Bittersweet.

Okay so once again I have failed to update when I said I would but a lot has been going on lately. I also wasn’t in the happiest state and I decided it would be best to wait until things were better to update. Anyway…



I can’t believe a month ago I was stepping off the plane into the Charles De Gaulle airport jetlagged, trying to remember all of my French verb conjugations, and with no idea what I was walking into. Here I am a month later, still trying to remember all those French Verb tests (thanks Sophie), but the jet lag is now completely gone and I have experienced so much, both good and bad.



I have definitely had some hard days here and the adjustment has been hard. However things have gotten much better and those bad days have just turned into learning experiences. It’s only been a month but I have learned so many things that I could never have learned in school. I have always thought of myself as an independent person, here I am learning what it truly means to be independent. Honestly, it’s hard as hell. Independence isn’t just being able to go to the other side of the world alone. It’s a lot more. It’s something I might never have learned if I hadn’t embarked on this journey.



I can’t believe how fast this month has flown by. In some ways it seems like I have known this place for a really long time but in other ways it seems like I just got here yesterday. I can tell my French is improving and other people are noticing it too. It’s making everything a lot easier to get my point across.



This week was Carnaval, which is a huge deal here! On Tuesday almost everybody went to school dressed up. I dressed up as LMFAO with some of the girls in my class. Then school ended early and there was something similar to a talent show! It was really fun and interesting to see all of the costumes. There was everything from Spongebob to Danon yogurt. Most people put a lot of effort into their costumes and they were really cool!



Then on Wednesday I went into town to go shopping with the other American (Bri) here! It was the first time I saw the city of Macon, besides school and the bowling alley, and it’s soo beautiful! There’s a huge river running through the middle of it and the shopping is pretty good! I had a ton of fun with Bri and really love the city! However I know there is a lot more in it that I didn’t get to see!



One thing about France’s school system that I love is the amount of vacation they have. Starting today we have the next two weeks off! To celebrate during one of our open period some kids in my class and I ate candy and chips, took tons of pictures and listened to music. It was a ton of fun! These kids in my class have been so nice to me and I really like them! They are hilarious and so much fun to hang out with! They also always explain everything to me and talk slower so I can understand. They are all really great!



On vacation we are going skiing in the Alps. Although I live near a mountain back in Bend I am pretty excited to go to the Alps! It’ll also be fun to see another part of France! I love discovering all of the different parts of France! They all have something different to offer and it’s really beautiful here! Also during vacation I am hopefully going to see a movie with a friend, maybe go to Chalon to visit another AFS student, and make peanut butter cookies! Also tomorrow night there is a big celebration in my town that lasts for most of the day and night! Everybody says it’s a ton of fun and I’m really excited for it!



Well that’s about it for now!
Bisous!

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

Sorry I haven't written for a while, I haven't had much time for writing on my blog and I am still using the French keyboard.

Its crazy I have been here for 2 weeks. Time here is really weird. Days go by pretty quick but it seems like I have been here forever. For the most part my first 2 weeks here have been really good!

At school, I started in seconde (sophomore) so I could be with my host sister. But then after a week and a half I changed classes and I am now in premiere (junior). All the kids in seconde were really nice but I had a few reasons I needed to change. For the most part I had already learned everything in seconde but also I thought for me to get the most out of my experience here I need to be independent, even if that requires not being in the same class as my host sister. Being alone also forces me to make my own friends and I think that is best for me.

I have only been in premiere for 2 days now and it has been pretty good. When you start premiere you must pick a track to take. There is L (literature and languages), ESL (economics) and S (science and math). Thinking I would learn the most about french culture in L I chose that track. However when I chose I was unaware that this is the "artzy" track which for those of you who know me, know this is not the section for me. The class is nice but for the most part they are definitely very well...creative. Not saying this a bad thing but they aren't the typical people who I would hang out with in the US. Even if they have over 15 visible piercings I am trying to not judge. As I have always been told "Never judge a book by its cover". However I have made a few friends in the class and they are all great!

