A Fated Reunion!

The most exciting part of our stay in Amsterdam was that I got to see someone whom I thought I might not ever get to see again! I participated in a French immersion program in Nova Scotia, Canada the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in college. I studied at Universite' Saint-Anne. French immersion is exactly what it sounds like: the purpose is to eat, speak and breathe French. There is a strict no English speaking policy, or rather any language other than French. It's the only way to really know another language, and it was a fantastic experience for me. I did it again the following summer, but in another part of Canada.



My roommate during my studies was a lovely girl from Nova Scotia named Louise. We became fast friends and lived happily together for 5 weeks. What is interesting to me about language immersion is that you become a different version of yourself. You can't communicate how you normally do, it's much more simplistic. It can be harder to meet people because at first you're constantly looking in your dictionary to find every other word. You start to really appreciate the words you always took for granted. But it gets better with time. I think it's a facisnating social experiment, and I think if you can get through immersion, you can do anything!


So Louise and I were both 19 at the time. We lost touch after St. Anne's; this was before the days of facebook. But, thanks to facebook, we did find each other about a year ago. We were both married, she and her husband were living in Australia and loving it. I was glad to be in touch of course, but didn't think we would actually ever see eachother again.


But to my surprise, when she saw that we were going to be travelling Europe, she let me know that she was in Holland for the next few months for her husband's PhD program. So when we decided to check out Amsterdam, I sent her a message, and they came down to meet us!


The four of us had dinner and then went out for drinks afterward with some of their buddies. Another thing to note here is that this was basically one of the only times Louise and I have communicated in English. We truly did not speak English at Sainte Anne's. As roommates, I think we may have uttered a few words late at night when our conversations got a little deep, but that's really it. So I guess it was the first time we had met each other: The English Version.

Louise & Fleur: Reunited

Left to right: With Louise's hubby Dave, Louise and their pal James

We had a wonderful last night! It was so great to see Louise and for us each to meet the other's spouses. She's a beautiful girl with an adorable husband. I'm so glad I got to see her after 8 years! Life is full of surprises.