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I got my first dream job at age 20

Writer's picture: Emily MaeEmily Mae

Dreams are a funny thing, sometimes they’re figments of our imagination in our sleep, and consist of 200 foot tigers roaming your childhood neighborhood. Other times, they are aspirations and goals not usually thought of in sleep. Why we don’t have a more significant differentiation between the two is beyond me, but in any case, I would definitely consider myself a dreamer. I don’t have a dreamer tattoo for nothing, both for my pride in having the strangest dreams out of anyone I know, and for having big aspirations.


I dream to one day be une Immortelle in l’Académie Française, which I don’t know how to describe it other than to basically say it’s The Supreme Court of the French Language. Not France…the French language… This is extremely unrealistic, not even to mention the controversy and the fact that I am a woman, not a native French speaker, and not even from a Francophone country. It won’t happen, but I can dream.


I dream to one day have my French citizenship, which would imply that I either fall in love and marry a French woman, or have enough success to land a long term job that grants me the right visa to be able to apply for citizenship after enough time living in France. Which is definitely more realistic, but still no guarantee.


I dream to have a French speaking job that I love. Wait…


I finished my time at the University of Northern Iowa at the beginning of May, I spent 2.5 amazing weeks in France (see: Une journée solo à Paris), but after that, I had 3 months with next to no plans. I knew that I would be getting some type of job and that I would be preparing for going back to France in late August/early September. The job part of it was easily the part I was least excited about. I didn’t want just some job that I was going to work and move on from. I wanted to do something I enjoy, but most of all, I was upset that I was leaving an incredible French immersion experience and afraid of loosing all the hard work I had put in to having an almost completely French brain. Especially in the last 5 days of the trip where I was mostly with my professor and really put an effort to be as immersed as possible. It was by no means perfect, but it was more than anything I had ever done before. The use it or lose it metaphor is real, even in just 3 months. Also, I love French.


After some discussions with my professor, we had the idea to email the one group that I know speaks French in the Denver area, L'Alliance Française de Denver, just to see what ideas they had. On May 31st, I drafted a letter (had my professor do some proof-reading) and sent it along. Next thing I know, I have an interview for less than 24 hours after returning to Denver. During that interview I accepted a position.


My job initially started as just a few days a week, but in that first week, two days a week became three, and then three became five. With the increase in hours, I also got an increase in responsibilities. The list of things I've done in this job is nearly endless, with each day having been unique. I've done graphic design in so many forms, whether it's Instagram posts, or printed materials like banners and signage and invitations. I've managed our social media pages, making posts about events and other random French tidbits. I was trained as a receptionist, answering phone calls and emails, as well as some other administrative tasks like organizing invoices, registrations, and private classes. I even subbed as professor for a conversation class. But one of the bigger jobs I've had was as volunteer coordinator for our two big events, Fête de la Musique and Taste of France.


Our first big event was Fête de la Musique, or the international day of music. Fête de la musique was started in June of 1982 by the French Ministry of Culture to promote music through free performances throughout France, and eventually world wide. Musicians of all skill levels are encouraged to perform and everyone is encouraged to participate. Typically Fête de la Musique is celebrated on June 21st; our event was on June 25th. We loaded up a truck and headed on down to Larimer square in downtown Denver for an afternoon with live performances from numerous music acts. We had a ticketed event with the Boulder Opera, and then a few street acts such as accordionists, a group of International School of Denver students, a DJ, and even I set up my ukulele and performed for a few hours!


Me with one of the banners and the picture frame I made.

Performing at Fête de la Musique

Our second, much larger event was the four day Taste of France festival over Bastille day (French Independence day) weekend. July 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th, back at Larimer square, we had a huge French cultural celebration. We had vendors from numerous French themed and owned businesses, there were pop up French classes and live music, and even a waiter race. This event was a partnership with Denver Sister Cities, specifically Brest, France and The Rocky Mountain French American Chamber of Commerce as well as Air France and DIA. Alliance Française had two main areas, and both needed volunteers. So I got us a handful of amazing people who helped us out during this event. Some were inside an art gallery with me advertising Alliance Française and running our pop-up French book store. We had hundreds of French language books (all of which were donations!) for sale, a huge portion of them sold too! If our volunteers weren't inside with me, they were outside with our director and her husband making and selling authentic French Crêpes! They were a huge success, having a line pretty much the entire weekend!


What are we waiting for to party?

The Alliance Française Booth and Bibliothèque

The line at the Crêpe stand

The fun window art outside of the Art Gallery

After these two huge events, things slowed down and we went back to more normal operations, offering classes and smaller scale events. I got to go to two free movies, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, a new fashion rom-com like movie. I got to see it 3 days before it's initial release, and I have to say, it's better than the Devil wears Prada (one of my favorite movies) but I may be slightly biased. The second movie being Fire of Love, a National Geographic documentary on a French couple of Volcanologists and their love story with each other and volcanos. I loved this movie, but it definitely isn't for everyone. I also helped out with and attended our monthly 5 à 7 happy hour. I also have helped out on some preparations for another large upcoming event. Though, I will have to miss this event as I will be in France.


Though the best part of this job is the French. I get to speak French for the majority of every single day, and when I'm not speaking French, we're talking about France. And the community of people I have met this summer has been incredible. It is inspiring to be in the town I grew up in, an area where I thought I could never be successful in French, and see so many people who share the same love of the French language and culture that I do. It's also been really cool to see how connected this community is, I'm constantly meeting new people who are mutuals of other people I know from other places.


From a linguistic standpoint, I have never felt so confident speaking French. A huge reason for finding this job was to keep my language skills that I worked so hard on during the capstone in shape. I couldn't be happier with how much I've progressed. I still make mistakes in the language all the time, I use tu when I should use vous, I don't always have the right word, and my conjugations and agreements and gendered articles aren't always perfect. I've got a long ways still from being able to call myself fluent, but working at AFD this summer has given me such an amazing immersion experience. I'm becoming more consistent and fluid when I speak French, my vocabulary grows every day, and I'm starting to use new phrases that native speakers use.


My summer at l’Alliance Française de Denver has been nothing short of a dream. It may not be my dream job forever, but thats the thing about some dreams. They should be attainable so you can go out and find a new dream to chase. They give you a sense of accomplishment. I finished up at AFD a week before heading to France, and I look back and cherish every single minute. I've also been lucky enough to be able to have an opportunity to continue working for AFD remotely from France. I am so thankful for this experience, and I really could not have asked for a better way to spend this summer. Merci tellement Alliance Française de Denver.



Me and our amazong director (my boss) Zoé


The AFD team (and my mom)

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