MY ENGLISH SPEAKING EVENING

You must be wondering what this English speaking evening is. Well, to make it short, I'll say that before coming in Toulouse , I was in Toulon (as you can read in the section dedicated to my life). When I was there, my sister met someone in her school. They became friends, and last year he decided to fly to Australia for one year. There he met a lot of people, and one of his friends decided to spend her summer holiday in Europe . He made her a travel route through Europe and the cities where he had friends. That's why she came in Toulouse . My sister and she met each other, and they proposed me to spend the evening together. They wanted to go in a place where we could have good time, but neither my sister nor the Australian girl new Toulouse . I knew this was an opportunity to speak with an English speaking person as we had been told to do. I don't know Toulouse very much neither, but every morning, when I go to the ENSEEIHT, I see this Irish pub just a few streets away from my school. It seemed attracting, but I never dared entering in it, and overall, I had never had the occasion. Even if it's an English speaking pub, it's really difficult to come in and start discussing with strangers. Also because I'm a bit shy. That's why this was the occasion I couldn't miss to have a contact with an English speaking person.

So, we met at the Capitole, and we decided to go to the De danù. We presented each other. She was called Clare. Without the “i” as we spell it in French… That was our main topic during the evening: The differences between our two countries. During the road to the pub, as I was driving, she told us that in Australia people don't throw their cigarettes in the streets whereas in France they do. We told her that in France some people even throw their ashtray from car! She found the streets very narrow compared to the Australian ones. That's how I see Australia too: huge and wide straight roads. It's funny to think also that in their country they drive in the other way, just as in England …

We finally arrived to the pub and ordered something to drink. I wanted to have a special beer. We were in an Irish pub, I had to take something typical. As I didn't know what it was, I ordered a stout called Beamish. Clare showed me proudly that they were selling Foster, which is a beer from her country. My beer was quite bitter, but the taste wasn't bad. I looked for the signification of the word stout in the dictionary afterwards, and learned that it was just a way to call “dark beer”. When paying our drinks, Clare told me she was a bit confused with Euro as she was used to Australian dollars. When she looked at the prices, she thought it was cheap, but it was just an illusion…

As we were drinking together, we continued talking about the cultural differences that were opposing our countries. I asked her what holiday was it in Australia because I found it was funny she had so much time to travel. She told me it was the summer holiday, and I must confess I was surprised. It's logical but I had never asked the question to myself: in Australia they have summer in February! We talked of our studies, and she said that in Australia they study for a few years, something like 2 or 3 years and only 5 for medicine studies. She was puzzled to learn that in France people often study for 9 years to become surgeon.

As we were looking at the decoration of the De danù, we went to talk about sport. Naturally, Rugby came to be one of the major topics as we were in Toulouse , and she came from a country very near to the New Zealand known for the “All Blacks” team. I was surprised to learn that they played cricket in Australia because I though only English people were able to play this sport. She also talked about a funny sport, a kind of football they only play against Ireland .

She told us that in Australia French people are known to be very “sophisticated”. We hadn't any stereotype for the Australian people; we told her that it only evoked to us the kangaroos and the boomerang… We talked about the weather in Australia and it turned out that it was usually very hot in her country. I had this image in mind that she confirmed, that they go on the beach for Christmas.

As time was running and she had to leave early in the morning to go in the Pyrenees , we finally left the pub. We went back to the car and I drove her back to her residence. During the road, she was really surprised by the way I went in the roundabout. As they drive on the left, they also turn in the other way around the roundabouts! That was funny to see how she was surprised by this.

Well, I must admit I spent a very good evening; it was very interesting to speak with her and to go in this pub. But I must say that it's really different to speak in classroom and to talk with a young pretty girl… It was difficult at the beginning, but it finally became easier, and I felt quite at ease with her at the end. We managed to understand each other despite the great distance between our two countries. That was a very god experience.