Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! :)
France doesn't go all out for halloween like the US so it doesn't really feel like its Halloween, but Patrice and Isabelle bought me a pumpkin to carve so that was a little slice of Halloween from home which was nice. After I carved the pumpkin and we ate lunch we went to visit a chateau thats not far from town. It was pretty:) Europe is very lucky to have all these beautiful castles everywhere!!! There is sooo much history here. There aren't very many kids trick or treating out tonight, well its still early but I heard that not many kids even go trick or treating here... (they don't say anything like trick or treat, they just say "Do you have candy?" haha) Anyway tonight I'm going to a soirée in Paris for my friend's birthday. Its not a costume party which is a little sad, but its something to do all the same so I'm happy :) Well, there you have it!
grosses bisous,
em

a bit of a rough day...

a little wave of homesickness came over me today :( i woke up feeling a little sad and then it just kind of grew as the day went on... I went to a movie in French with Isabelle and her sister and mom and I actually could follow along with the story so that was good, but it had a sad ending and so that didn't help my homesickness blues... We were going to go back to Isabelle's parents house for dinner, but I had to ask Isabelle if I could go home because I just really sad and didn't want to be at the dinner crying the whole time... I felt really bad for making Isabelle leave but she reassured me that it was fine and it was normal to be feeling this way so that was really helpful. After an hour or so of crying I felt better... I just needed to get it all out. Poor Isabelle probably didn't know what to do with this emotional wreck of an exchange student on her couch haha. It was really weird and I don't know why it hit me today... just kind of an off-day. But I am feeling better- just still a bit emotionally fragile. I knew coming into this that it was going to be hard and not everyday is going to perfect and I am completely okay with that. Its a learning experience. I am very grateful to have a host family that cares about me and to have this opprotunity to live in France. Of course I miss my family and friends, but I have met amazing people here in France too and I don't regret doing an exchange in the slightest. Also, tomorrow is Halloween so that should be fun :)
grosses bisous,
em

Le Louvre!

I visited the Louvre today (first time actually going inside) with a few other exchange students in my district :) It was really fun! I got to see all the famous works like the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo. The Louvre is absolutely enormous and its impossible to see everything so we just sort of picked a few hallways to look through. We spend i think over 3 hours in the museum and only got one tiny tiny section of it done haha. Good thing we are here for 8 more months ;)



After the Louvre we went the le Jardin des Tuileries and ate crepes at a little cafe that was there :) We talked about how sometimes we forget how lucky we are be living in France and have the ability to go to the Louvre for the afternoon whenever we want. La vie est vraiment belle... :) after hanging out in the jardin for a bit we started to make our way to Pigalle for this standup comedy show we got free tickets too. We were running a little late so we just grabbed some food real quick to eat on the way. Eating a bowl of pasta on the metro around 7pm is not the best idea haha. The metros were absolutely packed- body to body. haha... anyway Pigalle is a very interesting (to put it nicely) part of Paris.... pretty sketchy.... but the comedy show was pretty good (from what i could understand) and I got to see the Moulin Rouge so i was happy!
well, its pretty late here so im off to bed! grosses bisous!
em

les alpes!

wow. what an amazing vacation to les alpes :) truely lovely.

Saturday morning we got on the rode bright and early because it was about a 6 hour drive and Isabelle's cousin was having an anniversary party at 4. It was really cool near the end of the roadtrip to see signs like this one----3 cities from 3 different countries! Annecy-France, Geneve-Switzerland, and Milan-Italy. I couldn't believe it haha. Also, when we got to Présilly in the Haute-Savoie region of France for the party, I was able to stand in France and look out at Geneve in Switzerland. It was so cool. I have never been able to be in one country, but looking at other before. Anyway, the party that night had amazing food :) great cheese and dessert. here I am looking extremely French with my cheese, bread, and red wine. All thats missing is a beret and cigarette ;) haha After the party-- at around 1am we drove 40minutes to Isabelle's brother's house. And immediately went to bed. The next morning I woke up to a breakfast of fresh bread and jam and pasteries and a view from the kitchen window of the Alps. It was amazing. Anne, Vincent's wife is so nice and generous! She left us all huge bars of Swiss chocolates under our pillows :) yumm. That day we just kind of relaxed, went on a nice walk around the town and hung around the house. Their youngest daughter, marie, really took a liking to me and read me about a gazillion books in French and loved showing off the English that she knew :) it was so cute. One time she asked me if people would think she was English when she counted to ten. It was good for me to be around her because she spoke slowly to me and I had to make sure I was speaking correct French or else she would say that she didn't understand very well haha. And during the stories after each page she would ask "Tu as compris?" (You understood?). We ate sooo well the entire vacation! i probably gained 50 kilos hah. so worth it though :)

The next day the Lasserres and I spent the day in Annecy. It is such a gorgeous city. There is le lac d'Annecy which is supposedly the cleanest lake in Europe and they also have this really cute water street like in Venice! I want to live in this town someday.

