08 March 2009

la fin des vacances


Gabriela et Dakin chez Lucie, la soirée "ne plus jamais"

Alors, je pensais que serait bien finir mes vacances par écrire un petit mot là pour que tout le monde sache comment ça va.

So, I thought that it would be nice to end my vacation by writing a little note here so that everyone knows how things are going.

WOOOOW.  It's been over a month since I've last written.  It's getting serious.

At the same time a lot and nothing has been happening around here.  Basically during the month of February I went to school non stop.  The first weekend of February I went to a friends house with some friends to celebrate her 18th birthday, which was really tiring but cool!  We STARTED eating dinner at ten o'clock and we finished around midnight.  So basically now you know that if the night started after dinner, it was a very long night.  But it was really cool and I had a lot of fun!  The weekend of Saint Valentines was an AFS weekend.  We were hosted by the AFS regional coordinators and volunteers in a small village south of Poitiers, about an hour by car from where I live.  We did activities such as French children's games, we danced, we ate A LOT, and we discussed how are year is going and what we're getting out of the experience.

The following week went by fairly quickly as I anticipated the start of my two week winter vacation.  That weekend I went to Moulins sur Allié to visit Eileen, a friend that I met in New York at the outgoing orientation.  We saw a movie which was pretty good (the French movie theaters are MUCH cheaper than in the US), we went to a few cafés, and I met some of her really cool friends!  At one point I was with three other Americans and it was very strange because it was the first time I had been with more than one other American since Paris in August!

Leaving Sunday afternoon was pretty sad, but it was just the beginning of my vacation so I had a lot to look forward to!  I didn't travel very much during this vacation, I only went to Poitiers a few times by train, stayed over night at my friend Jona's house a couple of days, and I hung around Châtellerault with some friends.  But I must admit that it was a fairly calm vacation during which I didn't do much.  It was great!

In fact, I didn't even do much studying for the practice graduation exam that will be all of this following week.  I reallllly need to get going to study a little today ^^ so that I won't completely fail the exams.

I hope everyone's doing well and I'll see you all all too soon.  Ciao!
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26 January 2009

les nouvelles sur université


Hello everybody!  I just thought I'd write a quick note saying that I have received some great news!  I have been accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison!

UW-Milwaukee is my third choice, UW-Madison is my second choice...and so I'm now waiting on my first choice:  New York University!

Wish for the best and hopefully I'll hear back from NYU within the next month or so!

À très bientôt!
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21 January 2009

Noël, le réveillon, et janvier :)




Hello once again everybody!  I'm sorry that I haven't written in over a month but, comme d'habitude (like usual), I am SUPER busy!  And I've also been neglecting my own personal journal, SO...I need to get on that as well!

Well I'm just going to summarize the past month and a half!  The week before my Christmas break started was absolutely hilarious/typically French.  I didn't have school on Wednesday, nor Thursday because there were student protests and we were blockaded from entering the building.  VIVE LA GRÈVE!  

For the first 5 days of my Christmas break I went to Strasbourg on the border of Germany to visit my friend Carolyn (Caroline) who was in Elkhart Lake last year with AFS.  Needless to say it was very bizarre to speak in French with her but we managed ;).  Strasbourg is the Christmas capital of Europe and so it was so amazing to be there just until Christmas Eve!  The first ever decorated Christmas tree, from where the custom comes, was mounted in Strasbourg and so in the city square there was a HUGE Christmas tree all lit up and absolutely beautiful!  I also saw, briefly, the European Parliament which is also located in Strasbourg.  I met a bunch of Carolyn's awesome friends and they were so cool!  I missed them already when I got on the train to come back to Châtellerault!

Once back, I spend Christmas with my host family.  The kids loved all of their gifts and my host family got me an awesome book of aerial pictures of the region and an awesome plume with "J'écris, donc je suis" (I write, therefore I am) written on it ^^.  The day after Christmas I went to visit Jean-François' side of the family.  I think there were 22 people it was insane!  We seriously sat down at the table at noon and didn't really get up until we went to bed.  Insane.

Then, the day after we got back we left again, only this time we drove about seven hours to the NORTH of France (Nord Pas-de-Calais) to spend a week with Lucie's side of the family.  I saw all of the rural farms, the English Channel, Lille, and I spend the New Years with two of my host cousins at a huge 80's party!  It was so cool!  And oh boy was the champagne good!

