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Reflection

20 March, 2017 So, I don't know how long this will be, but I wanted to take a while just to talk about my experience in general, now that I have been home for a little over a month and a half. Overall, I have almost no negatives that I can say when looking at the big picture. My host family was great, my school was great, my friends were great, and my experience was great. I feel like I really bonded with my host family, particularly my host mom and Frédéric. They were some of my favorite people, and just sitting with them, listening to them (or towards the end having conversations with them) was really amazing. They were always willing to help me with anything I needed and they were really there to support me. My host siblings were a lot of fun too. It was really nice to have them around so I could see family life. I got to go the Christmas fair and to the movies as a family because of them and it was a whole other side of French life I would not have been able to see without them. Simon was so much fun to play with. He was always bright and full of smiles, and I was so glad to have him around. Lucie was surprising, creative and curious, and brought back a child-like wonder to my eyes. Together, Lucie and Simon could be loud sometimes, and particularly Lucie would throw fits, but overall I am very happy they were there and I love them both. I don't have the time, space, or patience to list every one of my friends, sadly but they were all so caring and they did so much to help me. Any time I was confused, I always knew I had so many people I could ask for help. I do want to mention Emma though. She was the first classmate I ever talked to, and she showed me where to sit, and helped me around. She was a real friend when I had no one and I am very glad that she was there. In general, I think the people I met were probably the best part of my experience, and they were what I was most excited about when I left. I met so many people who all taught me so much about both myself, and who taught me to expand my mind and think about a new way of life that I gradually adjusted to accept. I felt like I had a really great AFS experience. I liked being able to meet people from other countries besides France (and the US) and I really liked having weekends to meet up with everyone. I am very glad I had this experience.

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Last week in France

March 20, 2017 So now that I have been back for a while, I thought it might be good to sit down and reflect on my experience, and talk about it overall, however, when I pulled up this blog to do this, I realized I never actually posted about my last week there. Luckily I made a list of everything I did that last week, and I have my personal journal, so I am going to do that now because one of my favorite memories of my time in France happened during that last week. Monday and Tuesday night were really normal nights. I was spending a lot of time cleaning my room, and packing everything up, because I knew the second half of my week would be very busy and emotional, so I wanted to get as much done as possible while I could. Wednesday I had my last after-school French lesson. We didn't do any work, but instead had a party. We were supposed to travel to a different city to my teacher's house, but my friend Gina who was leaving with me (and who lived about an hour out of Perigueux) would not have been able to catch the train to get there. Instead, we did games, trust exercises, and overall just had a good time. Afterwards, me, Gina (American), Vi (Thai), and Elisabetta (Italian) did some shopping, and just spent dome time on our last night all together. Thursday was the night that I want to remember forever. I was spending the night cleaning and packing my room when there was a knock at the door. This was strange because we live inside a school building, and the only people who ever come in are the people who live there, but when I went to answer it, Johan and Emma where at the door!!! They said they had a surprise for me, and we were going to get dinner together, so I grabbed some money and off we went. We went to my favorite little cafe (although they didn't know I had ever been there) and we sat and talked, and ate all night. I had a bacon potato stuffed crepe that was amazing and we had a really amazing night. It was so nice of them to do that for me and I will never forget that. Even now, sitting here thinking about them is making me sad. Friday was a pretty relaxed day at school (being that it was my last day). I had english class just before lunch, and my english teacher was absent for my last day so we had 2 hours of free time. One of my other teachers found me and said that my english teacher wanted to talk to me, and gave me her phone so Emma, Johan and I all went outside and me and my English teacher spoke on the phone for almost 45 minutes. Then we went back in and relaxed in the library for a while before Johan said he wanted to go for a walk (Emma had left) , so we walked around the school for a while, and he lead me very slowly to our classroom. He told me to open the door and when I did, all my classmates and most of my teachers where there, clapping and yelling. They had thrown a surprise party for me! They had local specialties for snacks (plus some of my favorite candies) they wrote a lovely message for me on the board, and they brought me gifts! My classmates gave me a lovely silver bracelet, a framed class photo, and a french flag signed by everyone, and the teachers bought me a recipe book of french classic pastries, written step by step and with qr codes that had videos so I could make them even if I don't understand the steps. It was really amazing and I have never felt more loved. My teachers all came up to me and asked me to "fais la bise" (give kisses on the cheek) to them. It was really amazing, and I had a lot of fun and I wish I had gotten this up sooner so some of my friends and teachers could have read it and seen how appreciative I am that they went to all that trouble for me. After that, I had a fairly normal lunch and last class of the day, although I didn't eat much because I had so much food at the party. After the end of my last class though, all my friends, except Emma and Johan, came and told me goodbye and wished me well. Then, Johan, Emma and I went into the city to have some fun one last time. We went back to the cafe, were I got the same thing and we had a quick snack, then we went shopping and Johan picked out outfits for me to try on. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs, but then he had to leave. Emma's grandma then drove us to her house where I saw their Christmas display, but then I had to say goodbye and go home. That part was really hard, and I walked into the building on the brink of tears before going into my room and crying. My host mom came in and comforted me, and we had a really nice moment, but during this, she told me something that I think has alone gotten me to where I am now. She told me "You are crying because you enjoyed it" and that has helped me so much through this last almost 2 months, remembering that all this pain I feel is because I had so much fun. It doesn't take the pain away, but it justifies it, and I would rather have the pain knowing that I have made what I hope are life-long friends and memories that will surely remain with me until I die, than have missed this opportunity. Saturday morning I got up early to take the train to Paris. Gina and I were both crying messes, but it was nice to have someone with me to help keep the sadness at bay. We got to Paris for our orientations, and apparently summer vacation was just ending in Australia and New Zealand, so I got to meet some amazing Aussies and Kiwis who went on 2 month summer programs. They were really cool to meet and to talk to, plus the 2nd semester people arrived, so I got to meet lots of people, and make lots of new friends, even if it was only for a day. I then had to get up in basically of the middle of the night to get on my plane and after that everything gets blurred together. I have written down that Sunday I took the plane home, but frankly I don't remember what happened when. Everything went fairly smoothly at the airport, and I got home just fine and finally saw my parents late Sunday night.

