Alright, so the dream, or at least it's abbreviated version, went something like this: I was going to live in a modest little house in Southern France, near Provence when I grew up, and it was going to be amazing.
The pursuit of the dream went a little something like this: I dedicated myself to learning all about France, its language, its culture, and its history for about a year. I dreamt of the house, and came up with floor plans, and started zeroing in on the city I'd want to live in. (I never quite decided.)
How the dream began, and how it ended, has to do with a series of pastel-colored books with really horrible pictures on the front. The series is about different countries. I started with the Canada book, which had an unflattering picture of an industrial plant somewhere in Quebec, and made my way through the France book, whose picture I can't quite recall. I started to fall in love somewhere between the History and Culture chapters, and the deal was sealed during the People chapter. The dream ended, or at least faded into something better, somewhere between the end of the Sweden book and the start of the Finland book.
In any case, here are some of the amazing books and resources I found on that leg of the journey:
France, A Love Story: This taught me a lot about French culture and the people of France. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/124791.France_A_Love_Story
French Word A Day: This blog also taught me a lot about French culture, and about French language. http://french-word-a-day.typepad.com/
I wish you success on your journey into French! Click on the foreign language tag for more language-learning resources, and be sure to check out the Learning About Culture segment of our blog for more about other peoples, nations, and cultures.
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