28 October 2008

merci !!




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21 October 2008

c'est la vie

Mon Dieu!  Je ne peux pas croire que je suis là en France depuis deux mois!  Aujourd'hui marque deux mois!  C'est vraiment bizarre pour moi, et j'ai fait BEAUCOUP les deux mois passés!  Je voudrais écrire en français même si je sais que je suis obligé d'écrire en anglais!  Alors, le texte suivante est ce que moi j'ai fait pendant la fin de septembre et à ce jour en octobre:

My God!  I can't believe that I've been here in France for two months!  Today is the two month mark!  It's really weird for me, and I have done a lot in the past two months!  I actually want to write in French, even if I know that I need to write in English for all of you to understand!  And now, the following is what I've been up to since the end of September and so far in October:

I'll start off from the beginning.  In the end of September I spent a day with my AFS chapter in Poitiers, the capital of Poitu-Charantes, the region of France I live in.  There was a festival in the city park with stands representing all of the regional, national, and interational groups, clubs, activities, and organizations which are active in Poitu-Charantes.  Basically I just hung out with the other exchange students in my region, and we walked around and enjoyed the nice sunny day.


However, seeing as it's October, I've been spending a lot of time in school.  So, I'll include some pictures I took a while back:




I've even been shopping with Lucie, my host mom, and I found some things I think you all would enjoy:




At the very end of September I was invited to a fête (party) by Gabrielle, one of my friends from school.  We pretty much just ate some really good pasta, talked a lot, went swimming in her outdoor pool, and watched a movie.  Frankly, it was pretty chilly out so I, and most of the others, didn't swim.  So basically that meant I was hanging around with a bunch of people smoking and swimming.  Great!  No but really they were all great and the pasta was AWESOME!  We watched the movie really late, so I was really tired, but I got the gist of the plot (it involved two sets of cheating couples having affairs with the others' spouses).  Vive France!



Three weeks ago I went with some of my friends from school to a kabob restaurant across the street from our lycée (high school).  I had a lot of fun, and although it was a little expensive for food I can get for $1 in the States, it was really tasty!



My host family has been doing great, and Jean-François is recovering from his badminton accident (vive sport!).  All of the kids, except Benoît, attend school so during the day Lucie takes care of the house, entertains Benoît, and Jean-François works from his office at home (until his leg is better).  I am enjoying Lucie's food a lot!!!



Last Saturday was quite an interesting day!  I actually went to Paris for the day with Barbara (Hungary) and Gabriela (Brasil), and Gabriela's host dad and brother.  We went to Le salon des voitures, which is the biggest car exhibition in the world, showcasing the new cars to be released next year throughout the world.  It is IMMENSE, encompassing SIX huge exhibition buildings.  It was so packed by noon that I couldn't lift my arms because it was so crowded.  Oh -- and even American marks were there!







Oh, and to go back to doing things with my host family, I went to another city park last Sunday and my GOSH it's gorgeous!  There's a lake and a TON of trails to walk.  I took a 3 km (3 kilometers = 1.86 miles) walk with Lucie and Marie, while Guillaume and Pierre-Louis went fishing in the lake.  It was a beautiful day for this and I really enjoyed myself.  The park is really well preserved and clean!  In fact, while walking through the thicker parts of the forest I felt like I was transported back to medieval France.  What an exhilarating feeling!



Last week Thursday I went to Nantes with my class for a book convention.  We left at 9 AM by bus and got to Nantes by noon.  After a two hour lunch (like normal in France), during which I ate and toured a little bit of the downtown with some friends, we went to the discussion, which lasted about 4 hours.  After which we ate a snack, loaded the bus, and headed back to Châtellerault, a voyage once again taking 3 hours.  So basically we left at 9 AM and got back by 9 PM.  Quite the field trip.



More recently, as in this past weekend, I hung out with my friends a lot :).  Saturday morning I had a pique-nique (picnic) with four of my French friends (Marie, François, Thomas, Lucille), and my girlfriend Julia, who is here from Austria with AFS for the year (like me!).  I treated everybody to good ole' PB&J :)

Then, my friend Jonathan, an Austrian boy who is here with another exchange program, arrived in town by bus.  Everybody split up, and Julia, Jona(than) and I ended up going to the city pool.  After a while Jona's host family met us there, and Julia left and I went with Jona and his host family to stay over night at their house.  They are really nice and their food was to DIE for!  Their house is huge, and their yard is even more massive!  They even have a small cottage hidden about an acre back!

Sunday I went with Jona to a chocolate festival!  OMG I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!  I've never seen anything like it!  It was at the same place the Quebec festival was, but this time it was full of chocolate of every type, and from around the world!



And we also went to a small festival in the small village where Jona lives, and hung out for a little while.  We rode bumper cars, bought some good movies for only six euros, and walked around.  Overall it was an amazing weekend and Jona and I had a lot of fun!



And today was just a normal day for me in France:







I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything in a while, but a) I was a little lazy and b) I've been really occupied (as you can see)!  As it's the end of a fairly lengthy post, I'll just answer a few questions and comments I got at the end of my last post:

The classes I'm taking here in France are both more difficult and more easy than in the United States.  My foreign language classes are MUCH more difficult, and I LOVE it!  My Spanish teacher is sooooo cool!  However, I personally find that my English classes are harder in the States than the French classes they take here.  Then again, I'm starting Philosophy in two weeks so I really can't judge.  Also, I'm not exactly expected to do all of the work so...my opinion is a little biased right now :).  Ask me again at the end of the year when I take the national graduation exam :)

I MISS YOU FAMILY!  Yes, that includes you Becky and Christine :P (and you too Grandma!)

HI ROCKY KNOLL STAFF!  I know you guys are keeping up on my blog.  Please stop hassling my Mom :P.  I am a few thousands of miles away, she can't really FORCE me to update my blog :P  But do know that I'm thinking about you guys over here!

Christine & Becky:  I'll make sure to put some pictures of me and Julia in my next post.  I promise it will be this week, I have something important to write.  Also, I'll take some pictures of my school this week and post them soon.

I'll write again soon!  Je vais vous écrire bientôt!
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