Répas Exotique – Away

I didn’t say adieu to Alonso and Amy long, because the next weekend we all met up in Amiens, for that region’s Exotic Meal! Basically everyone in the district got together, cooked something from their own country, and a bunch of French people eat it all.

He was totally excited.

It wasn’t my district though, we were spying to see how it’s done.

Then we all gave speeches!

Americanos!

And just generally hung out with everyone else.

Can you say "arriba"?

After which, all the kids stayed in these dorms, and we had tons of fun just hanging out.

Next morning, the kids from Not My District went ice skating, while the kids from my district (Amy, Alonso, me, Majo) went and toured Amiens. It was COLD.

The biggest cathedral du monde!

And saw the biggest Cathedral in the world. Impressive.

The Cathedral. IN CHOCOLATE

and general merriment

So cold. Can't feel toes.

I love these people.

On to new things…

Well, I realize I’ve been terrible about keeping up with what I’m doing. I finally got the one about Christmas up!

I’m well situated and loving my (new) host family, I’ll take some pictures of the house soon. I’ve had lots of fun, but life hasn’t slowed down enough (I’ve been busy every weekend) until now (a little sick and no classes today.)

This is Ninja playing with my clothes, though.

I got back from Christmas Break, the next weekend changed host families, the weekend after went to the “Galette de Roi” (a party all about getting together, partying, eating a cake with a little figurine to find out who’s the king/queen, then coming back the next day to finish off all the food) with my Rotary club. Oh they’re a fun group.

"Not me silly"

King Jean Ronny

Queen Majo

King Matthieu

Yes. Just yes.

Then another week of school…. complete with my missing French teacher, so I don’t have a ton of classes anymore.

Then an amazing weekend

I got out of school at noon on Friday (I only missed one class, English, and I think I can do fairly well without it) and hopped on a train to Paris <3

First things: Train travel is the way to go. It’s relaxing, no hassle, cheap, and pretty.

Then Paris was fantastic I got to hang out with the amazing multilingual Alonso for a while, walking around, seeing Notre Dame and the (twinkling!) Eiffel Tower at night, drinking a Starbucks (I know, I know, I’m in Paris, I should go to a little café, but I missed being American) before going back with his host mother to their gorgeous house in Vernon, Eure, Haute Normandie, France. We got back at midnight, and were up at 4 -an ungodly hour- to be ready to get picked up for meeting the AUSTRALIANS at the airport. Alonso wasn’t up by 4:30, so I went and jumped on him. Well, not literally, but I did smack him a little. He muttered something grumpily in Spanish and proceeded to get up. We had a little tea while waiting for his host councilor, who, along with his wife and a girl, Manon, leaving for Australia this coming summer, were all going to the airport. At 5 in the morning. We were a cheerful bunch. It did bode better for us than the Australians though! The poor dears had been on an airplane for almost 30 hours, counting a stop in Kuala Lumpur.
(Sidenote- most exchanges take place between Northern Hemisphere countries, with the school year starting in August/September being the general arrival time. Not so for Southern Hemisphere countries! Their school year corresponds with the calendar year, along with their seasons. Most notable countries who follow this mold on exchange in France: Australia, Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand.)

The whole gang with the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower shot

But we were there specifically for picking up Amy, who is currently living in Vernon as well. She’s so sweet

We did a driving tour of Paris before heading back to Vernon, where Alonso and I scarfed down lunch before we headed back to Paris another time, with his host family. His host mother had something work related, and Alonso and I went to see a movie.  We tried to go see The King’s Speech, but it didn’t come out in France until the week after. We ended up seeing “También la Lluvia” or “Même la pluie”  (Or “Even the Rain” in English,) which was in Spanish subtitled in French (guess who’s choice it was?) But I understood it all, and it was amazing! Fantastic film, highly recommend it

Afterwards, we went out to eat at Chartier, a very, very French restaurant. (Parents, we’re going there)
My meal went like this:
Entrée des escargots
Confit de Canard
Bleu d’Auvergne
et quelque chose fantastique! pour dessert.
(Escargot, duck confit, blue cheese, and something that was really tasty for dessert)

Alonso and Gayle

The order

Escargots!

