Gesundheit.

Oh, excuse me. IRFFLE. That’s “The Institute for Research and Training in French as a Foreign Language” at the University of Nantes where Chloe has attended school all year. You may be asking why the acronym doesn’t line up. Because it’s a French acronym, silly. The program is really called “l’Institut de Recherche et de Formation en Français Langue Étrangère,” the French as a foreign language program at the university. Get it? IRFFLE.

Gesundheit.

Anyway… Chloe wrapped up the second semester on Tuesday with a 10 minute oral exam. On Monday she had 6 hours of exams. So not only is she getting practice with learning French, she’s getting an experience she’s never really had before, high pressured testing. In the fall she found it a bit daunting but once she found her groove she’s managed with it quite fine. She came home Tuesday very excited, both because she felt she had done well on this week’s tests and because she’s on a short break. Next week she starts up four final weeks of classes, after which she will have finished her formal French studies at the university. Also of significance, she has fully paid for her university tuition here through her babysitting in France. I find that as impressive as anything she’s done student-wise, and her French has gotten pretty darn good.

Today’s photo is of most of the students in Chloe’s IRFFLE section that just wrapped up (note Chloe on the far left). She was the lone American in the bunch, making the common language of all of her classmates, wait for it, French.