Now I understand what this feeling is !

The text in this article is small, lest Fabienne Ricordel herself should end up seeing this... Bear with me for now.

Today being the first lesson of the year, DK and I got back to intense preparation – this time, for the C2. The C2 is the last and the highest in the hierarchy of the French exams. We trained on my best and worst areas – the spoken and listening parts. The thing about the C2 is such : whatever is written, they combine, and whatever involves spoken/listened language, they combine. This means that the written comprehension and essay go together, and the listening and spoken exams go together.

This is worrisome, because I scored considerably sky-high results for the spoken exam (consider the fact that I never set foot in France before). However, I failed the listening test ! And that could have a major impact on the production et compréhension orales !

So I worked on an audio file. But that feeling of anticipation was inside me all this time.

After working on the spoken file, DK asked me about the feedback I got in the C1 – the previous exam. Suddenly, I remembered – late last year, he told me that if I had passed the C1, I should get in touch with the attachée linguistique, Fabienne Ricordel. Yes, the one who examined me and stayed with me for four hours straight while invigilating me. And so, I pressed him for it. He said yes.

I was enthralled ! But then, I stopped in my tracks : what should I say ? And what should I not say ? She’s an official ; I’m naught but an A-Levels student. Well, maybe some may argue and say that I have the rarest of personalities, but even then... there has to be some protocol. Plus, even if I’ve seen officials (including our current Education Minister and Prime Minister during the Kongres Kemerdekaan some two years ago), I didn’t know how to deal with one ! I voiced out my worries to DK.

Here was the pact : send an e-mail.

I had trouble actually trying to summarise the entire set of ideas into just a few simple lines ! I’m like quite a few others, and we’re like the French, in a way – we gotta go straight to the point, not beat around the bush. But I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t beating around the bush. That was an uphill task ! I sat down to writing my e-mail. But before sending it to her, I had to get it reviewed first.

Right now it’s awaiting review. And I need my personal touch. But what could be my personal touch for dealing with an official ? I have to be friendly, but straight to the point.

Let’s pray this turns out okay.

After the review, I’ll be sending the complete e-mail to Ricordel – they say after actually passing the C1 my voice will be received, if not entirely accepted... let’s pray this turns out okay !