The first week back to school after Christmas vacation was also really funny!  It SNOWED!!!  It snowed, I believe, two inches maximum, and the French would have had you believe that the sky was falling.  ALL traffic was stopped, I had two, not one, TWO snow days, and everything was closed.  Like I said...two inches.  AND, above all, I was told that it hadn't snowed like that for THIRTY years!  Within a few days the temperature returned to well over the freezing point and there have even been days that weren't cold with a sweatshirt on.  Quite a contrast to January in Wisconsin (especially this year)!

As of late I haven't done anything much that is noteworthy, except that last weekend I went to Poitiers, the capital of the region which is about 20 minutes away by train, to attend a going-away party for a German girl named Annika.  She's here for a six month program, so she will be returning to Germany this Saturday.  It was sad to see her for the last time, but I had a really fun night with all of the other exchange students and host siblings that came as well!  And this weekend I will back in Poitiers, to practice for a local show that I will be performing in.  It's a medieval dinner that we put on the Saturday and Sunday nights of the Easter weekend.  We're going to sing, dance, and put on little skits such as sword fighting and other typical medieval stunts.

Well, I have to be off and I realize that this post isn't the longest I have written, but I'll hopefully keep you all better informed this coming month ^_^

Au revoir et bonne année!  Goodbye and have a good New Year!

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03 December 2008

Thanksgiving (?) Video Update

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Mon dieu comment le temps passe vite!

Mon dieu!  C'est trop vrai que le temps passe vite! C'est déjà décembre!  Je suis désolé que je n'ai pas mis mon blog à jour !  Je vous promis que je suis très occupé et que je vais essayer de mettre à jour mon blog plus souvent!

Holy cow!  It's so true that times flies!  It's already December!  I'm sorry that I haven't updated my blog!  I promise you that I'm really busy and that I'll try to update more often!

Wow so where to begin...

First of all I'm going to say sorry in advance for my English.  I hope you understand it :P

I kept SUPER busy in November!  I can't really get into details here because I would have to write a tome!  However, I'll fill you in on the more general facts.  First, I went to Tours for the day with Julia at the beginning of November.  We took the train and just toured the city, visited two museums (Musée des Beaux Arts et Musée du Compagnonnage), visited the shopping district briefly (expensive!), and just spend a good day enjoying the French scenery.  One night at the beginning of the month we made Caipirinha at Gabriela's house (she's from Brazil), as well as other Brazilian cuisine.  It was really cool!  We watched movies and just joked around.  I've also been spending a lot of time with my good friend Jona (Jonathan) who's from Austria.  He's been sleeping over at my house quite a bit, almost every weekend!  But it's great because we hang out downtown and discover new parts of Châtellerault!  Oh!  And Julia and I went to a Halloween/Birthday party for one of my friends from school.  It was really fun, and we had a great time!  Everyone was dressed up in costumes!  I wore my graduation cap and gown :).  Two weekends ago I went to central France with my host family for a family reunion.  There were so many people and the food was so good!  And then last weekend I went to Nantes with my host family to look at a French engineering university, as well as visit le chateau de Nantes (a castle) and the shopping district (expensive!).  But we did manage to buy some really good caramel!  This Friday night I'm taking the train to Paris with Lucie, Marie, and Pauline to stay overnight at some friends' house.  Then Saturday morning I will take two SAT Subject Tests (Spanish & French), afterwhich we will do a little touring of Paris before returning to Châtellerault Saturday night.  And then next Saturday I have a Christmas party for AFS, for which we (the exchange students) have to prepare a food item and a show.  I'm going to be making Eggnog, a chain of Christmas links for the Christmas tree which will be there (everyone there will make a link), and then I will be singing O Christmas Tree in English, German, and French with Julia.  It's bound to be exciting!

OH!  And how could I forget!?  OBAMA was elected as president!  That's great!  I stayed up all night at a friends house to watch the elections!  I even had an interview with a local news reporter and I was in the paper!  Also, I should also mention that I celebrated Thanksgiving with my host family the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I made the pumpkin pie from scratch ;) .  And, because we couldn't find a turkey, we had chicken instead :(  But other than that it was great!

Finally I'll finish up by saying that I've really been starting to participate in school, and that I'm understanding more and more of the material presented.  Hopefully after Christmas I'll have a language breakthrough!  And tomorrow I will be signing up to take le bac, or the national graduation exam at the end of the year.  I will be taking both the Junior and Senior levels, so it's going to be intense.  However, I'm lucky that I won't have to study for English (I hope!).

So, I know I haven't written much but it's getting late and I should be going.  I've got a lot of work to do!  Gotta keep busy ;)

AU REVOIR!
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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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