profiter

If I had to identify the verb I've heard most often in France, I would have to say "profiter" (most commonly to profit or to take advantage of, but also used to for any sort of living to the fullest, enjoying a situation, getting all that you can from a person or thing, traveling, etc.). Here is a list of things that I have most recently been told to profit from:

• the sun
• the lack of exams I have to grade
• my friends scattering around France
• my time in NYC with my best friend when we return to the States
• the low prices on produce at the market
• the cheap summer toys at the super market
• the early hours of the morning

Most commonly, I have been told to "profitez bien" from my remaining time in France (from our landlord, the cashier at the grocery, my students...). I find this most fitting, as it will be the last thing that someone tells me to profit from, and the thing I'm most set to profit from. There is little time left to take advantage of, so I need to get on it. Unfortunately, no profits are to be had from the sun today and we still have not been paid. Profits of all sorts have been put on layaway for the day.

I'm profiting from the time stuck in the apartment–busting out a new roasted potato recipe and making spinach pizza, reading The Fountainhead (which is NOT better than Atlas Shrugged like people told me it would be), creating make-up exams.

Joe and I have reaped so many profits here in France. I've used the down time today to call to mind what we've most taken advantage of here–the bakeries; inexpensive travels; public transportation & bike lanes; language-learning opportunities; wine selections. What has been most valuable for us was the 10 months spent in a one-room apartment, thrown out on our own in the world.

The challenges we faced here, from only having to hotplates or doing laundry in the sink to figuring out banking in a foreign language, made us stronger and have shaped the way we will live our marriage. We've learned what most annoys each other–and that some annoyance when you're in such close proximity for hours a day is inevitable. We've learned how to end arguments.

I've learned that we have so much to continue soaking in, like the skinny girls flocking to the southern beaches here. We have so much to keep shaping–in the next month and in the years in Bloomington afterward.


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