Skating into a second language

I was a barista making minimum wage. I loved my job, but I was slowly working through my savings and the cafe was going under. I knew I wanted to transition to a new career, but I was limited by my French language skills. I needed real life practice. I didn't have the money for courses.

So I started going to the French conversation groups at the library. First I went to one near where I lived. I liked it - interesting people and real life experience - but I needed more. I buckled down: three or four days a week, I would don my inline skates and roll to whatever branch nearest me was doing a conversation group that day.

Slowly but surely, I felt myself improve. Over the course of a few months, I brushed up my skills and eventually managed to land a job that I was happy with in the sector I still work today. I don't know that that would have been possible without the library.