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Snowboarding

22 January, 2017 So, last weekend here. I feel like that still hasn't really set in. I've been trying to use every bit of my time here, so I haven't really had much time to think about how soon I'm leaving. I really wish I could stay here longer. While I miss everyone at home, I have friends and a family here that I am going to miss immensely when I return. I have learned so much and I been able to meet so many people and I have grown so much in these last 5 months. Monday evening me and my host mom went to a very bizarre dance performance. It was about 2 guys in a locker room who started trying to show off, and it talked a lot about forming relationships, and what those relationships really mean. (At the end, they kissed) It was very interesting, and I liked the story and meaning, but their style of dance was not my favorite. Wednesday I spent the evening in the city, and it was probably the last time I will be able to really walk around and see it, because this week I am having friends coming over after my French class. (Although I hope my French friends and I will be able to go into the city next Friday for a while) I went with one of my AFS friends, who is also going to be leaving, and we got some souvenirs, and just kinda walked around for a while and enjoyed our time there. Thursday was nice because I had 2 hours free because part of the class was doing oral presentations, and anyone who didn't have a presentation didn't have to be there, so I spent the time in the library with my friends, and we talked and took a bunch of photos, most of them much more fun and silly than the one above, but I thought the one above was the nicest. (from left to right is Elisa, Johan, Charlie and me) Friday Emma and Johan came over after school and brought me some French candy to try. They had gummy dolphins that were really good, some things that were like if they packaged Starbursts like they package Tootsie Rolls, and a chocolate bars that were nougat and caramel with hazelnuts inside. They also had a lot of stuff that had a mousse or marshmallow-like texture, which I could eat, but I wouldn't go out of my way for, and they had black licorice wheels, and giant jelly beans. There were bars of coconut covered in chocolate, and to finish it all off, they brought some Skittles. A lot of the stuff (like almost half) they brought was Haribo, which I guess makes sense because Haribo is a German company, but I found interesting none the less. After my friends left I packed up a suitcase, and after dinner my host mom, Frédéric and I left top go back to Besse (the skiing town), and we didn't get there until about 12:30am that night. Saturday we got up and went snowboarding in the afternoon. Me and my host mom got a teacher to show us for two hours, which was really helpful, but I ended up falling and hurting my wrist and she really hurt her thumb, so after the class we went back to the place we are staying and ate a late lunch and relaxed a while. Afterwards, Frédéric went back to go snowboarding (because he didn't go when me and my host mom went earlier because there was a problem with our water he stayed to fix). I probably should have gone with him, but we had to buy the tickets ahead, and I didn't know if my wrist would be better (which it mostly was), plus I would have been alone on the slope (because clearly he wanted to do something a little harder than the bunny hill) and I wasn't sure I was entirely comfortable being on the slope alone at that point, being that I'm still pretty bad, and should something happen I would be in trouble, being that I still don't completely speak the language (especially when I'm nervous or scared) Sunday was even more fun though. We got up and had a big breakfast, then went to the slopes in the early afternoon. I snowboarded for about 3 1/2 hours and had so much fun. I started to get used to going down the hill, and by the end I had pretty good control over my board. I ended up staying on the bunny hill the whole time, because by the time I was ready for more we had lost Frédéric and my host mom wanted someone who was better at snowboarding to go with us, because she had never been on a real hill either and didn't want to be responsible for me on top of trying to get down the hill herself. It was so much fun though. I really want to continue learning when I get home, and apparently I surprised both my host mom and Frédéric by how fast I learned. After we left the slopes, we just packed up our stuff and headed home, so there is not much to talk about there. I hope everyone had a good week, and I can't wait to see you all soon!

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New Foods!!!

15 January, 2017 So I really haven't been doing much lately. For most of the week I went to school, came home, and did my homework. I went into the city for a little while Wednesday, but Thursday morning I had a 15 minute oral presentation, so I came home early to practice for that (and spent most of the week practicing it) It ended up going really well though! Back in maybe October, I was given a hero to research (I had Lancelot du lac), then I had to choose a 20th or 21st century hero who shares the same qualities as the hero I was given (I chose Emmeline Pankhurst), then I had to talk about why they were similar. I presented Lancelot in French, Emmeline in English, and the similarities in French. All the other students had to choose a 3rd hero to present in Spanish, but I didn't do that because I don't speak any Spanish. I made one big mistake in French (I guess I used a really informal term for something) but I feel like only one mistake is a win, and I think all together it went really well. Friday Emma and Johan came over and we ate more American candy and watched YouTube videos (I didn't get to try any French candy though because Johan got lost in the city when he was supposed to be going to get candy). It was fun though. Afterwards I took a quick trip into the city because my French teacher with AFS left me a flag in the city (I have been looking for a French flag I can get everyone to sign, and my French teacher said she had one she could give me, because there are pretty much no stores here that sell them). I also had to go to the grocery store to get some bacon because I'm making pancakes and bacon for dinner tonight. Other than that, I didn't do a whole lot. Yesterday I was really unmotivated, so I did basically nothing. The highlight of my day had to be trying duck confit for lunch. (I don't know how/if I translate confit. My dictionary says preserved or candied, but it wasn't sweet. It was duck cooked in its own fat, then canned with all the fat). It was really good, but I found it a little dry. This morning, I went to see Wallace and Gromet at the movie theater with my host family, and that was fine. It's been a long time since I last saw it, so it was fun to watch again. Afterwards, we came home and had a big lunch with my host mom's best friend. At lunch, I got to try escargot (I know I have another post that says I tried escargot, but that one is wrong, apparently those were some kind of snail-like sea animal. I'm changing it now). The escargot was really good though. It had garlic butter and parsely with it. I really liked it. Afterwards, be had beef with carrots that were cooked all day in a wine sauce. That was super good too. After lunch, we did the family tradition of throwing these Christmas tree or the window, so we don't drop pine needless all over the house and down the stairs. That was cool too I guess. The kids really liked it. Other than that though, it had been a pretty relaxed week. I hope everyone at home is doing well, and I miss you all!

