Postcards from France

MEGAN McNEILL LIBBY

Discovery

My year in France was a lot like rock climbing. The journey was long and slow, and the footholds small and hard to find, but by late April the end was in sight, and in my mind I had begun the swift and exhilarating descent. Looking down from the top, I knew that my view of the world would be changed forever, and so would I.

Harper Paperbacks
1997

 

Contents

Foreword

1. Prêt à Partir?---READY TO GO?

2. Je Parle---I SPEAK

3. Je Mange---I EAT

4. Je Comprends---I UNDERSTAND

5. Je me Souviens---I REMEMBER

6. Je Rêve---I DREAM

7. Je souffre---I SUFFER

8. Je Voyage ---I TRAVEL

9. L'Escalade---ROCK CLIMBING

10. Les Chiens Français---FRENCH DOGS

11. Le Jour---THE DAY

12. La Pizza d'Enfer---THE PIZZA FROM HELL

 

Foreword

I first met Megan Libby when she came to my office at The Ridgefield Press in the late summer of 1994. She explained that she was to be an exchange student in France during the coming school year and volunteered to write about her experiences for our newspaper. I agreed, but based on my past experience with young people who volunteer to write, I didn't expect much, if anything. High-school kids who want to write, or think they want to write, are plentiful. Few are willing to do the work involved in producing something good enough to be run without apology in the newspaper.

I was pleasantly surprised when my first "Postcard from France," as Megan called her column, arrived. Not only had she written something, she had done it very well. Her copy was lively, interesting, and focused not simply on her individual adventure, but on what France and its culture looked like from a young American's viewpoint.

Once a month, I received a column Megan wrote based on her experience as an AFS student in France. The columns kept getting better. Megan had a good idea what would be interesting to the folks back home, and a natural sense of how to use her personal experience as an exchange student as a vehicle for contrasting the two societies. I began to look forward to Megan's columns. Our proofreader, who reads just about everything in eight weekly papers, looked forward to them as well.

In all, Megan submitted twelve columns over the course of her year in France, one for each month she was gone. It is interesting to see how Megan has edited these columns and pulled them all together to form a book with the title---what else?---Postcards from France.

My proofreader and I will miss those columns from France, but we will still have a chance to watch Megan develop as a writer, both in her book and in future columns. Megan will be covering the high school for us during her senior year and, again, turning in a bimonthly column for The Ridgefield Press.

Postcards from France is a vivid look at France and a fascinating glimpse into how a year in a different culture is a trial by fire that broadens the outlook and develops the inner resources of a bright young American.

Macklin Reid, Editor
The Ridgefield Press

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