That evening we met up with one of Patrice's friends who lives near Annecy and went to this really really nice restaurant known for its cheese dishes :) I had a tartiflette which is a cheese and potato dish, a glass of white wine, and creme caramel for dessert. I'm living the good life here :) After dinner we walked up to this cathedral on a hill and enjoyed the view of Annecy at night. It was such a great day. Tuesday, We went to Mont Blanc!!! (the highest mountain in Europe.) When we got there we were kind of bummed because it was really foggy and we couldnt see the mountains, but we made the best of it and played in the snow! (playing in snow in october haha) We sledded a bit and then went on a little hike to le lac vert. It was so beautiful! When we got back from the lake, the clouds had lifted and we were able to see Mont Blanc! Wowwww. word can't describe it. Absolutely breath-taking...

We ate lunch at this restaurant looking out on the mountain. I was completely in the moment- eating my croque monsieur, looking out at Mont Blanc in France. I am so lucky.
That night, we had a fondue party! It was sooo delicious :) Cheese fondue and then for dessert, chocolate fondue. And I got to blow out the two candles on the table because it was my official 2nd month living in France! Its still very surreal to me. But wow what a great present for my second month- a day at mont blanc and a night of fondue.

And the vacation isn't over! I'm back in Vaires, but I still have a week left of vacation :) I hope to spend a lot of time in Paris sight-seeing and such because my carte imaginaire is free during the vacation for visiting Paris :) yay!

Well, there you have it! Grosses bisous!----em

chez Gabelotaud

My Paris plans with Mia fell through because it turned out that she did have class this morning, but not to worry because Aurelien (my host brother in my 2nd family) invited me to come and hang out with Milton and him since none of us had school today. It was really fun. We played a few games on the Wii, which i was terrible at haha but thats okay. Then we ate lunch and after that watched Star Wars (in english haha- Aurelien said he likes watching movies in english so I didn't object, especially since I hadn't seen it before and probably couldnt have followed it in French). Funny that my first time watching Star Wars was in France--- hah. after the movie Aurelien had to go turn in his registration for the bac so I walked to the school with him- The school was of course deserted besides a few workers, but it was a really nice crisp fall day. It felt nice to get out and walk. I love fall :) When we got home we all made crêpes! Sophie showed us how to make them in a pan which is a lot harder than it looks haha. but I was so proud of myself because I flipped the crêpe in the air to turn it over :) like a pro!!! haha.
Anyway, when I came back home I chatted with Patrice and Isabelle for a bit--- still in my broken french, but im gettig there ;)--- oh and then I packed my suitcase becasue tomorrow we are going to the Alps! yay! its a pretty long drive (6hours) but I'm excited. I'm not bringing my laptop so sorry in advance to my faithful readers- I won't be posting anything until after I return. I think it will be really good for me to not have my laptop so I can only see, hear, and speak French this week. I am slowly but surely noticing my French improving. Its really encouraging when I can follow along in conversations and during tv shows. Still can't understand everything but I get the jist! I will be one happy camper when i can understand everything said during a tv show or dinner :)
anyway- im off to bed! grosses bisous,
à bientôt,
em

Un soufflé au fromage

I made a soufflé!!! well, i helped Isabelle make a souffle, but it still counts :) It actually turned out really well too :) yummy. I eat so well here. And for dessert Isabelle made a really pretty and really delicious tarte aux pommes (apple tart). miam! Anyway, Ce sont les vacances pour moi! (Its the vacation for me!) I haven't had school all week because of the riots and then next week is our fall vacation---We are going to the French department called Rhone-Alpes. Its on the border of Italy and Switzerland in the mountains. I'm excited :) We will be there for a week staying with Isabelle's brother. Anyway today I didn't do much haha. Slept in until 11... went on a run later in the afternoon to celebrate getting my stitches out :) and yeaaa haha thats about it. I finished my scarf a few days ago so I need a new project!
Tomorrow morning i might go to paris with Mia (an exchange student from Finland) because she doesn't have class until 4ish so that should be fun! I love her :)
donc, c'est tout!
grosses bisous,

em

welp.

