[B]OLD AGE With Debbie Weil

Best Of: Debbie and Sam Go Back to France


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Nov 23 2023 34 mins  
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Updated with a new introduction, this is a replay of an atmospheric episode from 2019 when Debbie and Sam studied French in Provence in an immersion program. They planned to go back in 2020 but of course the pandemic intervened. Now, they’ve just completed another week of immersion in Avignon with their favorite French teacher, Julie Gaudin.

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Don't miss the Substack essay accompanying this episode: Behind The Scenes With "French Debbie"

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In the episode you'll hear accordion music and a few snippets recorded in a cafe where Debbie speaks French. Both she and Sam have a special relationship with France from their adolescent years. And they both have a longstanding bucket list item: to live in France for an extended period in order to practice and improve their French. They both agree you can’t become a true ex-pat in only two weeks but it’s enough time to adopt a daily routine and to make a friend or two at the local boulangerie and at a favorite bar serving artisanal beer.

Despite their many trips to Paris and other parts of France, they continue to find the French language and French culture both mysterious and alluring.

Mentioned in this episode and/or useful links for visiting Avignon and Provence

  • Séjour linguistique means staying with a teacher (or prof) in their home for language immersion.
  • Julie Gaudin's immersion program in Avignon
  • A list of other French immersion programs via FrenchToday.com Note: in the episode Debbie mistakenly refers to the site as FranceToday.
  • Pithiviers is a town south of France where Sam lived on a farm when he was 18. It was also the site of the infamous Pithiviers internment camp during the Second World War.
  • Collège Cévenol in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is where Debbie went to school for a year when she was 14.
  • Alliance Française in Paris
  • L’Atelier de Belinda (wonderful tiny restaurant in Avignon)
  • Les Halles, the famed covered market in Avignon filled with magnificent displays of fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, cheese, olives, bread, lavendar honey, wine and more. Sam discovered “les bulots”: whelks or large snails best eaten alongside raw oysters and with a glass of white wine.

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How to Support this podcast:

Our Media Partners:

  • CoGenerate (formerly Encore.org)
  • MEA and with thanks to Chip Conley
  • Next For Me (former media partner and in memory of Jeff Tidwell)

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