10 weeks in

Yep. It's true. I've been here for 10 weeks. To commemorate, here is a lovely contemplative photo that I took walking from school to my bus stop.



So, what have I been up to in the last week? you ask. Well, I bought myself a pair of pants. Yay!



And I passed fun times of silliness with my hostfamily.





On Saturday I was on my own in the morning, with a very important task. My mission, and I chose to accept it: lunch for my host family. So I made a ham and mushroom and cheese tart that Benedicte had made once before. It's a fantastic recipe--very easy and it came out great both times. For dessert I made the closest version of a carrot cake that I could manage with the French ingredients that I had on hand. The cake came out well, the frosting a bit less so due to the lack of cream cheese and powdered sugar.





Saturday afternoon I spent doing homework and studying for my THREE ENORMOUS TERRIFYING TESTS on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. AAAHH! On Saturday evening we watched Danse avec les stars as usual (we finally got rid of Gerard Vives, the clown).

This morning I started planning for Thanksgiving. It's going to be a challenge to cook Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd in metric with foreign ingredients. On the other hand, as Benedicte reminds me, they've never had a Thanksgiving dinner so if it isn't perfect, they won't know the difference. However it turns out, I'll be sure to take lots of photos!

This afternoon I worked on Thanksgiving, started my poster about my life for school, and wrote to my parents while Alice made lasagne for her Italian class.



She also made us waffles!



Although I think perhaps some of the waffle batter got lost in transit.



Well, tomorrow it's back to work with 2 hours of French test. Fortunately I have free periods in the morning...although of course I wouldn't think of cramming...

End of Vacations :(

Hello everyone,

Well, today is officially my last day of relaxation. School starts up again tomorrow after two lovely weeks of mental rest.

Since my return from Paris I've pretty much been chilling at home, doing homework, and cooking. I got my hair cut nice and short. I've been for several bike rides, including one with my lovely hostsister Alice.





On Thursday I met up in town with the other internationals of Angouleme.



It was my first real tour of the town, as my hostfamily still hasn't got around to taking me for a real visit. We had sandwiches for lunch, walked around the city, and found a creperie!







So, it's been a fairly relaxing vacation. While I've enjoyed the break, I'll also enjoy having a schedule again. And of course, coming up is Thanksgiving, which I'm planning on celebrating with my hostfamily. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I made a pumpkin pie yesterday as a test run.



Receiving an email the other day with my departure details was a bit of a shock. I'm not even halfway through my stay yet, but I guess time keeps pushing ahead. Thinking back on my first days here--so many emotions all at once that it was completely overwhelming--it's clear that a lot has changed already. I remember how scared I was for the first day of school, how awkward I could feel around my hostfamily...it's pretty amazing how quickly we can adjust.

As of today, I've been living in Charente for 9 weeks. Reflection and self-examination has been and is a huge part of this experience. Because my time here is limited, I ask myself often what my goals are, what I'm hoping to get out of this, if I'm making the most of my five short months. I think about everything that I've done since arriving and everything that I still want to do, and what parts of my life here I want to bring home with me.

PARIS

Dear devoted followers,

First of all, I hope that everyone currently living on the east coast of America has successfully weathered the SandStorm. Good luck to you all!

Well, while you guys were enjoying your vacation, I was enjoying mine as well--in the lovely city of Paris!!



SO, let me give you the breakdown, interspersed with some of the pictures I took. We arrived midafternoon on Sunday, and the first stop was the Palais de Sport at the Port de Versailles, where we saw the musical 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille. I didn't understand a lot of it, but it was still really fun! The French way of handling musicals is a lot different from ours. They only play one or two at a time, and each one is a really big affair with elaborate sets and costumes. Also, they run two or three songs from the musical on the radio for a few months before hand, and you can buy the album, so my host sister already knew lots of the songs from the musical.





Day two--main event: L'arc de Triomphe.



And I remembered my goal of a family photo.



For lunch, we had pizza in a restaurant on the Champs Elysees.



And after lunch, my family took me to see some of the big Paris sites.





In the evening they took me to discover the Bon Marche, where I was forced to concede that maybe a gold-tipped fountain pen at 8,000 euros was a bit out of my price range.



The next morning it was time for SHOPPING with Alice and Benedicte. I found the choices at the Gallerie Lafayette-- Prada, Dior, etc. a bit out of my price range. When we moved on to other more budget-friendly options, I found a scarf--very important here, as it happens.



In the afternoon, we took a tour of the breathtaking and fascinating Opera Garnier--commissioned by Napoleon III and designed with incredible attention to detail. As a bonus, our tour guide was awesome.





In the evening we waited for 45 minutes to get into the only Abercrombie and Fitch in France. I didn't buy anything--once again the price tags turned me away--but I did take a picture with a shirtless model, so I suppose that counts for something.

