Friday, December 16, 2011

'Tis the Season

C'est la vacances! I finished school today at noon (two of my teachers were gone for the afternoon and there's no such thing as substitutes here. I like this system). In most of my classes we had little partys where everyone brings food and pop and we hang around and talk. The boys also had some entertaining arm wrestling contests. School's been going pretty well. It's getting easier to follow the courses (except my physique-chemie teacher, she goes waayyy to fast on her notes for me to follow) and I can participate a lot better (except Spanish maybe). We just got our "bulletins", or report cards, and I didn't do too bad, although I only got a real grade in about half of my classes :).
Yesterday there was a teachers strike (I guess their salaries are going to be frozen or something?) so I only had school from 1:00 -2:00. I think the teachers in America should pick up this whole protest thing.
Some others cool things that happened lately:
1. I got to go to Parc Asterix last Saturday, which is an Amusement parc close to Paris. My host mom, sisters and I had a fun time riding rollercoasters and even watched a dolphin show. There weren't very many people at all so the lines were really short. I had heard a lot about Parc Asterix and I'm glad I got to go.
2. So I received the most coolest thing ever, a package from French Club filled with American food! It was a really awesome surprise and it made me so happy! There was all sorts of stuff, Reeses, Cheez-its, Mac n' Cheese, peanut butter, goldfish, jell-o, candy, a CV t-shirt, awesome cheetah slippers, notes from classmates. It totally made my week. I've been enjoying my peanut butter toast, though Ludovic holds his nose whenever I make it. I told him he can keep his bleu cheese and I'll keep my peanut butter.
3. Sunday there was an AFS walk in Paris. I met up with Madeleine at La Defense a little early to do some shopping. We even found a Christmas market outside which I thought was really cute and festive, with holiday music and all (I've been christmas music starved, I can't even find a radio station here that plays them). After that we met up at the Opera House with the rest of the group and walked down some really gorgeous streets, the ones that have all the super expensive designer shops. It was beautiful all decorated for Christmas, and I had a great time talking with the other exchange students as usual. We ended at a Lawyers office (the office of one of our volunteers) where we warmed up and had cake and hot chocolate. It was probably the most authentic hot chocolate I have ever had, only slightly thinner than actual melted chocolate bars. Yum. After the walk, Kenny and I walked down the Champs-Elysees, which was also super gorgeous all lit up.
So that was a seriously awesome weekend! And now its Christmas vacation! We are spending Christmas day here at the house with family, then leaving to do some skiing down by Genève on the border of switzerland. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited. I don't think I'll get another post in until after break, so I hope everyone has an awesome holiday. Joyeux Noël and a happy new year!!
Lauren

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving filled with turkeys and mashed potatos and pie! For my Franksgivings, we hosted a dinner and invited some neighborhs and some friends for a little cultrual sharing (remember that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, it's just in the U.S.).
We set the table up all nice and pretty, complete with place cards and fancy napkins that Elisa and I learned how to fold online. My host mom ordered a Turkey, looked up how to make stuffing, and even made a real cranberry sauce. It was all delicious! It was funny to see people trying everything in little portions, when in America everyone is scoopings mounds of food onto their plates :D.
Dessert was a whole nother story, we had a chocolate tart, cheesecake, banana ice cream, cake (all home made) and of course, the pumpkin pie. So I came home a little early to make the pumpkin pie (I know, going to school on thanksgiving was a little weird). I used the canned mix my parents sent me, but I still haven't quite got the hang of converting American measurements to metric (its like, different for every ingredient, gosh dang it) but it turned out alright, except part of the crust sorta fell over. Okay, it wasn't the prettiest pie I've ever seen. Anyway, pumpkin pie is definetly not a French thing, most people were trying it for the first time. I don't think many of them actually liked it (I can't complain, I don't think I'll ever like some of those French cheeses) but I sure enjoyed my slice :)  


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Look at those gorgeous napkins!


Turkey presentation

Yep, definitely not the prettiest thing. I going to accept the fact that I'm not the most gifted cook.

