Cordelia Sears (2000-08)
When at school, I was told by Dr Q, my French teacher, that things were not really going to improve in terms of my French unless I lived in France, got a French boyfriend, and got a French-speaking job. And that is exactly what happened: not as a result of her advice, or because I particularly wanted to be good at French, but just because things bizarrely turned out that way.
So, here I am writing this from my apartment in Annecy, trying to remember what I have been up to since I was standing in the Orwell Park sports hall on leavers’ day, reminiscing about tamagotchis, man hunt on the ha-ha and melting custard creams under the changing room hand dryers at break time.
After Orwell, and having several hissy fits after seeing the film St Trinian’s where it’s not exactly painted in the best light (unjustly), I headed off to Cheltenham Ladies’ College. I say unjustly because, despite the hideous green uniform (we were actually referred to as the ‘green flies’ by other schools), I had an incredible 5 years there where I formed some very strong friendships, and I have found that knowing I have got some extremely strong friendships has enabled me to make some seemingly unconventional decisions and to follow exactly what I want to do.
During my time at CLC I really had no idea what I wanted to do after school, in particular whether I wanted to go to university, and if so what I wanted to study there. I did, however, find that I was more attracted to the languages/humanities side of things and so ended up doing Latin, French and History for A level. By the time applying for university came around, I still did not really know where or what I wanted to apply for, so I made the decision to apply after I had left school, after getting my results.
I found that unless you really know what profession you want to have or you are particularly good at one subject, choosing what to study at university is not an easy decision to make. It was only after talking to a family friend who suggested that university was really the only time in your life where you can just study ‘for the sake of studying’ that I took the approach of trying to figure out what I was interested in instead of focusing on the end job, which was History and people, and so I ended up studying Social Anthropology at The University of Manchester.
Before heading ‘up north’ though, I decided to take a gap year, which I started off by doing a ski season in the tiny French village of Champagny-en-Vanoise. Without knowing it then, it ended up playing a huge role in where I have ended up now. I fell into the chalet girl cliché and started going out with the Frenchie who worked in the ski rental shop, and by the time the end of season came around, I started questioning whether going to university was really what I wanted. Spending some time later that year in Ethiopia, however, made things clearer and confirmed my original decision to go and study Social Anthropology at Manchester. Having the opportunity to spend time in such a fascinating country made me realise that choosing a subject where I could learn about people in other parts of the world for 3 years was not so bad after all.
My time at Manchester was different to how I imagined. The first year was fun and exciting, but also daunting and confusing, and after a few lectures, I was not at all sure I had made the right choice. It was not until my 2nd and 3rd year, when I was able to choose my modules that I really began to enjoy the subject. The great thing about Social Anthropology is how broad it is. One lecture you could be discussing the relationship between vision and truth, and the next how drones affect the notion of sovereignty in the border lands. It is also the way of learning that I think makes studying humanity a privilege. It involves taking concepts, applying them to different worldly contexts, and trying to see the situation from each actor’s point of view, never falling into the trap of assuming what we deem to be the most likely. I do not have nearly enough words to go into detail, but my dissertation, for example, explored the idea of compliance by rural Pashtun women to the Taliban rule, warning against the dangers of romanticising resistance and explaining that it is not always the most likely outcome to oppression.
The course definitely played a large role in the way I try to think now, and has meant that I have a much wider and more rounded perspective on worldwide social and political issues. France too has played a large part in where I am now.
Whenever I could, whilst I was at university, I went back to Champagny, to see my friends and to be amongst the mountains. Whilst there, I got back together with my Frenchie, Tristan, which has played a large part in my decision to live and work in France. But I also spent the summer working in Chamonix, where I took full advantage of the incredible summer scene and all the alpine activities it has to offer. My experience there sealed the love which I had developed for the mountains and made me determined that the Alps was where I wanted to work if I possibly could.
And so that is how I have ended up here in Annecy, translating and editing for Snowleader, The Reblochon Company, an online sports retailer, known for slipping in a free Reblochon cheese with each order. From being nowhere near fluent in French, with only the odd snippets I’d remembered from school, I got myself through the interview and into a full-time job translating and carrying out market analysis for the UK branch of the site.
I can now confirm that Dr Q’s advice was 100% correct if you want to master another language. I can also confirm that not taking the conventional route at school or university can be the right thing to do.