Our Wednesday agenda: Versailles. We took a guided tour of the palace--the biggest in France--including the reception rooms and bedrooms of the king and queen.





After lunch we took a short walk through the closest part of the very expansive gardens.



And I didn't forget to get some Australians to take our photo!

France. Um, what else?

Good afternoon! Well, I suppose for most people it's morning. Here it's 3 in the afternoon and we finished lunch less than an hour ago.

Well, looking back at the photos that I took for y'all last week there's a bit of an emphasis on my daily life. I suppose that's because most of my life is daily life. Hmmn, looking back on that phrase it seems a bit self-evident. Ah well. SO anyway, here's what I see in the morning:



Yes, my lovely bus stop of Rampaud. Well actually, usually I don't see it much at all because it's still dark at 7:14 in the morning. This was from one of the mornings where I start school later because of my free periods (they're good stuff, these free periods).

Speaking of free periods, there's this lovely place at my school for lyceens called the foyer.



There's a vending machine and a TV and a billiards table where the guys play nonstop. On the other side there's a study area where I often hang out with friends



or do homework...



And sometimes, I get to hang out with some of my favorite folks here: my fellow exchange students:



So, this weekend I helped my hostdad (who is trying to learn how to bake) make pain-au-lait.





It came out quite well!



For lunch yesterday I made stuffed spaghetti squash and Alice made grilles aux pommes. In the evening we had dinner chez Stephane's parents.

This morning I went to the market with Benedicte and Alice.



My next post might be a bit delayed. WHAT!? WHY???

Next weekend--SPECIAL EDITION:

Quiet weekend

Hi all,

Well, this was pretty much my first completely quiet weekend so far. On Saturday I did my homework on the morning, had lunch with my host family, and FINALLY started my precalc from home. In the evening, we watched



Today I went to the cinema with Elizabete (an AFS exchange student in my area from Latvia) and saw "Hope Springs" in French. Would NOT recommend. We had salmon and frites and lentils for lunch, and then THIS (and then I was like, WHOA):



So that was really pretty much my weekend. Relaxing, finally!

Last Wednesday after I got home from escalade, Benedicte and I dropped Alice off at dance and went to look for sweatpants for me for sport (no luck). Then because we were already at the right mall, she took me to visit a real French Parfumerie.





At first, the perfumes pretty much all smelled the same (and kinda gross) to me. But we found two that I liked pretty well, and at least one of them is definitely growing on me. The only problem: it's SUPER expensive--some $50 per bottle, and the bottle lasts maybe 3 months. A bit out of my budget, but I'm thinking about splurging at some point. Otherwise, I know that they give perfume as a gift quite often, and I am here for Christmas...

Then we came home and I made quiche :)



Also, in case anyone is interested, this article (yes, it's in French) was published in a local newspaper:



(If it's too small, click here for a link)

AFS Weekend!

Hello world!

Well, for those of you (if there are those of you) who follow the blog regularly enough to notice, my post is a bit late this week. That's because I was away basically all weekend, so I didn't get a change to write. What was I doing this weekend, you want to know? Well, I had an AFS reunion with the other exchange students in my region about 1 hour north of the capital Poitiers; that's 2 hours north of where I live. There were maybe 25 students there (from all over the world) and 8 or so AFS staff/volunteers.



So on Saturday morning I baked this super cool yogurt cake thing that Benedicte taught me, and then we met up with the three other AFSers in Angouleme and one of the volunteers for the weekend who had offered to drive us. In the afternoon we played group games, had a snack, met with our liaisons one on one, and had a talking to about health and contraception. Yay! Then we had a big potluck dinner, with the food that everyone had brought (I ate WAY too much) and learned a medieval dance. DANCE PARTY!



Needless to say, I didn't sleep that much that night. Ah well. In the morning we had hot chocolate/tea/coffee, bread with butter and jam, and the rest of the cakes that didn't get eaten the night before. Then we did some more group activities, went for a walk, saw some sheep...



...had lunch, and had a talk on the french education system (not like we've been living it for a month already or anything). Then parents came and we socialized for an hour or so before departing for Angouleme. All in all, it was a fun weekend and I felt like I got to know other AFS students a lot better than at the initial orientations.

So it's back to school. In case you were wondering, here's a photo of the "cours"--it's sort of an inner courtyardy thing that the buildings surround. Actually, there are two of them: one that is mostly surrounded by middle school classrooms, and one that is mostly lycee.



There is a cafeteria and also le ZAP. In general, the cafeteria has more balanced but less yummy meals. On the other hand, I did get this at the ZAP the other day:



And of course, at home there's always:



chez moi :)