Yummmm

The next day was spent in Vernon, where I made chocolate chip cookies and we hung out, went to Alonso’s little host sister’s cello recital, and then bid adieu to Amy and Alonso, and went home to my host parents, where we went out to eat Indian food.

France= foodgasms

 

 

Christmas and La Nouvelle Année

Tellement désolée for the delay! I didn’t have much time in between getting back and switching to my second host family to write all about my holiday break. But here I am now!

Christmas break started off as fun, at a party with some other exchange students, and was fun, but it was a little too different at a time when tradition and familiarity are important. Not to say I didn’t have fun, but it wouldn’t be something I would choose to do again. And it was so ungodly cold!!!

So the French celebrate Christmas on the eve of the 24th, and my family didn’t really do anything important up until the dinner. It was pretty good Foie gras and fig stuffed Guinea Fowl. Yummmmm. Along with oysters, foie gras, other things… it was tasty. We opened presents at midnight, and that was it.

I did open my giant box of presents the next day, so thanks everyone

Then we left for Bretagne…

Bretagne was beautiful

I ate kangaroo on New Years, and didn’t really sleep. We went out for croissants

Afterwards, we got back and I spent one last week before changing to my lovely new family, but that’s a new story

Quincy’s Birthday, Caen with Matt, No Caen with Matt due to Ungodly Amount of Snow.

Well, that was interesting.

Overview: I went to Bernay, for my friend Quincy’s birthday, and the next day I took a train to Caen to visit Matt the next day I found out the due to ungodly amounts of snow all of the trains were cancelled and we got to stay another night.

Details: I had made plans to go visit my friend Quincy for his birthday, there was a grand party planned for his birthday in Bernay, where he lives. There was so much snow, it wasn’t funny. We still got there though! Who all ended up coming was me, Hunter from Michigan, Alonso from Mexico/Spain, and Aman of India, on top of the two girls that were friends of Quincy’s host sister, Marie (who had the same birthday!)

The Host Sisters

 

Quincy with his birthday present, 'The Scarf'

Yes.

 

We Cool

Boold? What gang is that?

Bein' cuute

Aman, you shouldn't've fallen asleep before us.

Take what you will from this picture

"Okay, it's getting kind of cold out..."

I'M NOT COLD

"I'm so cold!"

Wii Dance. Don't make me again.

Don't make me dance

Go get it Marie

This accurately describes us

Oh Aman

Pizza with Alonso

Aman was feeling so lovey-dovey

Wii!

We all hung out, played on the Wii, ate copious amounts of pizza, and just enjoyed each other’s company amidst general merriment.  I stayed with the boys that night, and slept in the same big room with them, because in Quincy’s words, “Anne est un mec aussi!” (Anne is a guy too.) But I don’t mind assumptions of manliness for agreeable sleeping arrangements

We got up the next morning, and I made pancakes. Oh it was fantastic. I love American food.

Baking time!

After we decided it was high time we put all of this snow to use and we went outside to enjoy the general atmosphere.
Maybe making a snowman in the middle of the road wasn’t the best idea, but who cares…

Sledding!

Or not!

"Hey I tried."

Hunter the Red-Nosed Raindeer

The Snowman Begins!

Oh Aman...

Lifting the Body

It needs a head.

There we go!

We need body parts...

It starts to look like Shrek.

Make it rounder!

Quincy and Aman showing some snowman love

Quincy: "But I AM taller than it!"

Hunter, Aman, and Quincy

After our jolly adventures outside, it was getting close to the time we all were supposed to leave for the train station.
Aman, Hunter, and Alonso were all heading back on the 1:00 P.M. train to Rouen, and I was catching the 1:07 P.M. to Caen to start my excellent adventure visiting Matt! Hahaha, ou pas. There was so much snow that no trains were running, at all. So, thank you Quincy’s Host Family for having us all again! (Yes mom, we all thanked them, multiple times)

We came back for the afternoon, where we all just relaxed and were low-key. Hunter was being a favorite of the French ladies, and Aman and Quincy were playing Billiards, so Alonso and I spent some time talking, laughing, and laughing at my attempts at Spanish. I fail, miserably. But I will learn one day! I’ve learned quite a bit now, but I had a great teacher (gracias Alonso!) But he is very much fun to be with, so I have plans to go visit him at his host family in January. They also happen to go into Paris regularly… But the afternoon passed with a birthday lunch and some present opening

The Two Birthday People

"Can we blow out the candles yet?"