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Visit to Sarlat 8 January 2017 So I wrote pretty late last week, so this is probably going to be fairly short because I don't have much to say. Tuesday I started school again and most of the week was just getting back into the swing of things. No one (including the teachers) really wanted to be back I think, so it was a pretty relaxed week. Wednesday my after-school French class with AFS was cancelled so that gave me some time to just relax, and since the end of vacation was so busy, it was nice to have some time to get caught up on everything I was supposed to be doing. On top of that, Wednesday I went to the post office to pick up the box with all of the gifts and candy my parents sent me for Christmas, so that was nice and everyone liked their gifts. Thursday was normal, but Friday after school I got some friends to come over to taste the american candy my parents had sent me, and for the most part, they really liked it! It was a really fun afternoon. They got to try (and I got to eat) Twizzlers (apparently all french people want to try these, but no one likes them), Laffy Taffy (they loved it), Cow tails (loved these too) Swedish Fish (they were eh) Air Heads (loved them), Rice Krispy treats (they thought they were ok), mint Oreos (only one was actually brave enough to try these, and he seemed to think it was ok, but not great. In general, french people don't really like mint), chocolate covered pretzles (they loved these! I'm really glad I hid away all bu one package of them in my room, because I have no doubt they would have eaten them all), sour gummy worms (they had already tried these, I just had my parents ship them because I like them, but they ate a few and thought they were fine), chocolate-covered coffee beans (they liked them), starbursts (apparently, they have something almost exactly the same as starbursts here), and candy canes, (the guy (who I guess I should be calling Johan, not just "the guy") who could tolerate mint took one home because he had a bus to catch, and I gave Emma one of my strawberry ones that I had bought a few of before I ate one and realised they weren't mint). Overall, it was a lot of fun and they are coming back next week with some french candy for me to try. Saturday was really just a lazy day. I think both me and my host mom were tired from the first day back at school after vacation, so pretty much the biggest thing that happened was I got a haircut. Really not much to say. Today was really fun though. We went to a city about an hour away called Sarlat, and took a little walk, before sitting down for a really nice (and very long) lunch. First, they brought out a sweet potato, anis, pear soup that was ok, but not my favorite. Then, my host mom and Frédéric both got appetizers (fois gras and some kind of surf n' turf in a pastry thing) After that, our entrees finally arrived and I got some type of baby animal meat (Not entirely clear on which animal) with garlic, thyme, and mushrooms. There was this really good sauce too that tasted like balsalmic vineger and soy sauce, with some other stuff mixed in. (Plus some mixed veggies) For dessert, I got brioche with cinnamon apples, carmel sauce, and vanilla rum ice ream and it was so good. We also had coffee with our desserts too and it was the first time I had coffee without milk in it. It was ok, but I still like my creamer better. All together, it took about 2 hours at this restaurant, but it was a super good lunch. After lunch, we went to a nearby castle called château de Castelnaud (photos above). It was both a castle that was interesting to walk through, and also a museum of military technology and techniques in the Middle Ages. It was really nice. We walked around there for a while, then we went walking around the medieval village for a while too. Overall, it was a really fun day, and we all came home exhausted. Pretty much just a nice lazy week for me. I hope everyone at home is doing well and I miss you all!

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Here is the ice skating my friend and I tried to do in Brieve (mentioned in the last post)

