When it comes, it comes with a torrential ache.
Today I was told my a fellow student from VCU that the university had finally announced its plans to put an end to the French major. The fact that this was said to me while studying in France made the announcement seem even more preposterous.
I had heard the rumors soon after arriving in France as well as the efforts students and faculty alike have been going to in order to make sure that French continues to be offered at VCU. Geographically removed as I am, it all seems to me like it's happening in another world, another time. And today, the coup de grâce.
So if this is true, what does it mean for me? The idea of a French degree from a potentially non-existent department makes me feel cheated.
I don't even know why I'm a French major. If I'm being completely honest with myself, I haven't ever really known. I took FREN 101 as a spur of the moment decision and now, two years later, I'm in France.
I don't know that many words and there's a lot I can't say or understand, but a world without French doesn't seem like a world I want to live in. And I don't have to. Maybe I'm studying French because I was meant to, maybe I'm supposed to actually do something with it.
Standing there on that tram thinking this I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time: clarity.
Today I was told my a fellow student from VCU that the university had finally announced its plans to put an end to the French major. The fact that this was said to me while studying in France made the announcement seem even more preposterous.
I had heard the rumors soon after arriving in France as well as the efforts students and faculty alike have been going to in order to make sure that French continues to be offered at VCU. Geographically removed as I am, it all seems to me like it's happening in another world, another time. And today, the coup de grâce.
So if this is true, what does it mean for me? The idea of a French degree from a potentially non-existent department makes me feel cheated.
I don't even know why I'm a French major. If I'm being completely honest with myself, I haven't ever really known. I took FREN 101 as a spur of the moment decision and now, two years later, I'm in France.
I don't know that many words and there's a lot I can't say or understand, but a world without French doesn't seem like a world I want to live in. And I don't have to. Maybe I'm studying French because I was meant to, maybe I'm supposed to actually do something with it.
Standing there on that tram thinking this I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time: clarity.
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