Welcome to Volume 21 of Clutter Tales, a series where we tell the stories of our lives through our clutter. Today’s tale was inspired by an old trip diary I found when decluttering my bookshelves. When I opened it, I was transported back to a life-changing summer in France, and treated to a view of the world through the eyes of 18-year-old me.

A life-changing summer in France

Setting the stage

The year was 1982. I had just finished high school and was making plans for the future.

In high school, French was always my best subject so my teachers entered me in the University of Waterloo French contest. Much to my surprise, I placed first. The prize…an all-expenses-paid trip to France to study at the Institut Touraine at the Université de Tours.

Winning the contest was a big deal, and it turned me into a bit of a celebrity in my high school and local community. Here’s a clip from our local newspaper about my trip.

As I studied the trip diary from 40 years ago, it inspired me to pull out the photo album of my trip. Looking at those pages, I relived the memories of a summer of travel, adventure…and even a little romance.

Let’s look back.

A big adventure

For many 18-year-olds, the idea of travelling alone to a foreign country would be scary. As I read the diary entry on the day I left for my trip, it spoke only of excitement and anticipation.

Now I did run into a few problems during my trip that serve as a reminder that there were risks for an 18-year-old girl travelling alone, even 40 years ago. I won’t dwell on those other than to say it all ended well, but it taught me to be cautious when travelling. You need to keep your wits about you.

In a different era of travel

The first thing that stood out was how different travel was in those days.

First, there was a reference to the steak dinner on the plane being delicious—something totally unrelatable to today’s travellers. I was also intrigued by a list of traveller’s cheques, along with details of the banks where I cashed each of them. In the 80s, we didn’t have debit cards and credit cards so we used cash or traveller’s cheques to fund our travels.

Meeting people from around the world

Some of my best recollections are of the people I met. The Institut Touraine is a French language program for foreign students. I studied with people from around the world, and they weren’t all young people like me. The class photo in my photo album reminded me that we even had a few senior citizens in our class. One that stood out was an older lady we nicknamed “Madame Bouche” because she was always the first one to talk in class—and she seemed to really like the sound of her own voice.

One of my fondest memories is of a trip to Mont-Saint-Michel in Brittany. The trip itself involved getting up early and a long bus ride. Mont-Saint-Michel was worth seeing, but the thing that stands out is from the end of the day as we waited for our bus back to Tours.

A young Spanish woman named Maria Jose got out her guitar and started to play. One of the songs she played was John Lennon’s Imagine.  She spoke very little English but as she played, we all started to sing along. Being with people from all over the world, and singing that beautiful song of peace, was so powerful. Even forty years later, I relive that experience every time I hear that song.

Oh…the wine…

Of course, an 18-year-old studying in France has to sample the wine. Like most people that age, I was more impressed by quantity than quality. I recall going to the supermarket and stocking up on cheap plonk. There were many (perhaps too many) references in the diary of the silliness that ensued after drinking large quantities of wine.

We were also introduced to Kir at the local bistro. If you’ve never tried it, Kir is a cocktail made with white wine and crème de cassis—a blackcurrant liqueur. I recall it being quite delicious, so I’d highly recommend it.

…and the food

As students, we ate breakfast and lunches at the university cafeteria. The diary entries confirmed that cafeteria food is pretty much the same everywhere, even in France.

In the evenings, we ventured out to local restaurants. We spent a lot of time at the Bar de la Fac, the bistro across the street from our residence. We ate a lot of frites—and learned to enjoy them with hot mustard instead of ketchup.

One of our favourite restaurants that we visited several times was a creperie—Le Petit St Martin. As I developed a taste for savoury crepes, I learned that crepes are so much more than the thin pancakes we see in North America. My favourite dessert crepe was chocolate, banana and Chantilly cream. Délicieux!

And of course—un peu de romance

Naturally, this tale wouldn’t be complete without a little holiday romance. As a typical 18-year-old, my diary is full of references to cute guys, but there was one who stood out.

About a week into my trip, I met a young man named Pascal. He was an architecture student at the Université de Tours. We spent a lot of time together while I was there. As with most holiday romances, I never heard from him again after returning to Canada.

I even did a little studying…

It wasn’t all fun and games. Under the terms of my scholarship, I was required to attend classes Monday to Friday. Here’s the proof that I did study and learn something while I was there. I even managed to get some decent marks.

Classroom learning aside, the whole trip was a fabulous learning experience. I truly believe that the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in the culture. By the end of my trip, my diary entries spoke of how much more confident I was conversing in French. I’m sure the wine gave my confidence a little boost.

Overall, a life-changing experience

Looking back and reliving these memories reminded me of how much that trip fueled my love for travel, and learning. As I read the words on the page and looked at the photo album, I wondered how different my life might be if I hadn’t made that trip.

And I wondered what became of all those people I met during that life-changing summer in France. Especially Pascal…

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I hope you enjoyed this installment of Clutter Tales. If you’d like to write a guest post for Clutter Tales, please get in touch. I’d love to give you the opportunity to properly thank your clutter by sharing its story too!

What was the first trip you went on as a young adult? Tell me your stories below.