L'Auberge Espagnole

Just watching L'Auberge Espagnole probably for at least the eighth time.  It's funny that even though I know the plot backwards, I get something new out of it.  This time it was about identity and reminded me how unsettling it was to study abroad and yet life changing.  The main character thinks he is mentally unwell when he cannot cope with the challenges of living in a different culture.  There are several discussions in the film on national identity and personal stereotypes.   

The film reminded me of so many memories and the impact on my life: from the first snow in Grenoble (top picture). 

Or the celebrations for my birthday with people who I've lost contact with but whom the emotional link remains (bottom picture). 




Erasmus is part of the reason I ended up in International Education, working on Erasmus Mundus, and thus part of the reason for my PhD.  The fill emphasised to me that the important thing to do with my research is not to do with the gap between European policy and practice (as the title suggests) but actually the inexplicable, unidentifiable, individual changes that international study has.  I used to have the following on my wall - quoted from the film:

Je me suis retrouvé dans les rues de Paris où les Parisiens m’ont jamais

I found myself once again in the streets of Paris where the Parisians did not own me.
J’étais un étranger parmi les étrangers.
I was a foreigner amongst foreigners,
Pour quoi j’étais là je savais pas.
Why I was there I do not know.
J’en ai généralement su pourquoi j’étais là où j’étais. 
Normally I knew why I was where I was.
Je dois être typique . 
I have to be normal.
Erasmus?
Erasmus?
…
Je suis Français, Danois, Anglais …
I am French, Danish, British …
Je ne suis pas un, je suis plusieurs.
I am not one, I am many.
Je suis comme Europe.
I am like Europe.
Je suis un vrai bordel.
I am a right mess.
C’est une histoire de décollage.

It is a story of lift-off

[Cédric Klapisch 'L'Auberge Espagnole', Translation my own]

Perhaps I should remember this a little more often:  the drive to be part of - and inspire - something different, the desire to be European and still British, the urge to stop being the grown-up I don't feel I am and be the young person I could be.  Time for a décollage? 

P.S.

And for those who have not seen it - an advert for the film for those who have not seen it: