A Few Souvenirs from English in Nice / Nice en Français
Conversations, discoveries and little moments we’ve collected together
As the heatwave has brought on that familiar summer-holiday lethargy, I’ve found myself looking back through photos from these past months with the membership.
When we started back in October 2025, I wasn’t entirely sure how things would work out. I’d just created a new bilingual membership group and I’d never done anything quite like this before. Happily, it didn’t take long before it all began to feel like a very good idea indeed.
Looking through the photos, I’m reminded that we’ve collected far more than vocabulary or places visited. We’ve collected moments: conversations, discoveries, unexpected encounters and plenty of laughter.
I’d love to share a few of my own favourite memories, along with some from the group.
The first Meet the Street on Rue Defly
Meet the Street is a bilingual event celebrating a single street in Nice. For this one, I organised a mini tour for the group to visit several places on Rue Defly. We met some its local legends who bring the streets to life.
Rue Defly was the perfect choice for our first event: one of those streets you don’t necessarily know about, but once you discover it, you’ll want to return – we certainly did!
We met Anouk and Maud at Les Parleuses bookshop, Laurence at Les Choses qu’on aime, Jerôme at Bicicletta Shop, and we started and finished the evening at Allez Hops, the artisan microbrewery and bar run by the very affable Daniel, with delicious focaccia from L’Offre just opposite.
For me, this moment was really magical. It was only our second meeting and already I felt as though I was among friends. But not only that: no teaching required. Together, we were able to find the language we needed.
It was exactly what I’d hoped would happen – a lovely group of people brought together by their desire to enjoy Nice, love language and have a good time together.
Here’s what the group shared with me when I asked them to pick out some of their favourite moments.
The unexpected moments and discoveries
In January whilst doing “Our Tour” of the quartier Liberation, our help was solicited by a man whose rather magnificent old villa had just been painted in the wrong shade of yellow.
The villa Lilas had, unfortunately, ended up painted in a rather “Post Office yellow” shade.
Painting a house yellow when it’s called Lilas is a wonderfully humorous provocation.
It was such fun sharing a moment of laughter with the group while discussing the rather difficult choice of paint colours.
There was a lovely, good-natured atmosphere and I felt completely at ease.
Armelle
The story of Villa Lilas and the wrong shade of yellow paint.
So many wonderful moments! As Armelle said the unexpected invitation to consult about the paint color of the villa in Liberation; the walk that focused on the history of Catherine Segurane which I have since shared with others; stumbling into the “Kai’s Monkey Business” filled with all the vintage radios. And of course the warm and welcoming atmosphere you’ve created and all the interesting conversations among our lovely group.
Cate
Whilst some activities, like the Catherine Ségurane “Our Tour”, are carefully planned, others happen entirely by chance.
For the Catherine Ségurane walk, each member was given two pieces of information about the celebrated Niçoise legend and had to listen and look out for clues to know when to share their piece of the story – a kind of tour jigsaw puzzle. It was a really fun, collaborative way to explore a legend.
At other times, however, we stumble across hidden gems unexpectedly, as was the case with Kai’s Monkey Business where we ended up after a Promenade des Franglais.
Our Tour: the legend of Cathérine Ségurane
The things we learn from one another
Each month for those who wish to prepare and work on their language I provide some resources with examples:
I really enjoy our meet-ups because they allow us to improve our English and learn new expressions too. I have to confess that my favourite is: “The hotter the weather, the better the rosé”… So true!
Evelyne
However there’s also so much that we learn from each other as we’re out and about…
I love the times when we are strolling along with a task to do and the conversation wanders everywhere. I learn so much about how you think in French and how you express those random thoughts.
Sonja
And the funny moments…
One thing that is a feature of nearly every meet-up is laughter, sometimes it’s sparked by language mix-ups, or general silliness, and in one case – a pigeon:
I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the sessions. They are engaging, thoughtful, and have truly enhanced my French vocabulary. My favorite was Sounds of the City*, where Sonja gently shooed the pigeon away to get it to fly off—it was such a funny moment that made the experience even more memorable! Thank you for all the effort you put into making the sessions so enjoyable.
Jennifer
*Sounds of the City was the activity where the group divided up into 2s and 3s each with a different route to follow and a list of sounds to find – or in this case to engineer!
Our map of memories
It’s lovely to be reminded of these moments again. Organising and taking part in these activities has enriched my life in so many ways.
To help us remember – and not lose touch with the different places we’ve explored – I’ve created a map with markers for each kind of event. Click on a marker and you’ll find a photo and a little description of our adventures together.
Making more memories in July!
If you’d like to join us, don’t miss the opportunity coming up very soon, from 9th to 23rd July.
You can join the programme for one month only, with no commitment to continue afterwards, and take part in all four activities for just €24.
Our theme is Postcards from Nice. Together we’ll explore the city through fresh eyes, revisiting some of its best-loved landmarks and discovering a few lesser-known corners along the way.
Find out full details and register here:
