la première vue de la france

Bonjour tout le monde!  Je suis arrivé, et, habituellement, content!

Hello everyone!  I have arrived, and, usually, am happy!

Wow!  I can't believe I've been in France for two weeks already!  The orientations in New York and Paris were very interesting, and I met a lot of really amazing people!  The orientation in New York was one overnight orientation.  We had small group discussions about AFS, including the rules, as well as other culture information.  I had a really cool roommate from California named Scott, who's also studying in France.  However, he somehow landed a family in Marseille, which is a huge city in the south of France, on the Mediterranean.  Also, shout outs to Eileen and Sophia.

The flight over seemed very quick, even though I didn't get a blink of sleep.  Orientation in Paris was...interesting.  Basically, it was three days of eating bad FRENCH cafeteria food and small group discussions about France, what to expect, and how AFS functions here.  On the third day I had to get up at 5:30 AM, to drive to a certain train station to catch a train to Poitiers, the capital of my region (Poitu-Charantes).  By noon we (I and the...8 other exchange students in my region) had arrived and met our host families.  We all ate lunch together and it was very nice (and delicious, real French food!).

So much has happened in the past two weeks that it would take forever to fill you in for everything.  However, I will tell you that my host family is great!  I do have problems every once in a while, but that's normal!  I talk with my host parents, Jean-François and Lucie, and we work everything out as it comes along!  No worries!

School started two days ago.  The first day was only 1,5 hours of orientation.  I didn't understand a word, so it was lucky that I had already previously met a very nice boy named François who is in most of my classes.  The second day, today, was even more difficult.  I'm not sure how the next three weeks (trial period of my current school track in Terminal S) will go.  But, my host parents assure me that as long as I try, everything is okay!  Today, as well as all Wednesdays, are only half days.  However, on Mondays and Fridays I have school until 6:00 PM (and 5 PM on Tuesdays).  So...it's not all it's cracked up to be, haha!

Well, I hope that everything is going well back in the States.  I'm doing my best here, and I wish everyone well!

À bientôt!  See you soon!