French immersion, meaningful encounters and lasting memories in Provence You may have experienced this before. You have been learning French for several months, perhaps even several years. You know your verb tenses, understand much of what you read, and may even be able to follow a film or a conversation. But the moment a French person speaks to you, the words seem to disappear. You struggle to find the right vocabulary, translate everything in your head, worry about making mistakes and...

Marsha and Virginie in Aix-en-Provence during a French immersion Today, I’m 70 years old. Writing those words feels a little strange. Time goes by so quickly, of course. But that morning in Provence, I didn’t really feel like counting the years. I felt more like looking at everything I was still able to experience. At 70, I was in France, far from home. I was learning French. I was discovering Provence. I had dared to try something completely different. And that day, I was going to celebrate...

A painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir Hello, my name is Kathleen. In November 2019, I came to Provence with my husband Georges for a French immersion stay with Virginie. It was a dream for me: staying in France, practising French every day and discovering Provence in a different way. One of the places I absolutely wanted to visit during our stay was the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer. I mentioned it to Virginie, and she organised the excursion for us. It was raining that day, but that didn’t...