Honor Place, a St John’s student, tells of a month she spent in a community in France, where life revolves around the cows. The trip was made possible by the St John’s Student Opportunities Fund.
Thanks to the John’s Student Opportunities Fund, I was able to spend a month last summer in a tiny community in France. It was a challenging, sometimes slightly strange, but wonderfully rewarding experience that I am grateful to look back on.
As a French student in Durham, where the department prioritises literary and cultural modules until the highly anticipated year abroad, the opportunities for language development are slim. Keen to spend a portion of my summer speaking French, I hopped on workaway.com, sifted through the numerous naturist farms, and applied for a role in a reassuringly normal-looking B&B in the hamlet of Aubrac in France’s southern Massif Central.
By the end of August I was there, and I got to work on my daily tasks of making breakfast for guests and cleaning bedrooms and bathrooms. This all might sound a) slightly hard work and b) quite boring – which it was – but those were just my mornings. The rest of the time I was free to make the most what Aubrac had to offer. The hamlet is nestled in a national park, a volcanic plateau in the Pyrenees. It’s one of the routes on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (so lots of pilgrims to chat to) and genuinely one of the most stunning landscapes I’ve seen.
Aubrac is all about the cows – they have cow contests and everything. One of my favourite afternoons was spent visiting the herd of my fellow cleaner at the B&B, Aurélie, who taught me everything there is to know about the bovine way of life.
What I treasured most was inserting myself into the little Aubrac B&B family. Cyril the owner, Stéphane the chef, and Stéphane’s partner, aptly named Stephanie, welcomed me into their little French fold straight away. They’re the kind of people who have lived all over the world, are full of stories about their interactions with the likes of Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, and have very strong opinions about things like immigration and liberté. But they were kind, always made sure I had a glass of red wine in hand, and improved my French no end.
I am very grateful to John’s Student Opportunities Fund for giving me the chance to experience such a rich cultural immersion in Aubrac.
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