I have also met another American here and she is really great! She has been here the whole year and is with another program called rotary. Its really nice having somebody here I can talk to! As an exchange student it's best not to just be friends with other exchange students, but since she has been here for half the year already she is really helpful. Also she has introduced me to a lot of really nice french students! All the students I have met here have been really friendly and helped me get around school.

School here is a lot more similiar to school in America than I expected it to be! But of course there are differences!
- Students stay with the same class all day (for the most part).
- Everyday students have a different schedule. Some days I finish at 12 and other days I finish at 6.
- Students are a lot sassier to the teachers.
- PDA is normal in the hallways.
- Although school here is longer than it is in America, students here have a lot more breaks in the day.
- The teachers here talk A LOT!
- School food is actually really good and everybody eats at the cantine.
- The textbooks are a lot smaller.
- There are boys and girls bathrooms. (I was shocked to say the least!)

Thats about all that I can think of now.

I have to go do homework but I only have half day of school tomorrow so hopefully I can put another post up and get some pictures on here!

A bientôt!

Keep Your Head Up!

Today marks the end of my first week with my host family!

 They have been really great but I am realizing how hard being an exchange student really is. I knew there'd be rough days but I never it expected to be this difficult. Before I came everybody from AFS told me that going abroad will be the hardest thing you ever do and now I'm realizing what they meant. It's so many mixed emotions and there is really no words to describe it. It is being completely overwhelmed with everything; the language, a new family, missing your home, and so much more. Anybody going on exchange believe me when I say this: It is a rollercoaster of emotions. One minute I find myself missing my family so much that it hurts and the next I am super stoked on something French. It's really ridiculous actually.

Before I left everybody told me I am the type of person to go on exchange and I convinced myself it would be so easy. Now Im realizing it's not like this. I'm not saying I wish I wasn't here because I am so happy with being here I am just giving other people going on exchange that if your first week isn't amazing, you got to keep your head up. I just have to keep telling myself how lucky I am to be here. As much as I would love to be curled up on my couch at home watching gossip girl with my family or friends, I have to remind myself this is the chance of a lifetime and not everybody gets this opportunity.

Anyway, enough with that! This week I had a few days of school and it was alright. The school is so cold and I have no idea where Im going but it was fine. I pretty much just followed my host sister around because we are in all the same classes. I really like my host sister but Im starting to realize maybe this isnt such a great idea because its really hard for me to make my own friends. So I think I might ask my host family to switch classes. Its important that I do but its kinda hard to bring up. However if I switch classes it will also help in the long run because I dont think its good if we are together every hour of the day for 5 months. She's really great but we will already spend all our time at home and on vacation together so I think changing would be for the best.

Okay well thats it for now. Hopefully I will be able to update again soon. Sorry for the dramatic rant!

Goodbye America, Bonjour France!

Well here I am finally updating my blog. I have been putting it off since I dont currently have internet on my computer and typing on a French computer is such a pain. However I figured it was finally time to update. I don't think I can fit everything I need to say in one blog post but I will try.

So 2 weeks from today I was in my room with my best friends packing up my room and trying to keep my suitcases under the restricted weight. Packing everything was such a pain and I am finding stuff everyday that I wish I had brought. However I was still over by about 2 pounds. Luckily the airlines didn't charge me any extra fees. Saying my goodbyes was one of the hardest things I've ever done and they were definitely pretty dramatic.

The fact that I was first headed to New York with Hannah and her family was pretty distracting. We had an amazing time there and did a ton of fun stuff. We went to Broadway, Times Square, The Russian Tearoom, The Metropolitan, Central Station, Rockafeller Center, and saw the Statue of Liberty. I had so much fun and fell in love with New York. I would actually love to maybe attend college there after seeing more.It was also really great because we stayed in an apartment in Manhattan that looked out onto the Statue of Liberty. It was really incredible. After all the sightseeing though we finally had to check in to orientation and say goodbye to Hannah's parents.

