All-expenses-paid French vacation for two

The bow on my French prize.
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Take a wild guess as to what my French prize was ... then scroll down to read the answer.

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My French prize is an "Oxford French Dictionary PLUS Grammar and Culture Guide". The woman who went up before me received the prize for French Level 1. Then I went up and received for French Level 2 (the class I was in last year). Then was a woman for French Level 3. We all got dictionaries. They got huge ones (like encyclopaedias), but mine was much smaller (like a thick novel) - 8 inches high by 5 inches wide by 2 inches deep.

One might find that a dictionary is a strange prize, given that most language students already have dictionaries. But, according to the Level 1 woman, the ones we got are "the recommended ones".

When we got back to our seats the Level 3 woman said to me: "But how come we got such big ones and they gave you that small one?"

"Because mine is for traveling with," I said in all seriousness. I then added that I would no doubt find my plane tickets (for two to Paris) between the pages when I unravel the bow.

A good experience, nice to be acknowledged, encouraging to have won something, especially when I wasn't even expecting it.