I sort of disappeared there for a bit—I was up in Burlington Vermont for 5 weeks, working at a French language immersion program with 90-some American teenagers, and a very cool staff (all of whom pretty much spoke better French than me, but I learned a lot in 5 weeks).
The program was housed at St. Michael’s College, a small Catholic liberal arts college with a really lovely campus.
Since “Brad” isn’t a very French name, I was “Thibault.” I led singing (kids learned about 20 songs or so while there), and helped to organize activities and other program-related things. It was very fun, and CRAZY STRESSFUL. So, readjusting has taken a little longer than expected. But, I’m glad to be back, and I do have a new French song, j’ai vidé mon cœur (I emptied my heart) to show for it. The kids sang it, and also an older one, Une Fois, which I wrote while working in a similar program about 10 years back.
Will I do it again next summer? Not sure, but it was pretty cool.