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January 3, 2017 2 Trips and New Years Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all had fun. I had a super busy week with break ending so I don't know if this is going to go up on Monday or Tuesday. So the day after Christmas (Monday) I spent in Bordeaux, but didn't do much interesting. I got to see the Icelandic girls one more time before they went home later in the week, but really I spent most of the day sitting around because I was really sick to my stomach for some reason. That evening we came home. We weren't home for long though because Tuesday we left to go to this town about 2 1/2 hours away called Besse. For Christmas, my host mom and her boyfriend got me a trip to go with them to go snowboarding for 4 days (this trip) but we didn't get any snow. We had lots of fun though! On monday we drove up and about half way there we stopped at a grocery store and got stuff to make a nice picnic lunch, then drove up to the top of this giant hill and look over the whole city to eat our lunches. It was really pretty, but also really windy so we didn't stay long. After lunch we finished driving and arrived at Frédéric's parent's mobile home, where we were staying. We didn't do much else interesting that day, we just went into the snowboard town and tried to walk around, but it was really cold and windy, so we went and got hot cocoa and went to a few sites but nothing too interesting (except when one stop keeper tried to tell my host mom she was shocking everyone, like waken you run your feet on the carpet then touch metal, because she was too stressed) Other than that, it was just a nice day. Wednesday we spent the day in Bessac, and had a lovely day. We took a nice long walk around the lake that is pictured above, and it wasn't too cold since there wasn't really any wind. Other than that, we just kinda had a relaxing day. For dinner we went to a really nice restaurant. This was the only the second time I was in a real French restarunt, and not just a cafe, but this one was way nicer than than the last one. We sat down and the first thing they offered us was an aperitif (I don't know the name in english, but it is basically a course of mainly alcohol, and sometimes some small snacks that is eaten before a meal, usually dinner) but it was the first time I have ever been offered alcohol in a restaurant. It took me kind of off gaurd, but it was really good. I only drank about half of it over the course of the meal, but it was one of the better drinks I have tasted while I have been here. For dinner I had filet mignon of pork in a mustard sauce with apples, mixed vegetables (but actually good ones, not like in the US) and potatoes. (and don't worry I didn't break the bank getting filet mignon, it was about the same price as everything else at the restraunt). My host mom and her boyfriend split the dish the restaurant is known for. It was bread and I think maybe another type or two of carbs all melted together in cheese. It came out in this big skillet and was really pretty good, but I wouldn't have wanted a whole dinner of it. For dessert we had creme brule, icecream, and apple cake. Overall, It was a really good day. Thursday we took a walk around Besse, and we did a little bit of shopping and just enjoyed the day. Just before we left, I got to go on an amazing zipline over another lake (not the one we walked around, there is another one in the snowboarding village.) It was really similar to the one in Equador, were I layed down on my stomach and was sent flying off down the cord. It was so pretty. I have to say, I think I have decided the best way to see the landscape of a place is on a zipline, because you get such an amazing arial view. Other than that, we just drove home the rest of the day, nothing really interesting. Friday, me and one of my AFS friends (Gina) went to a nearby city called Brieve. (That is where the war statue and the cockoo clock pictures are from,) and we had a really nice day there. It was super cold that day, so we spent most of the day trying to find stores and places to hid from the cold in, but it was super nice. We took a train there and just spent most of the day walking around. We went to the Christmas market, and did some shopping, and even found a cute little park and played on the playground for a little while, because their playgrounds are so much more fun here than they are at home. We also found a little carnival that we stopped at, where we played at the claw machines (I actually won 2 stuffed animals and only spent 2 euros) and just walked around a little, before deciding to go ice skating. They didn't have a rink of real ice, but I thought it could be fun anyway, and we were looking for something to do, so we figured we would try it. Turns out it was a huge waste of money. Me and my friend came to the conclusion they waxed the plastic we were skating on too much, because there was absolutly no friction and it was impossible to skate on. (I will post a video of her trying to skate on it) Then, we went to an art exibit where they transformed an appartement into a cave using paper. (It was like an origami cave) and it was a nice warm place to hang out in for a while. Finally, we decided we were tired and cold, so we went and found a cafe, where I got probably one of the best lattes I have had in my life. We sat there for quite some time, until it was time to go catch the train. Overall, it was a really fun day. Saturday was New Year's Eve, and we went to Bordeaux for that. Around 8, we went to my host mom's aunt's house and mostly spent the night taking. We mostly sat there and just talked, but it was really nice because my host mom's cousin's boyfriend does't speak much french, but speaks really good english, so it made it way easier for me because his girlfriend was explaining everything that was going on to him in english, so when I was lost I could listen to them to get caught back up. I had lots of fun while I was there, but between the different alcohols I tried, and the fact we stayed until almost 2, I was really tired by the time we got back to my host mom's parent's house. I slept until like 11 the next morning, then got up and had a nice brunch. My host mom's mom made scones, and we had bacon and pancetta, scrambled eggs, and coffee. It was a nice way to wake up, because we don't to many big breakfasts. After that, we came home and the fun for my vacation was pretty much over. I did homework pretty much all day monday, and tuesday was my first day back at school, but nothing interesting happened. I hope everyone had a good new years and I miss you all!