well first off I would like to tell everyone not to worry! It's not as bad as it sounds here. I am perfectly safe and it seems to be settling down a bit in France. here are a few photos from the riot at my school--- keep in mind what i said before about me being perfectly safe ;) It looks a lot worse than it actually is, but i still think i should show some pictures because it will be an interesting event for me to remember about my french exchange!

Yesterday I stayed home because Patrice and Isabelle didn't want to risk me being in the riot. haha but i didn't mind staying home :) That afternoon Patrice heard that it was calm at the school so I decided to try to go to my french class at least, but when we got there it was like a ghost town. there were only 4 or so students walking around and then the high school next door where my french class is was completely closed. It was so weird for me to see. Also, around the school we saw the aftermath of Monday's events. It was sad! We saw the car that was completely destroyed by the fire and there was broken glass everywhere from the kids breaking the waiting areas for the bus stops.... sad stuff.

Oh and then today the school was completely canceled and theres a possibility that it will be like closed the rest of the week. Fall vacation starts next week so everyone is hoping that things will calm down after the break. I'm kind of bummed because my rock climbing club's trip to Fountainebleu was canceled today because school's closed. Oh well, I'm sure there will be other times. . .

Ahh I was so scared last night because my computer got a virus!!!! I thought I was going to loose all my documents and photos and music! I was terrified, but luckily after lots and lots of work and time I was able to get rid of it. Thank goodness. My host family was very nice and comforting when I was freaking out so that was nice :)

Also, yesterday I made another batch of cookies. I think these ones are better than the other ones so thats good. I'm also getting my stitches out today! woot woot :)
oh so I had this rotary thing yesterday and I felt so bad because at the end of the presentation the president of my Rotary club turned to me and said something in English, but at first I didn't realize he was speaking English so I said "Pardon?" and then when he repeated I still didn't understand what he was saying.... Everyone was laughing and saying "Tu comprends mieux en francais que l'anglais!" (You understand better in French than English!) so then at least i understood he was speaking english so I asked him to repeat it again, but I still didn't catch it-- finally a french student (who just got back from an exchange to Canada) said it for me.the whole time he was saying "That's all folks!" I felt so bad that I couldn't understand him... I thought he was saying something about a fox....This always happens to me!

Seriously don't worry :D I'm fine!

grosses bisous,

em

c'est fou en France maintenant!

Setting fire to cars, uprooting trees, turning over garbage cans, ambulances, tear gas, and beatings from the police- this is the current situation at French high schools! but don't worry, I was not a participant. Today at my high school a bunch of big guys linked arms and blocked the entrance to the school so that no one could get it. They also had uprooted a tree and also put that in front. Normally, I would be fine with this because I don't like going to school anyway, but today I was having a sortie with my French class to an art museum and I really wanted to go- so when I told my friend this she pushed me to the front of the group and told the boys that I was american and had to go to my french class so I needed through. haha I had to use my best puppy-dog face and say "s'il vous plaît" a lot, but finally they let me through. I went through the infermerie like usual to get to my class and luckily the rest of my class was able to get through too. We went to this really old church in Chelles that was made into a comtemporary art museum. It was pretty neat. After the art museum my French teacher told us we could all just go home since both schools had been closed because of the blockade. When we were walking back from the museum we saw a few students running and hiding from the police and then outside my high school there was a huge fire and ambulances and police. It was so crazy! My friend told me that it was like a war this morning. People were setting fire to cars and trees and running wild. The police had to spray everyone with tear gas and one girl got hit in the eye with a fireball. It was seriously one of those riots you would see on the news. Really quite dangerous actually. I'm lucky I was at the museum for the worst of it. Rumors are going around saying its going to be like this all week. I can't believe it...
But oh an happier note- after i came home I had lunch with Isabelle and Patrice and then watched the first Harry Potter in french while I knit more on my scarf :)
well... i'll keep you updated!

Paris tout seul!

