Aero: Piper Lambert-Vail – France 2018 – Family Life
Aero: Piper Lambert-Vail – France 2018 – Family Life
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Piper Lambert-Vail
Family life in Vitré was very different for me from my family in America. Everything from the way the houses were set up to how we ate dinner. In Vitré, the neighborhood and the house that my family lived in were similar to the suburbs that I would pass on the way to my mom’s work. The houses all looked the same, the gardens manicured, and the cars tucked away into the garages or parked in the drive. The first time that we drove through the neighborhood, I couldn’t help but think about Edward Scissorhands and the pastel houses.
How their house was set up was very foreign to me as well (no pun intended). While I am used to tidy houses, and houses that are modern, my houses are neither. At my father’s house, it is multicolored, covered in art, and a bit of a mess and at my mom’s it is like a museum; old art and furniture is everywhere and anyone who comes in is afraid to touch anything. My host family’s house was the opposite of all of that. It was absolutely immaculate. There was not a speck of dust, there were no stray mugs or glasses, and the thing I found most interesting was that there was no personal art. The art in their house, aside from one family portrait of the children, seemed to be stock photos on canvas. The type of art you would find in a dentist or doctor. I found it so strange to have something so impersonal be up in a personal space. Although, I did notice that it did all fit into its own aesthetic. So, perhaps, their idea of decorating is that it must fit an aesthetic that they enjoy rather than carry and express sentimental value.
Dinner in the Trihan house was very secular, nothing like what I am used to or expected. I found it very interesting that for a country that is submerged in religion, and for a city that literally has two cathedrals, my family didn’t observe any form of religion or have religion-based habits. For example, in my house we pray every night before dinner and there is religious iconography everywhere. Now, this may be because my mom has a fascination with all religions (as well as a masters in theology) but it still struck me as odd that there was no religion in their life. This led me to think about why they wouldn’t observe any religion. Which is a risky thing to question because everyone’s reason is personal and unique. The closest thing I could think of was that they don’t have time. I came to this conclusion because of how their dinners on the weekday usually go. It started off with my host mom making dinner by herself while Lea and I watched TV, then Lea and I would set the table for four people even though her step-father wasn’t going to be home for dinner until later. When it came time to eat, Lea and I would start serving ourselves then my host mother would join us at the table. We would eat dinner watching TV then clean up and reset the table for Jean Paul, who would be home in an hour. This was the routine Monday through Friday. On the weekend, the extended family came over as well as the sister and her boyfriend.
Piper Lambert-Vail
Study Abroad – France 2018 @ FLCC
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