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Christmas in France 25 December, 2016 Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has had a good Christmas. Mine was certainly a lot of fun. Here they mostly celebrate Christmas eve, so yesterday was really busy. My host mom's parents had come friday evening, and spent the night, so they were there all day. Most of the morning ws pretty normal, just relaxing, but we had an amazing lunch. We had a normal appetiser (basically every time I see my host mom's parents we have this.) It is a bed of lettuces, with palm hearts, grapefruit, and white asperagus. Then it is dressed in a vinegrette. I don't usually really like this, but I always eat a few palm hearts and aparagus. After that though, we had a chicken with au jus, green beans, and these amazing things that tasted like they made mashed potatoes, piped them out into little balls, then put them in the oven and got them crispy. They were amazing. For dessert, we had a yule log that was really good. Lunch was with my host mom, her parents, Lucie and Simon, and Frederic. In general, the set up of both meals was amazing. Me and the kids spent the morning making placecards together, and they dresses the table so beautifully, putting holly down as a center piece, and they had a beautiful red and white table cloth. I will probably put a picture of it above (I'm currently in a car writing this on notes, so I can't say for sure) After lunch we made some cute little reindeer cupcakes, where we used pretzels for the antlers, m&m's for the nose and star sprinkles for the eyes. They were cute, but I forgot to take a photo. Dinner was the real star of the show yesterday though. We started off with a course of Champagne and caviar. It was really good. The champagne has a unique taste, but isn't bad and I like the carbonation in it, and the caviar was really good. I really liked the taste and texture, and overall I really liked it. Afterwards, we sat down at the table and really started the meal. The first course was oysters and salmon. I didn't expect to really like the oysters, but I ate 3 and was happy when I was done. I couldn't just down them without chewing like you are supposed to, but the taste wasn't bad and I was perfectly happy when I finished. The salmon wasn't my favorite though. Usually we have smoked salmon, sometimes with herbs or spices but this time it seemed much more like just thin slices of raw salmon, some rubbed in a few herbs, but I definatly perfered the oysters. For dinner, we had sauteed fois gras (really good, kinda rich and heavy like always, but super good), and we ate that with apple sauce (super good too) and mashed potatoes. For dessert, we had the reindeer cupcakes we had made earlier. Overal, I walked away from dinner very happy. After dinner, the kids got ready for Santa to come. Everyone put their shoes/slippers under the tree (So Santa knows where to put their gifts), and we set out an extra cupcake and some milk for santa, and some lettuce for the reindeer. The kids were so excited, and they got everything perfect before going to bed. Afterwards, for the first time in my life, I got to play the part of Santa. We wrote a note from Santa because the Lucie got a bike and Simon got a scooter and there was no space for them under the tree, and we were all too full to eat the cupcake, so we added in Santa was full. We all went around and put gifts under the tree, and it was nice (picture of the tree with and without gifts above) By the time we got all this done, plus the time we had to wait for the children to fall asleep, it was late, like midnight so I went to bed. We got up in the morning and it was time to open presents! Of course the children ripped into their presents first, and they both got a lot of books, and lots of other fun stuff, and they both absolutly loved the elephants (although Simon snuck into my room and found the presents before Christmas, and told Lucie about them) I got my host mom a massage and a board game about travel and cultures, her brother Camille I got coffee, her parents I got a game, and for Frédéric a dinner for him and one other person of his choice (although he left after lunch yesterday, so I haven't actually given it to him yet). After the kids opened their gifts, all the adults grabbed their gifts one by one and we all just started opening. From my host mom's parents, I got a silicone baking mat, and a baking set with recipes and molds/cookie cutters to make butter biscuts with chocolate tops. (Basically a thin, buttery, not very sweet cookie that you put a big piece of chocolate on) They are so good, and I can't wait to try and make them. My host mom got me a trip to the mountains with her and Frédéric, and if there is snow, I am going to learn to snowboard. (If not, we are going to go one weekend in January, when there is snow and learn to snowboard). After that I got a really nice card from Grandma and I opened Frédéric's Mountain Dew, then realized what it was and taped it back up. After opening presents, we all sat down to a lovely breakfast where we had pancakes (and not crepes either, actual pancakes) and orange juice, and clementines etc. It was nice to all sit down together and talk and relax. After this, Simon and Lucie went to their father's parent's house and I had a few hours to relax (which has been rare, during vacation I'm ususally either doing homework or being social, but I decided today I was NOT doing homework). I did some sewing, watched some youtube, read, just relaxed. Sometime in that time my host mom's parents went home to get ready for tonight, so it was just me and my host mom's sleeping brother. When my host mom got home from dropping off the children (it took her a while because they weren't just going into the city to their father's house, they were going to his parent's house that is further away) we got ready to go to Bordeaux, and had a quick lunch of leftovers from Christmas Eve's lunch and dinner. After all this, we got ready and left for Bordeaux by afternoon. After arriving in Bordeaux, it didn't take long before the rest of the family started showing up. All the extended family is in town, so there were 14 of us all together. My host mom's mom has a sister who lives in Iceland and has 2 girls about my age, so I spent a lot of time talking to them. They love to practice their english, and use english more than icelandic it sounds like, so we spoke mostly in english (plus their dad speaks absolutly no french, although they seemed pretty good at french) It was really interesting because first I talked to their parents, and then I talked to the girls, and the generational divide in the way they think is enourmous. This is particurally easy to see when they talked about language. To put it lightly, their language is dying. According to their dad, all of Iceland has about 300,000 people (about the population of Pittsburgh), and in order to communicate they need english. Very little of the internet is in icelandic, and I am beginning to think there is no corner of the western world american pop culture has not touched. For the girls, they see very little reason to know icelandic. They complain when they get an answer wrong on a test because they labled it in english, and they talk completely in english when they are not spoken to in another language. From what their mom made it sound like, most of what they read, watch, and do is in english or at least very heavily influenced by american culture. On the opposing side of this, I got to talk to their parents who both speak icelandic and who both seem very integrated in icelandic culture. Iceland was isolated from much of the world for a long time, and their dad said that icelandic is probably the closest language there is to old scandenavian. They want their children to learn and use icelandic and are frustrated that they speak better engligh than icelandic. The girls have trouble in class because their teachers talk in icelandic and they don't. understand the vocabulary. They see their language dying before their eyes, but are powerless to stop it. I found it very interesting how I was talkng to their father about things like the history and geology of Iceland and their rich culture and how they are effected by climate change, then I go and talk to the daughters and they tell me how the one thinks the national holiday where you eat rays is stupid because they smell and taste terrible, or how they think it is so unreasonable that you should have to write in icelandic on your drivers test, and things like that. While I am not at all trying to bash these two very funny very nice girls who certainly take pride in their culture, I found it very interesting to see how the meaning of taking pride in your culture has changed in only one generation from loving the history and language and customs of your people, to being mad when american tv shows like America's Got Talent are just changed to Iceland's Got Talent. Overall, very interesting night. While I was talking to the daughters about all of this, I was eating dinner. This was truly a one-of-a-kind dinner and I have never had anything like it. Basically, we had lots of hors d'oeuvres, and lots of champagne and wine, then dessert. I got to eat lots of fois gras, and in a few different ways, and we had some pureed beets and fish in shot glasses, etc. For dessert though, we had cream puff type things, a mousse cake, and a christmas pudding (christmas pudding is not acutually pudding. It is a british cake-like dessert that is filled with fruit and has alcohol poured over it and set on fire. I think in the end, I everyone ate way more dessert than the actual meal. After that not much happened, I went and talked to some other people, learned more about icelandic culture (it is super interesting, definatly worth doing some research on) and then everyone left to go to bed, and that is what I am going to do now, because it is almost 12:30 in the morning, and I still have to edit and post this, but that is not going to happen until tomorrow because I had a busy day and I am tired, so I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and I miss you all! P.S. For anyone who is curious, I did not ask the icelandic girls about the penis museum.

