Bonjour mes amis and ma famille!

Hi everyone! I have so much to update on and so much to comment on, so I'll start with the updates. 


Lorna, the AFS teacher from New Zealand is so nice! It's nice to have someone to escape to and speak English with when things get overwhelming. It's going to be really hard when she leaves! We've been to le Vieux Port (the Old Port) a couple times. There we shopped 'til we dropped! Then we got some (very good) French food, and shopped some more. It's great to have a companion in the house to go out with. 


On my first weekend in Marseille, Lorna, Nicole and I went to Saint Tropez! It's about 120 km from Marseille and it's absolutely gorgeous. Nicole grew up in there, and her family has a very long history there. One of her relatives was the mayor, and her family helped build most of the houses and resorts for the rich. Saint Tropez it the place to be and to be seen for the celebrities! It was so amazing to get to go there, and to see all of the sights. There was so much to do! The first day, we went to Nicole's aunt's house. The view from the house was breathtaking. It looked out over their vineyard and out to the coast of southern France. We spent a while picking (and eating) grapes from the vineyard. They were the best grapes I'd ever had. After that we spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool. It was divine. That evening, Lorna and I wandered around town and got some chocolate chaud. 


The next morning, Nicole took us to one of her favorite beaches. It was really amazing. The weather is ideal, and it was so relaxing. The main difference from the beaches in the US, though, was that most women sunbathe topless...I, however, did not conform. I had to be careful what I took pictures of though! After going to the beach, we went back to Nicole's Aunt's house and lounged by the pool for a while. Once we had had our fill of lounging, Nicole, Lorna and I picked figs from the many trees in the garden. Not only did we have "beaucoup de rasin, mais beaucoup de figues aussi!"


Following fig picking, Lorna and I did some shopping in town. It was mostly window shopping because most of the stores were way out of our price range (i.e. Dolce and Gabbana, Christian Dior, Gucci, etc.) but we did manage to find some reasonably priced clothes. :)


This past Wednesday, I started tennis lessons! It's great to be active again. They all called me "the American" and I think that they were entertained every time I tried to talk. On Monday, I started yoga. It's great for me to de-stress, especially since Monday is the hardest day of the week for me. 


For my second weekend, Nicole brought us to a party for a PACS. In France, a PACS is an alternative to mariage. It is open to both homosexual and heterosexual couples, is much less binding than a marriage, but it's legal and recognized by the government. It was interesting, but most of the time I couldn't understand anything that anyone said, so I just enjoyed the amazing cheese and desserts. 


The food here is amazing! I have never eaten so much bread, cheese and meat, and drank so much wine as I have here! Maybe it's just that I don't eat a lot of meat at home, but we have some type of meat every lunch and dinner! It's crazy! So far, I've had duck, lamb, chicken, tons of different types of fish, and steak! The bread in France is the best. No matter where it's from, no matter when you have it (which is every meal), it's amazing. I see people walking around with baguettes under their arms all of the time. It's classic French. 


Meals in France are not just for eating. They're a social event as well. We eat at 8 in the evening for dinner, and often we're not done until after 9! Meals are served in courses, so first, we'll have appetizers or some type of cold meat. Next we'll have either salad or the main course. After that you have cheese and then you have fruit/yogurt/desert. I have trouble remembering that theres more after the main couse, so I always fill myself up on that and I don't have room for the amazing cheese. 


Every night with dinner we have wine. It's not just any wine though, it's wine made with the grapes picked at Nicole's Aunt's vineyard in Saint Tropez! Drinking alcohol here is not a big deal. I think that because the drinking age is 16, teenagers don't feel the need to abuse alcohol like some do in the US. 


Classes are extremely hard here. Yes, I am taking most of them in a different language, but they're hard for the students who speak french fluently as well! There is always so much homework. Every night, for at least three hours, I work on school work. The point of school is not to provide opportunities for learning as well as extracurriculars such as sports, music, key club, student senate, etc. like in the US, but to teach the students enough for them to pass le Bac. Short for le Baccalauréat, le Bac is a little like the SAT's in the US. It's like a diploma that you need in order to go to university. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccalauréat) So, at school there are no extracurricular activities, just learning. 