So, I am very proud of myself because I went to Paris all by myself today! I met up with some of the other exchange students in my district in Paris, but I was able to get there tout seul :) I feel pretty comfortable with it now which is really cool because now if I don't have anything to do I can just pop on over to Paris. Well, Isabelle and Patrice did help me a lot before I left with what metros and trains and stops to take, but I am pretty positive I could figure all that out :)
In paris we just kind of wandered around... We went to Les Halles, but a lot of the stores were closed because it was sunday . Didn't do much sightseeing or anything, but just being in Paris with my friends is fun no matter what we do :) It was really really cold so we hung out in a cafe drinking hot chocolate and coffee and such. It was really fun. Lots of good laughs. I bought a cute sweater and some mittens too :) mostly because I was freezing haha.
anyway, now I am back at home staying nice and warm :) I think I am going to go knit. haha
grosses bisous!
em

disney/moules et frites

today was a big day and I am extremely tired! I went to disneyland again today :) ahh i love it. It was a little cold, but disney is disney so its always worth it (and especially when its free haha). I went with Milton and then two other girls that are foreign exchange student in Belgium so our Rotary clubs paid for it. Awesome!!!!! It was really fun- I got to see this really neat stunt show and some other characters and I finally got to ride Indiana Jones! every other time I have tried it broke when I was almost at the front of the line.
But anyway after Disney we had a Rotary soirée where we had moules, frites et bière de belge (mussels, fries, and belgium beer) and sang karaoke. I sang the YMCA :) I was really tired, but I still enjoyed the night.
welp, i need sleep.
grosses bisous,
emily

le blocus!

wow. so today might have been the most interesting school day I have ever had---- the strike going on is getting more and more serious and now the students are starting to participate too! I think i already told you guys the reason for the strike so I won't get into that again, but it is seriously the craziest thing I have experienced... So today the school had un blocus (blockade) from 10am until the end of school (I think), making it so that students couldn't leave or enter the school. I'm not exactly sure what the point was, but I think it was so that the students didn't start rioting in the streets- however it didn't do much good... haha I'll walk you through my day. So first I went to school and everything was normal. Then at 10am all the students have a break where they normally go outside to smoke, but because of the blockus this wasn't allowed, thus the reasoning for all hell breaking loose haha. Students were trying to push past the blockade, others were trying to find other ways out of the school and then most just started smoking right where they were haha. It was crazy- but it gets better.... After the break I have my calligraphie class at the other high school that is right next door to Bachelard and I get to it by going through the infirmerie. I was still able to go, but it was pointless because my prof was absent. So since I had two hours to waste I decided to go to Carrefore to eat some lunch and kill some time. I had to sneak out of the high school because it had a blockade too. There was a little opening in the front entryway that I saw someone walk through so I just acted like I knew what I was doing and I used it too. haha when I got out I heard all this screaming and then this huge mob of kids came running down the street with blow horns and they were all chanting something about Sarkozy. When they got to the front of the school they started climbing on the fence that was blocking the entry of the school and standing on the shopping carts that were also being used to block the entry. It was sooo crazy- I couldn't stop laughing because I had never experienced something like this before. After watching for awhile I went to Carrefore to eat and then while I was wandering around the store two of the workers sprinted to the entry of the store and said press the button to close the doors!!!! I had no idea what was going on but I did know that I didnt want to be locked in a store so I hurried out and noticed that all the stores in the mall were closing their doors in panick. It was like there was a terrorist or someone with a gun running around-the way everyone was acting. I asked a lady what was going on and she said there were hooligans rioting outside and trying to get in. hahahaha. I couldn't believe this. But it was true. If any of you have seen the movie Mean Girls it was like the part where all the teenagers acted like animals haha. Seriously. Luckily, the guy guarding the door let me out so I wasnt stuck there all day, but when I went back to Bachelard for my history class there was still a blockade so I couldn't get back in. Craziness. I also heard that the police had to break up the mob I saw earlier. And these riots and strikes and protests are happening all over the country!!! people are blocking the streets so cars can't drive. Patrice told me the same thing happened at Orly Airport today too! hahaha It was seriously the craziest thing ever.
hahah.
but the rest of my day was calm :) Isabelle and Patrice took me to a yarn store! they didn't have a lot of selection and it was pretty expensive, but I still found some I like so I started knitting a scarf tonight :) and tomorrow- disneyland!!!!!
yay!
well, goodnight all! haha I'll let you know if any other crazy French riots occur ;)
emily

rrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

j'ai mal a la gorge aujourd'hui parce que j'ai pratiqué le "R" francais avec mes amis au lycée haha. (I have a sore throat today because at school I practiced the french way to say "r" with my friends). It was pretty funny, but im making a little progress I think... baby steps :) They told me I was sooo much better at french in general that I was at the beginning so thats good. Its nice to hear that because most days I feel like I haven't made any progress.
Today was a really good day. I was especially happy for no reason inparticuliar. :) I have so much to be grateful for.
Oh so I got invited to a soirée (party) this saturday by some girls from my school. I can't go because I have a karaoke/moules et frites soirée avec Rotary the same night, but I was just excited that I got invited :) Its too bad that they are on same night, but its okay because I'm sure the Rotary event will be fun!!! Speaking of this weekend--- guess who gets to go to Euro Disney again for FREE?! this girl :) This weekend two exchanges students (one from Ecuador and one from New Zealand) on exchange in Belgium are coming to Chelles and so our Rotary club is having the party that night for them and taking them to Disneyland during the day so I get to tag along! woot woot. life is good :) im so lucky. Thank you, Rotary!
Anyway today school started at 12 :) i love thursdays. English class went well, my teacher asked me to read again which is always fun. Then I had sports class which I couldn't participate in today because of my stitches, but it was fine- I just wrote in my journal :) I need to buy a new one soon. I've almost filled it up. After that I had history... still hard for me to follow along. and then I got to come home :) After school I rode my bike around Vaires. Its really starting to feel like fall :) Its pretty. I love this time of year...
grosses bisous,
emily

la grève encore!

there was another strike today! this is the third so far and Isabelle told me that they are planning on having even more in the next month. Its crazy. Well, it was kind of nice for me today because my french teacher participated in the strike today so i didn't have class all afternoon- Only 2 hours of economics and 1 hour of french (with my other french teacher- who told me that i didn't have class all afternoon!). It was really nice to have the afternoon off because I needed the rest. For lunch I ate at Quick- a French fast-food restaurant. It was actually pretty good :) and since Quick was in the mall next to my school I shopped around for a bit too. Finally found a blouson (coat). It was a little hard getting back into the whole school routine after having such an amazing weekend, but i'll live :). oh my foot is good. not too sore, so thats good! Well, off to watch Desperate!
grosses bisous!
em

Chantilly, Honfleur, Omaha Beach, une petite viste aux Etats-Unis, Le Mont St. Michel, un coquillage, un hôpital français, et une super week-end

oh là là... where to start! --- i guess the beginning makes the most sense-
This weekend was absolutely amazing :) I did have some bad luck, but other than a few minor incidents it was perfect!
Thursday night all the students in my district met in Chilly chez Luc Mangé (which wasn't a house, it was a mansion.... amazing...). We all just hung out and got to know eachother better and then ate dinner (i got to have some Camenbert cheese!) and went to bed. The next day we had to get up bright and eary so we could get on the road! We all packed into the bus, went and picked up the students from our neighboring district 1660, and then headed to Honfleur, Normandie. We stopped for lunch à Saint Gatiens des Bois and ate in a little cabin which was really fun. After lunch we had a few hours to wander around Honfleur which was was really cute little town on the Seine.

after Honfleur, we took une petite visite aux Etats-Unis (a small trip to the USA) haha. We went to le cimetière de Colleville et Omaha Beach--- one of the beaches the Allies used to invade Germany-occupied France during the Normandie landings on D-day. I was actually in the USA for a few hours because le cimetière de Colleville is considered American territory since it is where all the americn soldiers died during D-day are buried.
That night we had dinner and slept at Bayeux, where we met up with a lot of other districts! There were probably 1oo exchange students at the same hotel that night... It was so fun.

Saturday morning we left for le Mont St. Michel at 8am-- (weekend full of early mornings.) We stayed in little bungalows about 2km away from the actual mont. I stayed with 7 other girls from my district who i love ! :) and we met up with even more districts so all together there were like 200 of us! After we were all situated at the hotel we went to le mont and went on a really long walk around it. It was soooo awesome! Le Mont St. Michel is absolutely stunning. Words can't describe it and the walk we went on was really cool because we were walking on this clay type stuff so it was really fun to play in haha. There were also patches of quicksand so we had to be careful and listen to our guides.



