What does it mean to truly learn a country—not through guidebooks or Google, but through voice notes to friends? In this episode of Drifting Notes, I reflect on a slow, curious season in southern France, three months of coastal living, café confusions, comic legends I’d never heard of, and the quiet joy of learning a culture through people who call it home.

From the mystery of café bowls to the comic genius of Louis de Funès, this story unfolds in fragments—sent as messages to Françoise and Matthias, who reply with hearts, recipes, and the occasional ah, Bandol...

It’s not study.It’s correspondence.And somewhere between the anchovy butter and the wind for wing foiling, I start to understand my French friends better too.

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