Whoooooosh

We be cool.

Let me eat my cake.

That thing was as big as my face.

Because in France, any event means Champagne!

Present time!

The Birthday Boy

Dance: Michael Jackson

Don't make us dance.

But it was fantastic. All of it. We seem to be an awesome group for hanging out with

We stayed that night, not exactly sleeping much, and talked a lot. It feels nice to be together.
The next morning, the boys were getting up early because the host dad of Quincy was driving to Rouen for work and offered to take the guys back. They agreed, considering they would probably still be stuck in Bernay if not. They were planning on getting up at 7:30 and leaving by 8, which doesn’t seem too early, until you account for the fact that we stayed up ’til 4 talking, playing, and being merry.  I, on the other hand, did not have to get up, due to the fact that no one had any idea when I was leaving. Aman decided otherwise and chucked something at my head. I was a tad mad, but was awake. I stole the blanket of Alonso (it was fluffy!) and laid in bed for a while, laughing at the guys trying to find their things. After was breakfast, and a big American hugging goodbye. Alonso was walking out the door when I looked at him and asked, “Didn’t you have a coat??” Apparently, fatigue can even wipe out hatred of cold. I know Alonso doesn’t like the cold almost as much as I do, so I found this funny.

I stayed for a while longer, hanging out with Quincy’s family, helping them on a quiz game online when they asked American questions. His host dad came back and offered to drive me back, which was very kind of him, so I could get back to my host home due to the fact that trees had fallen all over the train line to Caen and there were no trains at all. I took him up on it and said goodbye to Quincy, hoped that he had a very happy birthday, and returned chez moi to write this

All in all, a fantastic weekend.

French of the day: Joyeux Noël! (Merry Christmas!)

 

Editor’s note:

I forgot completely to talk about Saturday morning!
I had my last swim practice ever at the L’Aigle piscine and it was so much fun! We really didn’t practice, but more throw water polo balls at each other, try and dump everyone into the pool, pretend to have some relays and then all go outside and have another epic snow fight. I was successfully DUMPED into the snow by Thomas and Florent, and Lucas seemed to have something against me as I was completely inundated with snowballs and being dunked underwater by him the WHOLE time. It was amusing. I love mon équipe de natation! Luckily, we get to continue Saturday mornings in Mortagne au Perche. But it won’t be the same. I still will have amazing memories of these people forever though!

Rouen Weekend

No one could ever really know the love I feel for the other students in my district here <3

There’s Hunter, who gives the best hugs and manages to lift me off my feet every time. Willy, whom I found out knows and lives near our old family friends, the Letchingers. Bonita Juanita, Jana the German who can read ANCIENT GREEK, the adorable Miyuu. The new South African who can click, Marilyn. Eli, Laura, and Renata, Je vous aime Mexicanas! Sarah, Erin and Chelsey, you make my world happy (and much blonder ) The hipster connection with Joelynn and Jared. Aman and Quincy… just  Then there’s Majo, who we decided if one of us was a boy, everyone would think we were married. They probably think we’re lesbian quand-même. And Matt and Alonso… words cannot describe my feelings for you both.

 

So we’ll start at the beginning.
Friday after school, Majo and I were picked up from school by Marianne (The wife of Bernard, who happens to be the head of Rotary Youth Exchange… for FRANCE) for a night at their house. Which was beautiful and all decorated for Christmas! Laura came too, so it was Anne and the Spanish speakers! But I don’t mind, I like hearing the language. Twas a blast! Marilyn, the new girl from South Africa who is here for her summer break, came by and we met her for the first time. She’s awesome too! She didn’t spend the night, but we got to see her the next morning in Rouen. Which leads me to…

THE ROUEN WEEKEND

Just about everyone in my district gets along swimmingly. Which is amazing, because when we get together, it’s fantastic. But it’s a little sad when we can’t see each other for long periods of time. Which leads to my weekend plans, but we’ll talk about that later!
So we all met up at the train station in Rouen, the capital of Haute-Normandie to have our excellent adventure, which started off by standing around and hugging for ages. Literally.  Then we went off to this awesome museum of iron works, which makes you really appreciate doctor’s instruments nowadays.
Afterwards… shopping time Then vin chaud, hot spiced wine! And dinner with everyone.
We stayed with host families, and it was great, because there was two girls or two boys going to each. Except me, where I had my now dear friend Quincy stay with me. We laughed a little, but it was great. We hung out and talked until an ungodly hour of the morning, and then I decided I was getting up at 7:30 to shower and whatnot, so it was bedtime.

