Combler une Lacune

The first day of French class, our professor asked us what we would like to work on this semester, and what our goals were for French. We (everyone in my class) are all at the level now where there isn't really any more grammar to learn, and our vocabularies pretty much cover the basics. I can pretty much express whatever I want to say in French and while it may always not be 100% correct, I am always understood and can have a conversation with people. However, there are definitely some gaps in my French education. For whatever reason, they developed during sick days in middle school, or days when I had to miss for softball games in high school, or that one test I totally bombed, or the test I didn't study for because I thought I knew the information, or just a sheer lack of remembering. So, on that day in class, I said that I would like to "fill in some holes" in my knowledge of French. I didn't know exactly how to say that, so I guessed and use the verb remplir (to fill up, like in a bottle of water) and the noun trous (which I know means holes). Well, turns out that wasn't correct, and so I learned a new expression out of it! Turns out I could have said boucher les trous, a more informal way of saying "fill in the holes" orrrr, better yet, I could have used the expression combler une lacune, which is just a much more beautifully said French way of doing it. Anyway, it's become my most recent favorite expression. I use it all the time when talking about French or cultural knowledge or just things I want to know more about! And as my time here continues (and especially my French classes) I am combler-ing many more of those lacunes. I've been brushing up on my past-tense (curse you, plus-que-parfait), improving my vocab drastically, and even  learning a little slang! Although to be honest I can barely understand it when French kids my age talk to other French kids. Then again, if I was them I would not be able to understand me either, what with the hashtags and the YouTube quotes and the "yo, girls" etc. I've been thinking a lot about language lately, and how bizarre it is.

"You sleep when it's night, and we speak poetry."

One of the girls on my program was saying she has a French friend who, when speaking in English, kept adding "guy" to the end of her sentences. As in, "Come on, guy" or "I like your dress, guy." My friend was utterly confused for a while, and then realized the girl's mistake. She was looking for the translation of the word "mec" in French, which loosely means "dude." However, it is really only used for guys in French, ergo her use of the word guy. My friend explained to the girl that she could have chosen the word "dude" or "girl" or even "man" and those would have worked in the context, but "guy" didn't really. And she couldn't explain why! Why is it ok for me to call a female friend "dude" or even "man" and not "guy?" Why is it perfectly acceptable for me to say "Hey girl" and not "Hey guy"? It really is something to think about, and also helps me realize that while I may not be studying abroad in a place where fresh water (or even a good Wifi [attn: in French it's pronounced WeeFee] connection) are not hard to find, I am embarking (have embarked?) on a journey that is just as difficult in many ways. Trying to learn a language (and really learn it, not just know enough to get around) is a huge challenge, and one that I think not enough people take on in their lifetimes. I am trying to legitimately live a bilingual life right now -- and it's hard! It's both an intellectual and physical challenge that is something I struggle with every day in both big ways and little ones. Everything from "Will I really get to make friends on my program even though I can't really be myself because I am hampered by the language" to asking for something you don't know the word for in a store to translating for the occasional English-speaking tourist who is lost in the Boulangerie and doesn't even know the word for "bread." Language is fascinating to me, and the more time I spend here the more I realize how different French and English are. And then that just gets me depressed about international communication in general...oh, man...or should I say, "Oh, guy...."