--oh, the irony of this next picture...
However, here was were i expierenced some bad luck haha. So, at the half way point of the walk (probably had about 1.5 miles left) I cut my foot really bad on a coquillage (shell)! I had to stop and wait for the guide to come and wrap it up and then various guys in the group had to carry me the whole way back! ahh. i felt so bad for them... it didn't hurt very bad, but the guides wouldnt let me walk because they didnt want it to get infected or dirty... it was terrible. So, after over an hour of piggy backs, we went to the infirmerie and they told me that I needed to go and get stitches at the hospital!!!! i didn't think it was that bad, but i guess it was pretty deep.... So I had my first (and hopefully last) trip to a french hospital and I now have 4 stitches in my foot.... pas le chance! I was kind of surprised by the hospital... I had to wait 3 hours! and it was really weird because it was the Emergency Room... and on top of that my doctor was not reassuring at all haha. She appeared to be really frazzled and was talking herself through the steps- (i later found out she was an intern...). Also, while she was sewing me up, nurses would just rush into the room and look for various things and then when my doctor was almost finished a group of people rushed in and said they needed this room for the person in the ambulance so i got wisked away on the hospital bed to another room... haha it was so wierd. she told me that she was sorry because she accidentally took the room for the ambulance emergencies...! oh dear haha. But anyway it all went well, and it didnt hurt that much- just when she gave me the shot for anesthesia right in my cut... ouch--- but no worries because im fine!!! :)

When I was finished, I went back to the group and we had dinner and dessert. I missed out on hearing everone sing their national anthem which was kind of a bummer. but the other students said it took forever, so i guess its alright ;) . After the dinner there was a dance, which went until 2am haha. Unfortunetly I couldnt dance too well seeing i was crippled haha, but it was still fun hanging out with everyone :) My room didnt go to bed until like 3:30 and we had to wake up at 6:30 for breakfast..... yea not too fun when you have a cold (oh i forgot to mention that... i have a pretty bad cold.. yucky.)

the next day we got to wander around Le Mont St. Michel which was fun :) it is a really neat place. And i found a silver charm for my bracelet so im excited!!! :)





we ate lunch at the La Rôtisserie (I seriously almost fell asleep on my plate because I was so exhausted) and then after we all got back on the bus and headed home. I slept for a lot of the bus ride which was nice...


I got home at about 9ish last night and then went to bed at 10. Luckily Patrice and Isabelle said I could stay home from school today becasue Im sick. its really hard being sick and not having my mommy! but i have some medicine to take so I should be better soon. I had to take a break while writing this to take a nap and i need another one right now.... well, there you have it!

grosses bisous,

em

so, school was pretty much the same as usual. I can definitely tell that i am able to understand more in my classes, but still not everything (or even close to everything...) but that will come with time. :) Today I had History in English, Economics and Math---
i am actually learning quite a bit in my history class, well mostly that Im pretty sure the French teens know more about American history than most American students which is kind of sad.
Oh and since i only have a half day today i had lunch at my 2nd host family's house since they live close to the school and after both Milton and I rock climb. It was a really nice lunch- beet and carrot salad, steak, potatoes, bread and fruit for dessert :) yumyum. Lunch is a major difference between the USA and France because here it is a really important meal and is always a "sit-down together" occasion wherein the USA a lot of the time its a "make it yourself" meal haha. Also, in France lunch food is usually what in the USA we would consider food for dinner haha :) and of course- lunch is almost always followed by dessert here which isnt the case in the US.... but im definitely not complaining about that ;)
but anyway--- lunch was really fun and yummy, and rockclimbing went well too, a little tiring but not too bad ;) i like it a lot.
Then the rest of the day I packed and stuff for Mont St. Michel! I'm leaving tomorrow afterschool and going to be gone until Sunday- its a trip for all the Rotary students in my district and the district next to us. Im really excited! Oh but to all my faithful readers, i won't have my laptop so don't be expecting entries for a few days ;)
well, au revoir!
xoxo
emily

Ça Va :)

I am really settling in to my new French life. i am so grateful for this amazing opprotunity. I have already experienced and learned so much so far! I can only imagine what the rest of the year has in store for me.

Tuesdays are my longest days, I start at 8am and finish at 5:30pm, but today actually went by pretty fast :) Now that my afternoon is filled with French class I actually enjoy tuesdays because I learn a lot! My teacher today let me borrow a few French books because I was having trouble finding books that had interesting storylines, but were really easy. The children books didn't really hold my interest too well. But the books she gave me are abridged classics writted in really easy french so I think they will be fun to read :) one is a play by moliere!