Next morning: Ice Skating! (which now means I have very large bruises on my derrière) The Canadians loved it, the Mexicans… Not as much. Alonso’s refusal to skate made me chuckle! It was an amazing amount of fun. We went after to a Marché du Noël, and Matt and I ducked out of the scene to go sit in a café, buy macarons, and walk around arm in arm for a while, enjoying the fact we are in France.

Afterwards we had lunch and left, and while I don’t do an accurate job of describing what happened, it was something wordlessly amazing.

Bataille de boules des neige, Thanksgiving, and an Epic 18th Birthday Party

I realized I hadn’t kept up on what’s been going on lately. Last weekend I made Thanksgiving! It wasn’t super fantabulous, but it was good. Turkey, stuffing, green bean cassarole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and a pumpkin roll. All cooked by this girl

It was intense.

But faaaaaasssssst forward to this weekend! Friday night, the girls (Majo and Ellie of Mexico) went out a little on the town, looked at Christmas lights… it was fun Ellie came into town from Flers that afternoon for the beginning of Majo’s 18th birthday bonanza! We came back, went to sleep late, and I, comme d’habitude, had swim practice the next morning. Joy. But it was by far the most fun I’ve ever had swimming! We decided half way through practice that no, in fact, we were NOT going to practice anymore, but we were going outside on the deck and lawn to play in the snow. In our swim suits. Soaking wet.

And it was magnifique!

We had so much fun, I cannot even tell you. Luckily, part of the pool is outside (and very, very warm!) so whenever we couldn’t feel our extremities we just hopped in and warmed up. Et ouias, Thomas, les français sont completement fous.

Then to make the day even better, we had Majo’s birthday party that night! I stayed and helped Odile, Majo’s host mom, cook while the Ellie, Majo, and Juanita (who arrived that morning) went shopping and had some fun. Life was just fantastic We had a bunch of adults there, and we partied in the kitchen (Waka Waka anyone?) took some pictures, and spoke tons of Spanish. Life was good. Happy 18th Majo

So this weekend was a blast

Phrases of the weekend: Ba ouai, je sais qu’est-ce que c’est un pamplemousse. J’habite en Floride. (Well yeah, I know what a grapefruit is. I live in Florida.)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Meaning there is a WHOLE TON OF SNOW.

The fun thing about French schools, other than the fact there are no substitutes, is that when there is too much snow, the buses do not roll.  Considering the first thing that popped into my head this morning when I looked outside was “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” I figured the bus wasn’t stopping by.  So, I do not have school. Majo, on the other hand, who walks to school, does. Sad thing, considering it’s her 18th birthday. (Joyeux anniversaire Majo!!)

She and I talked this morning, mainly about how terrible it is to walk in the snow, how I’m happy it’s her birthday and I wish I could stay at her house so I could go to school too, a little something about the cute boys in spanish class and now I’m trying to get my host mom to let me go to Majo’s for tonight so I can stay through Sunday. It’d be fun

So I’m at home, and I slept in nicely I think I’m going to make cookies. Of the chocolate chip variety.
My little host brother is watching the A-Team. In French. How does one take Mr. T seriously in French????

Dylan has informed me that after I’m done making cookies and we eat lunch, we are going outside to make a bonhomme de neige (SNOWMAN!)
And a friend on the swim team has informed me that if I go to practice on Saturday, we are having a snowball fight. In our swimsuits. I love being French

After, Dylan and I went out and had a snowball fight. I attempted to build a snow man, and it failed miserably. I wish I could’ve gone skiing, it’s perfect for that. Now I’m having a tasse de thé and watching something dramatic in French. I love today

 

Phrases of today : Joyeux anniversaire Majo! (Happy birthday Majo!)

Pas de car? Pas d’école? Pas de problem! (No bus? No school? No problem!)

Je veux un bataille des boules de neige! (I want a snowball fight!)