is exactly the kind of thing French vendors enjoy discussing. There were opportunities to sample typical French dry sausages, honey and much more. Each encounter was a chance to learn new, exciting words and expressions in French.

Juice and madeleines with an elderly French lady

The participants were encouraged to seek out contact with locals to practise speaking French as much as possible. Afterwards, they shared their experiences with the group. Anna Margrethe Jakobsen, another participant, had a particularly memorable encounter:
“One day, I wandered off on my own to maximise my chances of speaking with locals. I found a little square with beautiful magnolia trees. ‘Now I’ll just relax under the magnolias,’ I thought. Then I spotted a little old lady in a dusty coat. She looked so kind and peaceful that I just started talking to her about the weather, and soon we were chatting away. She was 93 years old. She thought it was delightful and told me all about her life, her husband, and her children. Imagine, she even invited me to her flat for juice and madeleines. I told her that I’m a physiotherapist and asked if she did any exercise. She laughed and said no. But she explained that she regularly had massages. We chatted a bit more, and then we said goodbye with a kiss on each cheek. I was overjoyed by the experience and could hardly sleep that night,” Anna Margrethe shares.

Like Ulla, Anna Margrethe has a special connection to the French language. She chose to study French in secondary school because she thought it was a beautiful language. Back in 1984, her husband worked at DTU (the Technical University of Denmark). There, he became friends with a French colleague who needed a place to stay. Anna Margrethe and her husband had a spare room in their flat, so they ended up hosting the French colleague and his wife. The two couples lived together for six months—long enough to form a close friendship that has lasted a lifetime, albeit with pauses while raising their children.
“When we visited our friends in France a few years ago, I had decided to speak more French with them. And I realised I needed a refresher. That is why I started taking French lessons. So when Célia asked if I wanted to join the trip to Lyon, I didn’t hesitate!”