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First week of Christmas Vacation! December 23, 2016 So I figured with Christmas coming, I wouldn't have a lot of time to write, so I figured I would post early, then hopefully make a special post just about Christmas. Since last week I talked about Monday, I will start with Tuesday on this post. Tuesday, me and my host family (so the kids included) went to Bordeaux. We didn't do much that would really be intersting to anyone else or to look back on, all we did was see my host mom's brother's new appartement, and afterwards we went to visit my host great-grandmother, which was nice. I had also found an American food store, but it was closed when we tried to go. Wednesday though, one of my AFS friends came to Bordeaux and we spent the day walking around. We went to the Christmas market, saw a few of the picturesque sites, and had an amazing lunch at this ramen bar. They got our order messed up, so it took like an hour, but it was absolutly amazing. We split orders of fried dumplings, sauteed noodles, and fried rice. It was so so good. In general, it was just nice to have a relaxing day. We walked around, got coffee and just talked, which is something I don't get to do very much here because talking takes so much effort. (I am getting better though. This is way better than when I arrived. There are even some words in french I am starting to have trouble translating because I just know what they mean. They don't have to go through an english filter any more, and I think that is really cool). Afterwards, I met back up with my host family and we had a nice snack before heading back to my host mom's parent's house, eating dinner, then heading home. Thurday and today (Friday), I didn't do much. I have a lot of homework over break, so I have been getting started on that, and I have been helping my host mom get ready for Christmas. Thursday, I got to try making crepes and they worked out really well! It took a little while to get used to how to pour them into the pan, but after a while I was making them like a pro. In the afternoon, my host mom's best friend came over with his kids and I got to try french board games, and that was a lot of fun. There is one with directions in english and french that I think I might either buy and bring home, or order when I get home. Today we all made cinnamom rolls together (they didn't rise, but they smell amazing). It was my host mom's first time making them, so they didn't come out perfect, but I'm sure they will taste great. The french recipe said to bake them in carmel, so that will be interesting to try, but I made some cream cheese icing too. Hope everyone is doing well, and I miss you all.

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Christmas tree is done!

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Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas

December 19, 2016

So sorry this is a day late, I had a really busy week, and just had absolutly no motivation to do anything yesterday. I would start something, do it for five minutes, then decide I needed a half hour break, so needless to say this didn’t get done.

That being said, I did have a really fun week. Tuesday I went to a concert with my host mom and host siblings. It was nice because while they played music they did comedy as well. It is kinda hard to explain, so here is a link to a vido of them if anyone is interested. https://youtu.be/QhHen8ja1yA I really enjoyed it, although I think Simon was a little young for it. He kept trying to talk during the performance.

Wednesday, I stayed with my friends in town after french class and got almost all my Christmas presents. I got my host mom a massage and a board game, her boyfriend a dinner for 2 (hmmm wonder who he is going to take), and my host mom’s parents a board game. Today I went into town and got her host brother some coffee, and over the weekend I finished my host sibling’s elephants. Wednesday was nice though. Half the class was on a field trip to Paris for their Art History class, so between only having half the class and it being Christmas we didn’t do anything. We had cake and icecream and sat and talked, then we went for a walk with the teacher and she showed us this enormous book store. They sold everything from books to movies to cd’s to tvs to art supplies, and I will definatly be going back. I also think she said we are done with french classes until I come home. Instead, she wants to spend her time taking us to different cities nearby, so that will be fun.

Thursday we had a Christmas dance at my school. It is apparently really rare for French Schools to do things like this, but because most of the students at my school sleep there during the week, they sometimes have different things like this for the students to do. I had a lot of fun. Everone made me feel really incuded and it was great! I am really glad I went. I didn’t know pretty much any of the music though, which was fine, but I wish I could find some french music I like. I have looked, but most of what I found doesn’t really fit my taste. I listen for a week or two, then go back to what I know. I feel like most of the people here just listen to american music anyway.

Friday was my last day of school before vacation. I didn’t do much special. Saturday I went with my host mom and Frédéric to go do some Christmas shopping, but mostly just looked arond and went for a walk. I did find these awesome slippers though that I went back and bought today. They are super ugly (they kinda look like pink and white elf shoes without the pointy part), but 100% wool and probably the softest things I have ever worn on my feet. I love them so much. I also got to try hot wine which was interesting. Apparently, hot wine is like a regional specialty here, and you can buy it everywhere. I have never seen it at home though. I always assumed the alcohol would just boil off. I’m really not sure how it doesn’t here because it is really hot and always steaming pretty well, but there was definatly still alcohol in it. It was really good though. It was a perfect spiced treat for a cold night.

Sunday I was home alone, but as I said before I had absolutly no motivaton. The most productive thing I did was baked cookies and even that took a lot of work.