Welp, nothing much else to report- tonight is Depserate Housewives night. They don't have reruns here, so if you miss an episode the only way to watch it is on the computer. Oh something else interesting i learned is that in French schools its forbidden to wear anything affiliated with a religion. No crosses, no nothing. The reasoning behind it is to avoid discrimination, but I'm not quite sure if I agree with this rule. I'm all for letting people express themselves however they want, but i guess it does help against discrimination...

Anyway-----

Salut- bisous.

em

no subs :D

So, I don't know if i have already mentioned this but they don't have substitute teachers here! its so nice :) if a teacher can't come to school the class is just canceled! so today i didn't start school until 10 because my french teacher was absent. Besides that luck nothing too exciting happened... i was kind of scatter brained today and forgot my card for the bus this morning (luckily i figured that out before the bus came and i had time to go get it real quick!) i also forgot my house key so afterschool i took a nice little walk around the neighborhood because i was locked out and my phone was dead hahaha. but i was only locked out for like 5 minutes so no worries :)
In history class we are still learning about america- i swear the french students know more about the US than i do haha. We talked about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, JFK, Malcolm X, and the Watergate Scandal today. I felt right at home. :) i am really surprised how much American history they learn here, especially since in the US we don't learn much European History besides the World Wars and a few other subjects.
After school i had a little snack and then had a nice skype with my mommy :) The rest of the evening was pretty laid back. We had pasta and bread and salad for dinner. Pineapples for dessert. It was good (like always!). And yea so thats about it!
grosses bisous!
emmm

Le jour de mes frères!

well, the title of this entry is probably not written in correct french, but today was the day of my brothers! Its John's birthday (Happy Birthday jono!) and also, i got meet my other French brother, Baptiste, (well, just via skype). It was fun to talk to him since hes going through the same thing as me, just in Finland. He was very nice. But anyway, today we went to Paris to watch Amandine in a horse competition. She is really good! she got 4th today out of the entire competition. In between her events, Patrice, Isabelle and I got to visit château de Vincennes. It was really beautiful! It was the first castle I have ever seen! (well besides disney ;) ) Oh and this morning I made an american breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage on toast. I think I have cooked more this past month than I have in my entire life. Im quite proud of myself :) Well, I'm off to bed!

bisous!

em

Val d'Europe, La Fromagerie, Les Gaufres

Today Patrice and Isabelle took me to the Val d'Europe mall, which was huge! :) we were searching for a coat for me, but didn't have any luck... but it was fun to see all the stores. I will definitely be taking a trip back there. We ate at the mall at chez Paul. it was delicious! (but seriously, what isn't here?) I had une crêpe au fromage de chèvre et aux tomates. I think there was some pesto too. Man it was good! :) Then after that we bought some cheese at la fromagerie. I can't believe how many differents kinds of cheese there are.... Oh and for dessert after dinner we had des gaufres (waffles). It was funny to eat them for dessert instead of breakfast, but they were still good of course! there was some batter left over so i think we might have it for dessert tomorrow...
but anyway, j'ai un peu mal à la tête (have a little bit of a headache) so I better get some sleep.
xoxo

mon accent américain ;)

today in history class I finally got to participate! i was so excited :) we are started learning about McCarthyism and the Red Scare today so i can follow along pretty well. But the fun came when my teacher passed out an article about the Red Scare written in English and my whole class said "have Emily read it!...Emily please volunteer to read!" So then of course my teacher asked me to read :) it was fun. After I was finished the people around me told me how pretty it was when I read, which was weird to hear because I am so used to accent i guess. But, I say the same about the french accent! :) Once it the USA, we had a French girl come to our French class and I absolutely loved when she read. I kept having her read paragraphs out of the book because her accent was so pretty! I guess its the same for the students in my class hearing an american accent since they don't hear them often. That was probably the highlight of my day :) Oh and in calligraphie today I was upgraded to using colored ink ;) hahaha. That class is really calming to me. Its a time when I can just clear my head and focus on the art.
I ate lunch at the school today with my friends and I was proud of myself because I could understand the basic gist of what they were saying :)

After school I played a little Wii Fit- tested my fitness age and got 18 years old (whoot whoot!)... didnt do much else!

well, off to bedddd :)

bonne nuit!