Sandrine Lassalle is a native speaker and teaching assistant who lives in the French Language House. I meet her at the French House, where she expresses some concern over having her photo taken and over what she considers imperfect English. In reality, I think her English might be better than mine. She is welcoming and unassuming, and all in all, I’m a bit smitten.
 

Where in France are you from?

I’m from Avignon. It’s in the south of France. It’s quite a big town. Most people know about it because of the drum festival there.
 

I think I only know about it because of that one song in elementary school.

Yes, the song. [Sandrine sings part of Sur le Pont d’Avignon, a French children’s song.] Everybody knows it.
 

How did you get to Macalester?

I’m doing my masters at Avignon. To be an assistant in the United States you have to do your masters as well. We have three applications available at our university, so the teachers choose the best students to apply. The applications go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. All of the applications from around France go there. Then the American universities make their decisions. Our teacher knew Madame Schubert and the person at the Ministry, so she knew about Macalester and chose it. It’s basically an exchange student program.
 

Do you like Macalester in general?

Yeah. It was weird at first because our universities are very different. I thought it was huge at first, and then I was told that there are only 2000 students. Our universities have up to 60,000 and the campus is like the Campus Center. Well, bigger than that.
 

How else do you feel that Macalester is different?

It’s a real community here. With the parents coming and visiting, we [I and French House native speaker Emilie Ossedat] feel like it’s more dependent here. But also much more fun. At our university, we don’t get to know everybody. It’s more individualistic in France. Here it’s more like a French high school. Not the students, but the atmosphere.
 

Had you been to the U.S. before?

I went to Dallas. Sometimes when I say that people are like [shocked] “You went to Dallas, Texas?” So sometimes I just don’t dare say it.
 

[I reassure Sandrine that Dallas is not the worst of the United States, or even Texas, and having been there is nothing to be ashamed of. Try College Station. Or Snook, for that matter.]
 

So what is your teaching job here like?

We try to make the students speak as much as possible. It depends on the classes. For more advanced students, we try to watch films, talk about current events, and debate issues like violence and racism. And we play games. We try to get them to enjoy themselves.
 

Do you like living at the French House?

I love it. It’s home to us. It’s a new house. We’ve got everything. We have heating and a new kitchen. Some of the other language house residents are jealous. We enjoy ourselves here.
 

Do you like the Twin Cities?

We love them. Both seem very different, with one old and one new. But we don’t have a car, so we haven’t gotten to see much of them. We were amazed by the lakes in the center of Minneapolis. But we don’t feel like we’re living in the city. What we call “town” is the city center. It’s enjoyable but we can’t believe we’re in town here.
 

How long are you here?

We’re here till May 31. Or else we’ll be illegal. Also our contract ends May 31. so they tell us we have to leave then. We look like such terrorists. We had to go to Paris to get our VISAs last summer. Just so they could see our faces. It was horrible. They called us one evening and said “You have an appointment at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning.” In Paris! So we bought the train tickets, took the train ride and we brought all of our papers. And all they did was look at us and say “You’ve got your VISA.” In five minutes. It was the worst day of the summer.
 

What do you think of the students here?

We don’t really get to hang out with the students. We’re tourists. But it is a nice atmosphere. It feels like a family. People know our names and we don’t know theirs. It’s like, how does that girl know me? And we love the free barbecues and free ice cream.
 

Is there anything you’re worried about?

Oh, the winter. The weather in Texas was like the weather in France. So I’m worried.
 

I wouldn’t worry. The only weird thing about it is when the inside of your nose freezes. [Sandrine looks a little unnerved. Maybe that wasn’t the most reassuring remark.]