It was fun to meet everybody at orientation however it seemed to drag on pretty long since we were all anxious to get to our contries. The kids there were going to France (of course), Italy, Russia, and Austria. There was probably about 30 or 40 of us there and only 2 boys. At orientation we talked about the rules, culture shock, other countrys' customs and played some cheesy games that represented exchange. Overall it was pretty fun. The best part though was making friends from all over the US who have so much in common with you. These people have become similiar to a support group. When it was finally time to leave all of us going to France said goodbye to the others and took a bus to the airport.

Our wait at the airport was pretty long but it wasn't bad since there was about 11 of us and we made it fun. During the flight most people slept but it was really hard to with all the nerves and excitement. I got about 2 hours asleep, some girls slept the whole flight and others didn't sleep at all. It was 8am in Paris when we finally arrived. However we had to wait at the airport for about 2 hours for the Argentines and the Australians while all of us were extremely exhausted and pretty hungry. When we finally got to the hostile we had to drag all of our suitcases up a flight of stairs and it was terrible! Then we got to eat and although the food wasn't good we all ate anyway because we were so hungry. After that we finally got our rooms and had free time while we waited for everybody else to get there. I shared my room with an Argentine named Lucianna and a Braillian named Flavia. They were both really cool but they are in my region so I will see them again in March! For the rest of the day we mostly all socialized and tried to relax. I was so relieved to finally go to bed since I had only slept 2 hours in the last 30 hours! Then the next day we had an orientation where we talked about all of the things we could expect in France and how to deal with problems. Although we had all heard this a million times this was the most helpful because it pertained to France in particular. After that we went on a tour of Paris. We stopped at the Eiffel Tower and spent about an hour there. Then we drove around the rest of France in a tour bus and it was really fun! We saw Les Champs d'Elysees, Le Louvre, L'arc de triomphe and a bunch of other stuff I dont remember. Unfortunately though my camera stopped working after the Eiffel Tower so I only got pictures of that and Les Champs D'Elysees. Hopefully I can return to Paris while I am here and see everything not in a bus. We finished orientation with an awkward Bisoux activity which consisted doing Bisoux with everybody at the orientation. But its definitely something you have to get used to in France!

The next morning we had to get up at 4:30 to head to the train station. It was really hard to say goodbye to all of the good friends we had made but we were all anxious to get out of the hostile and eat real food, sleep in a real bed, and of course to meet our families. We had to wait for about 2 hours at the train station and were all ecstatic to find that we finally had wifi! Then I had to say goodbye to Hannah which was really hard! She had been my support system for this whole preparation and I wasn't ready to lose that! But we said our goodbyes and Flavia and I boarded a train to Macon.

The train ride was pretty awful considering all we had that morning was coffee and we were both extremely anxious to meet our families. Then of course the high speed of the train didn't really help! Luckily it was only an hour and a half train ride! Afraid of missing our train Flavia and I dragged our huge suitcases down the stairs early and nervously waited. Then when the train finally arrived we both got out of the train lugging our suitcases behind us and saw our families waiting for us! We did the bisoux with everybody and they all talked in French for a few minutes while Flavia and I tried to catch a few words of what they were saying. Then we all said goodbye and headed to our towns.

In the car they asked questions and I tried to understand but it was so hard to focus because of how tired I was. All the jet lag was really catching up to me! We had a large lunch and then I slept for 4 hours. I woke up, watched a movie, ate dinner and went back to be for about 16 hours! I was so exhausted!

My family here is really great and the house is too! They are all so kind and help me with my french a lot. They love to watch movies which is really relaxing and helps me if I'm missing home. The house is great also and I have my own room with a tv! For an exchange student I am very lucky! There is a chateau right next door where Allain's (my host dad) sister lives and the vindeyards are surrounding the house! It's all pretty amazing.