Meet MariaFracesca Repucci, student and member
Making Connections
Austin has so many wonderful things to do and see, so many wonderful places to live, so that the problem is often not what to do, but which place to go, which place to explore, which attraction to visit. What’s more, with all that is out there to do, community connections–meeting real people, new faces, doing real things–can nevertheless feel tenuous, elusive, or non-existent, especially during a pandemic.
There are occasionally individuals, however, that have a passion for people, relationships, growth, and the empowerment of others that make these communities possible. The Alliance Francaise d’Austin is lucky to have one of them as a member and student for the last 3 years. I had the opportunity to speak with her about her life, her passions, and her experience with AFA, and I’m happy to share what we talked about here.
MariaFrancesca Repucci has been a student of the Alliance Francaise d’Austin since September of 2019. Vivacious, friendly, and calm in demeanor, MariaFrancesca has an engaged personality, an energy that has its own gravity but that also empowers others.
We spoke briefly about this element of her personality; having met before at Salon de Conversation and Ciné-Club in-person events, I noted that she lit up around other people.
“I like doing things in person, I like to listen to people’s stories…I’m definitely motivated by people and connections. Connecting with people is what drives me, and that comes in handy with my current profession.”
She currently works as a real-estate agent for those searching for homes in Austin. While she is a driven and productive individual, MariaFrancesca notes that working with people, interacting with them, and helping them be successful are all things that energize her the most.
It is no surprise, then, that one of her greatest passions of the last three years has been learning a new language, a tool that enables her to do all of those things. As for most, however, it has not been made easier by the pandemic to continue learning. It was interesting getting to know how she pushed through and made it work anyway.
Pushing Through the Pandemic
“I’m driven by connecting with people, but not just on a superficial level–I really value community and developing relationships, it’s incredibly important to me, so that [the beginning of the pandemic] was pretty difficult to be honest.”
Being unable to rely on her normal resources for community involvement and engagement, like most of us, MariaFrancesca spent a lot of time at home, and as such found orientation in our services offered online.
“I was already pretty set on improving my French skills, but [the pandemic] probably accelerated my interest in it and kept me afloat socially; just to feel connected and to have those markers in my week to kind of keep track of where I was in my week.”
In addition to this, MariaFrancesca took it upon herself to organize a fête de Noël, the arrangement of which resulted in her meeting French speakers in Austin who she keeps in contact with to this day. This, along with her existing friendships with classmates from AFA, as well as some made at our Beaujolais Nouveau events in the past, make up a few of her French connections in Austin that carried her and her passion for French through the past couple of years.
“Bonjour, Hi!” - A Solo Trip to Montreal
In May 2019, well before any restrictions on travel were in place, MariaFrancesca took a solo trip to the Quebecois city of Montréal. The city is legally bilingual, and has a vibrant, non-metropolitan French culture right here in North America.
Her motivation for going, she explained to me, was in large part due to her grandfather who was distantly Quebecois and who began learning French at a very old age. She started her story with a touching image of him “popping the cassettes in, and practicing the French words”.
She went on, “Like me he was very curious and intellectual and he really valued learning, and sort of indulged his curiosity–he was also a very accomplished scientist. So I had a great connection with him in that way, and I think it impacted me quite a bit to see him as an adult–he would have probably been in his sixties–learning something new.”
“That’s kind of stuck with me all my life, and I’ve definitely been extremely committed to continuing education as an adult and learning new things, and I think that it’s really cool that I had that as an example. Somebody who was so accomplished and so proficient, but you know, wasn’t afraid to start all over and be at the bottom, in terms of learning a new skill, and just to learn for the pleasure of learning.”
We spoke a little about her trip, and she noted the kindness of everyone she met, the pervasive sense of hospitality in Montreal, as well as the preservation of Quebecois culture in people’s basic interactions with her.
“I guess one thing that really stands out to me is, every shop or restaurant or bar that I went to, the conversation always started with ‘Bonjour’ or something in French, because it was legally required–I didn’t speak French at the time, so I was like [she says timidly] “Oh Bonjour!”--but that really stood out to me as–they really made an effort to preserve that part of their culture, and that was really important to them.”
It was this trip, along with this strong connection with her grandfather, that led her to search for resources in Austin to learn French and find the Alliance Francaise d’Austin.
“Vous êtes d’où?” - A Trip to France
MariaFrancesca and her husband Gabriel at Château d'Amboise | September 2021
MariaFrancesca had very little experience with the French language when she went to Montreal, but had more practice leading up to when she fulfilled one of her life-goals: a major trip to France in 2021.
I always like to ask our students about their challenges on their first trips to another country. MariaFrancesca had a couple that we discussed, and one that I enjoyed the most was that, according to her, it took about 6 times for it to sink in what “Vous êtes d’où?” meant, a question she was asked almost every day during her trip to France with her husband, and a question she absolutely understood on paper (“Where are you from?”).
I found this especially interesting! MariaFrancesca and I agreed, we all learn this phrase early on, but as learners of a second language, we are not in a constant state of meeting the people we talk to, so we forget it, don’t recognize it. Talking with MariaFrancesca was so refreshing because I can see how far she has come as a learner, knowing her only from the advanced conversation groups (Salon de Conversation and Ciné-Club), but also because she had such insights as the one above about language learning.
After the first week of travel, MariaFrancesca and her husband enjoyed the rest of their trip with some new vocabulary under their belt, having met new people, and set off to see even more places. Below is a picture of Mariafrancesca and her husband Gabriel at Chateau d’Amboise in the Loire Valley.
Language Learning and AFA
Like many of our students, MariaFrancesca took some French classes in high school to little effect, noting that she didn’t retain much at all from the experience. AFA is, for her, in a major way, a ticket back into learning a second language with a community of learners.
She started as a student of group classes in 2019, then switched to private courses for a more focused learning environment. As community and relationships are so important to her, she still attends as many in-person events as she can throughout the year, and we are glad she does!
In closing, MariaFrancesca and I talked a little about getting motivated to learn languages and what it means to be a learner as an adult, and I found her stories to be profoundly helpful and insightful, especially for new students and members of the Alliance Francaise d’Austin.
I’m glad to let her have the floor here, because what she said with regards to learning as an adult was incredible:
When we’re young, middle school, high school, even college, we’re really encouraged to try on so many different hats. And of course the intention is to find what you are good at, how can you contribute to society, how are you going to choose your profession? And I loved that when I was young. I tried so many different things, and I did so many different things, and I think in adulthood people lose that sense of curiosity, and we settle into our identity: This is what I do for work. This is what I’m good at. This is safe, I’m not going to try new things.
Since college, I graduated and I realized: This is going to be a big loss in my life. I need to be doing new things, and I need to be struggling and trying and starting at the bottom. And to enjoy the progress of learning, not even necessarily to arrive at a professional or proficient level. I don’t know how good my French will ever be. But just the joy of trying on those hats, and playing around with new skills–it’s such a joy for me to have in life and I think a lot of people lose that after their education.”
We are so glad to have you as part of our community MariaFrancesca! Thank you for all the work you do to help our community of learners!
It was a pleasure for me to speak with MariaFrancesca about her journey as a second language learner, and I hope you have enjoyed reading about one of the most genuinely motivated and engaged members of our community.
Until next time,
Bonne Année et à bientôt!
About the author, Evan Bostelmann
Evan is the School Coordinator at the Alliance Francaise d’Austin. He has studied and taught French for 10 years. He spent time in Rouen, Normandie before moving to Austin in 2017, and has a passion for second language acquisition and for learning about others’ journeys through Francophone culture.