And finally, today. I had a really good day today. In the morning, I went back into the city and bought my host mom’s brother coffee for a christmas present. I ended up doing a lot of walking around though because when I showed up everything was closed, and when I was finished, the bus was on a break and I had to wait an hour for the next one (because my bus is mostly for schools, it only runs in the mornings, around lunch, and the evenings) I came back and ate lunch, then went looking for a christmas tree. The first two places we checked were completly out of them, and I think we were all a little worried we wouldn’t find one. Tonight when my host family gets back from Lucie’s doctor appointment, we are going to decorate it. I will be sure to post a picture.

Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all!

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Marche de Noël and Second AFS Weekend

11 December, 2016

Hope everyone had a good week. Christmas is in full swing here and I am down to just a week of school before I have Christmas break. Lately, I have been spending lots of my time in town at the marche de Noël (the Christmas market) I went last weekend with my host family when we were really for the movie, I went Wednesday after French class, and again with AFS this weekend, but I want to talk about last Wednesday first. Me and my friend were walking around looking for a snack like we do every Wednesday after class (I found this amazing cinnamon apple pizza from Alsace and she got cotton candy that was good to) and we were just walking down the street and talking in English when we were stopped by this random person we didn’t know. It turns out, she was an American who is with another program run by the French government called TAPIF that brings native English speakers who are in college or just graduated college who get paid to teach English a few hours a week. There was a group of maybe 5 or 6 of them and it sounds like a really cool program. All of them were really cool, and I think it would be a good opportunity to remember and to think about applying for in college.

Also, this weekend I had my second (and sadly last) AFS weekend. I will post some pictures when I get them off of some of my friends, but I had a lot of fun. Just like last time, my favorite part had to be just talking to everyone. It is so interesting to see the different perspectives on what we are doing and to here the different things that surprised people from all the different cultures. Saturday, we spent most of the day in the city with people from another AFS chapter that met with us for the day. We all went ice skating together (really in 2 groups, but that's not important) then we did a scavenger hunt in the city for monuments. The ice skating was fun, but while the scavenger hunt had good intentions it didn't work very well. They gave a bunch of people who have never been in the city before a map with no road names and told them to find random points on it. I go into the city all the time, and was with people who have lived in or near the city and we were still completely lost, to the point where we spent almost a half of the hour we had wandering around trying to get our bearings. I feel really bad for the guy in my group who was on crutches for that. After that though we got to go walking around town with friends and that was fun too. Then, we went back to where we were staying for the night and had dinner, which was fine, but dessert was the best part. Everyone from all the different countries brought a dessert and they were so much fun to try. I brought pumpkin cupcakes (which everyone loved) and the other Americans brought Rice Krispy treats and peanut butter balls, we had matcha (green tea) cookies and muffins from the Japanese girls, a Thai banana cake with coconut (which I absolutely loved and want the recipe for), almonds cookies from Italy, and a Swedish chocolate cake that was really interesting because it had the texture of melted marshmallows, without the stickiness. It wad really good. (Somebody brought a French cake too, but no one tried it, so I don't know how that was. The Thai and Swedish desserts were much more interesting). Pretty much the only other interesting thing we did was a Secret Santa, and that was fun. I didn't know what to bring, so I went to the Monoprix (their version of Walmart) and got some American candy and I think the French guy who got it really liked it, but then, I ended up receiving the same American candy that I had brought. Apparently, another American girl had the same idea as me, so now I get Hershey cookies and cream and nerds too! I also got a pen that says wanderlust so that is cool too. It's getting late so I think I should end this here, but I hope everyone is doing well at home and I miss you all!

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Christmas is starting!

December 4, 2016

So I know at home you have probably all been hearing Christmas commercials and jingle bells played on repeat for the last month, but here Christmas is starting. Lights are up and the city is decorated. Yesterday me and my host siblings painted in the windows to decorate the house, and the Christmas event calendar started where my host siblings get small gifts every day and I get chocolate most days (it’s actually a really neat idea and it really gets everyone in a Christmas spirit. There are 24 pockets on the wall, and every day my host mom puts candy out presents/clues to where the presents are hidden. It’s small stuff, but it’s really fun.) Yesterday, me and my host family went to the Christmas walk. It was pretty small, but there were vendors selling stuff like snacks, and homemade crafts (everything was pretty cheep too) and there were crafts for the kids. It was a lot of fun.

Today me and my host family went with my host mom’s best friend and his children to go see the new Disney movie Moana, and if was really good. I actually understood most of it too! Of course not every word, but for the most part I felt like I understood the story in fairly good detail. I’m still reading the plot synopsis before I go see any movie, but this is the first one that I felt like between the general outline of the movie I read and just by listening and watching there was very little that I missed.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this on here before but I wanted to mention my sleep schedule on here cause it’s really interesting (or at least I think it is). In the US, you always here about how you are supposed to wake up and go to bed at the same time regardless of what day of the week it is, and how much better it is supposed to be for you, but that always seemed ridiculous to me, because of how insanely early I got up on school days, but now that I have a reasonable schedule, it works so much better. I was actually up to see the sunrise today without an alarm, and now that it is 10 pm, I’m getting tired and starting to think about bed. I don’t understand why we don’t do this at home. It works out so much better.

Also, it has also been really interesting to see what aspects of my personality people like about me here. There are things like drawing for example that at home I would never think of myself as being good at, but here there are lots of people who are really interested in it, and that’s really cool. If had also really encouraged me to work harder at those things, and if I use the drawing example again, it has really been a motivator to get me to learn more, and to try new things and expand what I can do (like the other day, I finally drew a picture with faces, and hands and hair and everything I never draw.

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Thanksgiving!

