With an all-white, lacy ensemble and platinum hair sweeping just above her shoulders, Madame Isabelle Gervais de Rouville, French teacher, laughed: “I think people [in America] eat so badly… and also those big drinks, it’s like, give me a break!”

        Gervais de Rouville is your typical French woman, yes, but for the record, a typical French woman who seems to have reversed our romanticism for stripes and bretons: instead, she moved to California in her 20s with a grand American dream.

        “I’m still very French, but I choose to embrace the [American] culture.” Gervais de Rouville said. “[Americans] have so many opportunities, they are always ready to do new things . . . people are always in school, even [at an] old age—trust me, I’m still here because I love it!”

        After falling head-over-heels with the movie Bonnie and Clyde at age 13, Gervais de Rouville had her heart set on moving to America.

        “All my friends are still [living in Montpellier] after 40 years, but I’m not,” Gervais de Rouville said. “I decided to go to America and pursue my dreams.”

        Gervais de Rouville settled around the OC earned a B.A. from CSU Long Beach and an M.A. in French with a minor in Spanish from UCI. Then, she went on to a diverse teaching career at Cypress College, Golden West College, the Laguna College of Art and Design and UCI.

        “I’ve seen it all [socioeconomic wise], and I like it all: there are good things everywhere. I was a mentor when I was [teaching] in Santa Ana with Hispanic girls. I encouraged them to stay in school, because their dads, most of them, wouldn’t want them to be in college, so I was mentoring them and really enjoying that,” Gervais de Rouville said. “I’m really for women’s independence, for me [women’s independence] is huge [in teaching career].”

        “I did it all on my own,” Gervais de Rouville said about her free, independent days as a young woman. She also backpacked (before she moved to the US) through 5 countries in South Asia with a girlfriend, “I was 21,” Gervais de Rouville said.

        When asked if she was happier back then or happier now, Madame Gervais de Rouvile paused: “That’s a good question,” she glanced off at her classroom posters for a minute, “I don’t know. It was a different happiness… and now with my life behind me, it’s the other things [that make me happy]. But I’m so glad I did it; if I had [a chance] to do it again, I’d do all of that again, I’d travel the world and come to America.”