Holding Multitudes: Cultural Threads Across Borders | Part 2: From Provence Dreams to Sicilian Warmth

From Provence Dreams to Sicilian Warmth

Emily’s relationship with French culture began early - a deep fascination sparked in high school and deepened through years of study. She devoured French literature, dreamed in the language, and planned for the day she would be filling notebooks in quiet corners of ancient cafés where writers had crafted their stories before her.

That dream took form through an International Studies program that required time abroad. Her destination? Aix-en-Provence, a university town in the south of France known for lavender fields and honey-coloured stone facades.

But reality, as it often does, had other plans.

"There was so much bureaucracy," she laughs now, recalling the tangle of paperwork and procedures. Socially, too, it was more complicated than expected. The social connection she craved remained elusive as English became the lingua franca among her international cohort. Yet within this imperfect experience, Emily found unexpected depth. Wandering Marseille's markets or tracing the Mediterranean coastline with newfound friends, she discovered that cultural connection isn't about flawless immersion but authentic presence with all its unexpected gifts.

Though her French sojourn unfolded differently than expected, some years later, Emily would be drawn back to Europe. Through childhood memories of a beloved Sicilian uncle, through her own fascination with Italian literature, and more recently, through her Italian partner, Italy has been another thread in her cultural story.

She remembers her uncle as playful and vibrant, always surrounded by good food and colour. "He would arrive at family gatherings with freshly grilled octopus he had caught that morning, demonstrating how he caught it and prepared it. He was so different from our British-influenced family. I adored him." That warmth carried forward into her adult life, perhaps guiding her openness to an Italian partner and her decision to embrace another language - another way of seeing and being in the world.

These early experiences with cultural multiplicity have also laid the groundwork for Emily's later professional path, where questions of identity would become central to her work.

Professional Insights, Personal Truths (to be continued…)