interviews with immigrants Maud

‘WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY!’


At school, we spoke about immigration in English. That’s why our teacher asked us to interview an immigrant. I decided to interview my neighbour. It allowed me to know her a little more because I really didn’t know her story.

Petra KELLER is my neighbour, an immigrant who comes from Germany. Her story pleased me. When she arrived on her own in France, she was only 20 years old. She already knew Bernard; she met him during her previous visits. She didn’t leave her homeland with her family.
At first, she chose this country to learn the language and to feel happier. Then, she got married with a Frenchman, Bernard. In the course of time, she made many friends. She left her country to better herself.
Today, she has not the intention of going back to her homeland; her only visits are to see her family.

She came to France to have a better life. With her husband, she settled in the countryside so that she could be more at peace. Moreover, Bernard likes taking care of his garden and his beehives.
They have 2 children, Sarah and Martin. Sarah studied old architecture in India and Martin studied in Chambery.
Petra works in Grenoble. Her job consists in correcting school books to publish news. But Bernard has retired lately, she works less than before so that she can spend more time with him.

When she arrived in France, she was very surprised because she obtained her foreign language degree very easily. The hardest thing was understanding something which was simple for people but not for her. Petra also told me about the first time she used the phone in France. First of all, she didn’t dare but finally she decided to do it. She wrote on a piece of paper what she wanted to say. Then she dialled the phone number and the woman understood and asked her something. In the end she didn’t understand exactly what the woman said but was proud of the French woman understanding her.
When she was in Germany, the teachers repeated that she would never manage to speak good French. To conclude, Petra’s story gave me hope and helped me to understand that ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’.

I would like to thank Petra. Without her help I wouldn’t have managed to do this job.

Maud VIGUET 1ES3