26 November, 2016 I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. That has been what most of my week has been about. Wednesday afternoon I spent 5 hours in the kitchen just cooking for Thanksgiving and I made applesauce, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkin pie, and a turkey with gravy and stuffing of course. Thursday I still had to go to school because they don't celebrate thanksgiving here, so it was just a normal day for everyone else, but I got home and had a great night. I came home during one of my breaks and put the turkey in the oven, so by the time I got home it was almost done, and I had had to make the gravy and reheat everything and finish everything up. Everyone was so exited to try the new foods, and we had a really nice meal. Afterwards, we even all sat down togetheer and listened to Alice's Restaraunt. I think they didn't really understand what was going on, but I thought it was really nice and I was really happy. I'm really glad I got to have Thanksgiving here. Of course, I did miss everyone at home too, but I had a really nice Thanksgiving and I'm really glad I got to have this experience. I think the stress of trying to get everything ready got me sick though because yesterday I had a really long day before I came home and just layed on the couch all night. I'm feeling much better today, although my nose is still a little stuffy, but I'm actually motivated today so that is so much better. I think I'm probably going to go for a walk in the city after lunch and start trying to buy Christmas presents. Hope everything is going well at home and I miss you all!

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Bordeaux and Eclairs

20 November, 2016 Ok, so for most of this week, not much happened but I had a really fun weekend. Monday I had five tests, so I spent most of last weekend studying. Afterwards, I just kinda relaxed on Tuesday, and Wednesday I went into town and did some clothes shopping after french class, and I got Kinder crepes and lemonade with my friend. The crepe was really good, but the lemonade was really strange. They filled like 2/5 of the glass with just lemon juice, then gave you water to add to your own drink, and like one packet of sugar. By the time I was done, I put in like 5 packets of sugar, (I asked for more), and it was still sour. It was definatly a interesting experience, and it was cool to see what my French teacher was talking about (she had tried to explain their lemonade in class, but I didn't really understand until I tried it), but I don't think I will be ordering it again. Thursday and Friday were pretty normal. Saturday was a really fun day though. My host family went to Bordeaux to take pictures of my host siblings for a christmas gift for someone, and I asked to come too because I wanted to do some shopping in Bordeaux. I had a lot of fun. I found some nice shirts (I have been really cold in class, so I have been doing a lot of clothes shopping recently) I also got to go to Starbucks and I got a latte and took a walk around town. (Their coffee here is really good, but I miss the milky sugary-ness of the coffee at home). Overall, I am really proud of how I handeled myself alone in the city. It was definatly a little bit scary because it was new, and I have never done anything like this before, and I had a lot of fun. I am really glad I went. Today (Sunday) was pretty good too. We went for a nice walk in the city and went geo-cashing with my host siblings, then came back and watched Harry Potter (everyone here loves Harry Potter) and me and my host mom made eclairs. They definatly did not go quite as well as the last batch of pate a choux. I think I got too much liquid in them, because they were really runy and didn't rise right. Oh well, I think they are going to taste good (they aren't actually finished yet, they are still cooling) Sorry this post is so much shorter than the others. It really depends on what I do during the weekends how much I write, because I am starting to get into a habit here, so new and interesting stuff doesn't usually happen during the week, unless you want to hear about what homework I did every night. But yeah, everything is going well. Hope everything is going good at home too and I miss you all!

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13 November, 2016

Castle walk

OK so I had a pretty boring week so this post is probably going to be pretty short (ha nope). Last weekend (since I wrote the last post last Friday) really the only thing I did was start my host sibling’s Christmas gifts. I am making them both stuffed elephants. If I remember, I will post a picture when they are done.

Then, all week, the only remotely interesting thing I did was on Wednesday I went with one of my friends from AFS who I go to French lessons with to get crepes. They were really good. We both got Nutella crepes and warm crepes were perfect for the cold rainy day. When I came home and told my host mom the only crepes I had ever eaten were the ones I made for my French class last year, she said we will have to make some, so I’m excited for that.

Friday was a national holiday here (Armistice day to celebrate the end of WWI) so everyone had the day off work and I had the day off school, so my host family and I went looking at castles. Sadly, they were all closed so we couldn’t go inside, but they were fun to look at anyway. I didn’t actually take any pictures of the one we intended to go to, because they just started restoration and it was really falling down and pretty ugly, but you could see the castle in the first picture and that one was really pretty. Afterwards we went walking around a town named Beynac and saw the castle in the last picture. That one we could walk through parts of and I took the second picture from the castle. It was a really beautiful walk and really just a really beautiful day. If had been raining a lot here, so it was a nice change. We also went and got lunch at this little café on our way to the castles that was really good. They had homemade chips (I didn’t know how much I missed those until I saw them at the restaurant) and I got this big piece of beef that was really good. (And only 12 euros for the meat, chips and sauce) For dessert I had an apple tart that was really good, as you would expect. (They always eat dessert here after lunch and dinner)

There isn’t much really to say about yesterday (Saturday) I have four tests on Monday, and two of them are in hard subjects so I spent most of the day studying. There was one thing I was really excited about thought. So today (Sunday) my host mom was hosting lunch for her boyfriend’s parents, where she met his parents for the first time. She spent most of the afternoon cooking to get everything ready, and she really went all out. She made lots of different dishes, but the one I was excited about was she planned to make savory balls of choux pastry. I have been wanting to learn to make pâté à choux since before I left the US, so we made them together. They worked really well, and I think someone soon we are going to make some more and fill them with pastry cream. I might even see about making eclairs so I can practice since I’m sure my mom will want some when I get home.

Really all I did today was studied and are lunch with my host mom and Frédéric’s parents (and Frédéric of course). That went well, and there really isn’t much to say about it, so I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all! Bye!