I am taking Premiere S 3. Premiere is the equivalent of being a junior in the US. S means I am in the science track, and I am in the third group of the science track. This track is the most difficult of the three tracks generally offered in french lycées. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education_in_France for a further (and better) explanation of the secondary education in France.) 


Because I am in the most difficult class, I have a very full and heavy schedule. On Mondays, I am in school until 5. Tuesdays, until 6. Wednesdays I get out at noon, Thursdays I get out at four. On Fridays (for now) I get out at 2, but that's going to change in October, and I'll get out at four. Saturdays, for now, I get out at 10, but in October I'll start getting out at noon. I start school at 8 every morning except for Thursdays. In general, I have two hours off for lunch, but even with the break in the middle the days are incredibly long! I find myself getting excited over ending at 2, when that's when I would end school in the US every day! I think that I would prefer not having as long of a lunch break, and getting out earlier, but it's all part of the French experience!


The uniformity in school is ridiculous. Everyone takes notes, underlines, highlights, and writes, in the exact same way. It's crazy! Every time I go to write something, I'm afraid that I'm going to do it wrong.


There are good things about the school system here though! They give you so much freedom here. If you don't have a class, you don't have to be in school. Durring breaks, you're allowed to go outside of the school grounds. Many of the kids will go out for a smoke durring break. If your teacher isn't there for class, there is no substitute teacher, you just don't have class. I've had a couple times where the teacher wasn't there and I got to go home early. 


I've made so many friends! School is not only bearable, but fun with them. A lot of people speak English pretty well, so when I don't understand something or I can't make myself clear, there's always someone who can help me out. 


Beaucoup de Bisous! There are so many kisses! When I see someone I know, instead of waving to them and saying "Hi!", or giving them a hug, I have  to kiss them on each cheek! Before class in the morning it's just a long line of kisses! Everyone does it. girls with girls, girls with boy, and boys with boys. It's not awkward or weird, it's just the way things are here. 


It's really hard to remember that when I'm talking to elders, teachers or people that I don't know very well I have to address them formally and use the "Vous" form of the verb and not the "Tu" form. In English we don't have anything like it, so it's really hard to get used to.


I promise that more is on it's way! :)

Mon premier jour d'école!

I had my first day of school yesterday! I started at 8h00 with Science de Vie et Terre (SVT "Science of life and earth") for two hours.  It's basically biology for the first semester, but much harder biology than I took in the states. For the second semester it's geology. I'm glad that the subject that I don't know is second, so by the time we get to it I'll know what everyone is talking about. After SVT, I had two hours of physiques. I found out that in France, physiques is really chemistry! So we did some chemistry experiment with magnesium and some other chemical that I vaguely remember from chemistry in the states. After those two classes I was finished for the day! On Wednesdays and Saturdays I only have a half day.

In the afternoon, Nicole and I went shopping! I picked up some school supplies. All of the kids in class have these special pens and special paper, and they all take notes the same way! I felt so weird when I did everything differently, with the wrong color pens, wrong color paper and wrong organisation of my notes!

After getting my school supplies, we went to the "Orange" store. Orange is a phone carrier, so I got my blackberry there! It's nice to finally have a phone. I feel much safer, especially since I'm in a big city because I can call someone if I'm lost or in trouble, and I can contact friends (once I make some!)

From Orange, we went to the train station to pick up Lorna. Lorna is an exchange teacher from New Zealand that we are hosting for a month. It is really nice to have someone who speaks English in the house with us, but we will have to make a pact to speak only French to each other.

Today was my second day of school. I had two hours of SVT this morning. It's really intense for me because all of the students write down what the teacher dictates, and I don't understand much of it. I write what I can, and then copy the rest from the girl who sits next to me.

Next I had English! It's by far my favorite class. It was really boring, but I got everything right and all of the kids were coming to me for answers. It was great! There is another girl in my class who speaks english too! We sat together, and talked the whole time. We are going to hang out this weekend!

I have three hours off until my next class, so I came home to have lunch. When I go back I will have Spanish, and history & geography and my day will be finished!


