Monday, January 23, 2012

Not forgetting....just SUPER busy

Cou Cou!
Hey guys not forgetting you all, I am just super busy. No joke my poor mother probably got an email from me today that was shorter than this. Plan to update you all with lots of info soon, but for now here's the jist:
-France is very different, and awesome.
-Had some serious homesickness recently, but now, LOVING IT here.
-Made lots of new amazing friends, and my courses are challenging, but interesting at the same time. (well most of them, give me some credit I am a teenager...) :)
-My host family is AMAZING, so lucky to have them!
-Have plans with my theater class and friends this week, and I am so excited for them.
-And finally, yes French food IS that good.
Guess that's it for now!
Off to study for my scene in theater tomorrow!
Bisous!
~Sarah

Sunday, January 8, 2012

3rd Day in France!







Me and my AYUSA friend, Casey! Check out her blog (it's so good) @ http://thefrenchduckling.tumblr.com/

     Okay... I guess it really is time to update this thing. :P I have so much to tell you all, where to start, hmmmm. Ok so I guess I will start with January 5th, the day I left. Myself and my family left for Washington D.C. airport at 9:00. After a long car ride, we arrived in D.C. about 2 hours early, so we went out to eat lunch. Eventually, we got to the airport where I checked in, got some euros, and said goodbye to my family. (Not bad at first, but believe me future exchange students, when you haven't slept for 36 hours, you will have a teary moment later.) Next, I went through security all by myself, and then eventually met up with my AYUSA buddy Casey, at our terminal. I then later met my other AYUSA buddies, Ariel, Mal, (and Casey) and we even met two other exchange students, Aleta and Tiffany, who were going through CIEE, but had the same french program as us! (Weird, but very cool!!) After an almost 8hr plane ride, which NO ONE slept for more than 20 minutes on, we arrived in Paris, looking as American as possible. After a 30 second French customs (love that :) we got our bags and met up with CEI and Tiffany and Aleta as well. (A welcomed surprise) Then we went on aiport train to a metro I think (remember its about 7 am) and we met another CEI rep. Then, all of the exchange students besides me and Aleta went on the TGV, and Aleta and I took another metro (during rush hour mind you) to St. Lazare train station. There, Aleta met her host mom, and I waited with the CEI rep, Olivier, and got on a very Harry Potter looking train.  After about 2 and a half hours. I was almost sleeping on the train, and we are at a train stop. All of a sudden I hear, "Bonjour Sarah!" very confused why someone knew me, and then found out my host dad Nicolas, had arranged to meet me on the train. I was so shocked. When we arrived in my host town, I met Noelle, my host mom at "la gare" who greeted me with beautiful flowers. They then took me home, where I later met the kids, Baptiste and Eva, who are SO SWEET! Later, I walked to my lycee and met with the principal. They showed me the main buidings of the school. (Very helpful) That evening my host family made asian cuisine, since I said that was my favorite food, and for dessert we had a galette. In the gallette are two hidden figurines, and who ever gets theirs in their piece is the king or queen. (I hapened to be queen and Baptiste was king) I believe this is a tradition after christmas in Januarary in France, and a very fun tradition too :)
     The next day ( I slept in until 12) we had a huge lunch (typical in France) and I met Simon, Eva and Baptiste's babysitter who is a senior at my school. He was so nice and helpful, and I was so fortunate my host family introduced me to him. We went to the mountain of "insert town name here" (internet safety sorry....) and saw all of the city, it was gorgeous! I could see my lycee from there! (I can see it from my window too, its HUGE) Later that evening we went biking and sat in a cafe, where they played the Beatles, (thank gosh :) and then later went home.
     Today, I woke up (still really late) and we went to the indoor pool. It was so much fun playing with the little ones, my host family is great and so helpful. After we biked home (we bike everywhere) we had lunch and I played with Baptiste and Eva for a while. They are now napping, so I am writing this poorly written blog post! Ok so a couple random things...
1) My french is awful, they say its good, but I highly doubt that. I can somewhat communicate and understand when one person is talking directly to me, but if I am trying to listen to a conversation, I can get a little lost.
2) Random facts: They do have armoires in France. They are awesome. Also, when you learn in Franch class that they have like a 5 course meal all the time, they are not joking. First you have an appitizer, then a main course, then cheese, and then dessert, and sometimes a course for chocolate. Its great :)
3) Wi-Fi in France is pronounced, weee-feee, and it makes my day. :)
I guess that's it for now. Love and miss you all!
Bisous!

Casey!!!

Aleta!!!

My lycee!(The view of it from my window!)
~Sarah

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Quick Update

I am in France! I know I really need to fill you all in on the details, but I REALLY need to sleep!!! I'll update more soon but my family and France is great!
A bientot!
~Sarah