Getting back into the school routine after a good, relaxing break is difficult. It means you have to get back into the grind of papers, tests and projects for all of your classes. Even though it’s great to go home and see friends and family, I realized when I came back how much I missed my new college friends.

And truthfully, I missed my classes, too. At Gannon, I’m not only learning — I’m learning in another language.

Now that I’m back, one of the projects I’m working on for my French literature class is a biography of the French author Eugene Ionesco. The biographies we create include a history of the author’s life, a list of his most important works and interesting facts about him. I also like to include pictures and videos that relate to the subject. After the presentations, we read a work or two by the authors to understand their perspective and writing style better. After this presentation, we’ll begin reading, “La Cantatrice Chauve,” or “The Bald Soprano.”

It’s definitely weird to get used to reading something completely in another language, especially if you never did it in high school. However, once you get used to the style of the author and of the overall work, reading it gets much easier. It’s really interesting to see all of the different interpretations and translations that you can find. Looking at these interpretations really opens my mind to many ideas and perspectives that I have never considered.

In a field like mine (international business), having an open mind is imperative if you want to work and communicate with the rest of the world. Looking at different types of poetry and prose pieces is a really good way to start.

Just for fun, here’s a version of a poem I read in my class by Guillaume Apollinaire called “Le Pont Mirabeau,” performed by the Irish band The Pogues (don’t worry, it’s in English!). 

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