Also, here are some pictures from my tour in Paris! Some of them are not very good quality because they were taken from inside the moving bus.

My first week!

So much has happened since I last posted! I`ll go day by day.

Mercredi: On Wednesday Mom and I drove to New York and I had to say goodbye to her. I was not the only one there crying my eyes out, but it was still quite awful. After goodbyes, I had to sign in and wait for everyone to get to the hotel. There were people all over the US and it was great to meet everyone: There were fifty students going to France, qbout thirty going to Spain, fifteen going to Egypt, a few going to Turkey, and one girl going to South Africa.Its nice because everyone is in the same situation so theyre all very friendly because no one knows anyone else.

Jeudi: On Thursday, we had orientation from nine until two. From there, we packed up our bags and got on the bus to go to the airport. My luggage was under the weight limit! It took so long for all of us to go through baggage and security that by the time we got to the gate, it was time to board. We left at 7h30 (Ney York time.) This plane was the biggest plane I had ever been on!

I was on the top floor. Flying AirFrance it really nice because you have your own personal TV and they give you three course meals! For diner we got little trays with a full meal on it. It was much nicer than any American fight I`ve been on. After diner I watched WALL-E in French! I`m happy to say that I understood most of it (granted there`s no dialogue in the first half hour of the movie, but still...)

Vendredi: Friday morning was spent on the Plane. I think I may have slept for an hour or so, but I cannot be sure. We had breakfast on the plane. At 8h30 (Paris time) we landed. Generally I dread having to go through customs, and this time was no different. I got to the line, went up to the window and gave them my passport expecting them to drill me on why I was there, how much money did I bring, did I have any food, etc. Instead, the man took my passport, stamped it and wished me a good day. It was the easiest customs ever!

We left the Airport and got to the hostel. It was incredibly tempting to go right to my bed and sleep, but I resisted. If I had gone ahead and went to sleep it would have made me even more jet-lagged. We got to meet the other students who are living in France as well. There were people from Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Austria, and Czech Republic. There are other countries as well, but they were not at the English Orientation. It was not as hard to stay up since there were many new people to meet and talk with. For the rest of the day we just socialized, played spoons and other assorted card games, and rested (though I did not.)

Samedi: On Saturday we took a bus tour of Paris! It was amazing! We stopped at the Eifel Tower to get out, walk around and take pictures. There were many people trying to sell souveniers to tourists, but I just kept saying "Non, Merci!"

After the tour, we had some more orientation. It was the first helpful orientation that I've had yet! It was so nice to be able to ask someone who is French about the French.

Dimanche: Sunday was departure day. At 10h45 the PACA (Provence Cote d'Azure) group went to the train stations and boarded the train to Marseille! We took the TGV, (Train Grand Vitesse) and it took about four hours to get to Marseille. We got off and were engulfed by our host families! In a flourish of pictures, hugs and kisses we were off. Marseille is beautiful!It is so warm and picturesque. Nicole and I went home, and after some diner and chatting I went straight to bed.

Lundi: This morning I got up and Nicole and I went to the school to get my classes set. I don't have classes today or tomorrow because the teachers are on strike (they say that France's most popular sport is strike.)  We went to the mall, did some grocery shopping, and looked at some phones for me. They are so cheap! I can get most of the phones for just 1£! The plans are, for the most part, under 30£ a month!  I think I may get my phone tomorrow.

After the mall, we went to Nicole's son's (Greg) and daughter-in-laws (Tashina's) house. We had lunch with Tashina, and it was amazing! Her cooking is so good. The baby, Aiden, is so cute! Nicole left, and Tash and I are going to take a tour of the city!


I find myself saying "d`accord" and "oui" a lot, since it`s the things I can say in agreement. It is always nice when I can say "Je comprends!" though :). I am finding that even already it is hard to switch bach to english. I`ve had to delete words that I accidentally wrote in French. Often times it is very hard to understand things when people talk to me, but sometimes I can catch a few key words  and I will get the gist of it.

Please excuse any typos! The keyboards here are different, and the spell check is in French!

I'll post pictures soon :)