So there you go, a real American Thanksgiving which a french touch! I had a great time and I'm glad my host family was willing and eager to celebrate it. I missed all my relatives a little, but I did enjy skyping home as they began their own dinner over in the U.S.
Hope all is well, and I hope to post again soon!
Lauren

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Lovely October Holiday


Before I begin, I'd like to post this picture of our dinner last night, because it's pretty cool. It was quite delicious as well.



Okay, thats all.
So, I had a really awesome time over our week and a half vacation. (The last bit of October. I know, I'm a little late) We made sort of a loop down through the center/south of France and got to visit tons of really cool towns. I took about a bajillion pictures but for some reason they upload really slowly to this blog. So I'll post a few on here, and more on facebook.
Just one picture of the beautiful French country side
                                          A lot of the towns we visited were from the middle ages
                                   
One of the gorgeous castles we saw
So this town here is really famous for its Foie Gras, or duck liver. I only tried one bite (and it was stuffed in chicken) So I'm not sure if that totally counts, but I thought it was reall good. Bleu Cheese, not so much. But I'll get to that later.
I tried a little wine almost everyday. I don't think I've "acquired the taste" yet, but I don't think its disgusting like I used to.
Dinner with family we visited




So this is the town of Roquefort (Bleu cheese). I figured I couldn't leave without tasting a little bleu cheese, even though I haven't had much luck with the whole french cheese thing. So I tried it. The unfortunate thing is that it kinda got stuck in my throat when I tried to wash it down with some water, and I did that thing like when you inhale powder sugar or your water goes down the wrong pipe and you go into a big coughing fit and your eyes water and you turn kinda red. I kept trying to explain though my coughing that it wasn't because of the cheese. So yeah, I don't think I'll make that a regular thing. I guess that's what you can expect from cheese that spends 21 months in a humid cave.


Dang it, I turned these but they still show up sideways, sorry. We (Ludovic, Lucie and I) did a really fun ropes course.

Another Beautiful Castle we visited.

So we visited this really cool, humungous bridge. The sky was super blue and it just looked amazing. It was weird being in middle aged towns one morning and then at this giant modern bridge that afternoon.



We ate a little cafés pretty much everyday as well, I loved getting to try all these cool different foods.

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So, I just thought this was so awesome: we got to stay a night in this super amazing castle. Totally authentic, old, real French Castle. With stone spiral staricases and lookout towers and evreything. Lucie (my host sister) said she prefers American hotels with pools and wifi. I think she's crazy :)

And our halls were lined with these pleasent warthog (boar? are those the same thing?) faces. Sleep tight.





Fondue at a café, yummy

So there it all is, finally! Thanksgiving is coming up, its going to be weird going to school (until 5 that day-ugh), but my family decided to have a thanksgiving dinner, I'm getting ready to make a pumpkin pie (which my host siblings think is gross, but after all the weird cheeses I keep trying, I'm making them all taste it). School is going pretty well. I still pretty much fail all my tests but I'm getting better at taking notes and all. Hope to post a little more soon, but for now, au revoir!
Lauren

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Français

I thought I'd use this post to do a little talking about language itself. Oh, where to begin! Its been about six weeks now and it's hard for me to judge how much I've progressed. I think the biggest change has been my comprehension. In the beginning, sentences were one long blur. Now, I think that I hear most of the individual words, even if I don't know exactly what the each one means. Sometimes I'm surpirsed when I understand something, other times I'm dissapointed at myself because I didn't catch something that ends up being really simple. I can't lie, it can be frustrating sometimes when I feel like I almost understand something, there's just a key words or two that I missed, and people assume I understood nothing when I look confused or ask them to repeat themselves.
It's also funny because people at school try to speak english with me a lot, and they ask their friends (in French) things like "How do you say 'birthday' in english?" and I can understand exactly what they're saying. Oh well, if I respond in french enough times they usually switch over.
Another big part has just been listening to the accent and rhythm of French itself. There are tons of words that are really similar in both English and French, it's just a matter of being able to recognize them when they're spoken all frenchy-like. As far as vocabulary, it's kind of like being a little kid again. Like at the lunch table I point at things and ask,
"C'est quoi?" (what is it?)
"Un pamplemousse" (a grapefruit)
"Pam...ple..mousse?"
And charades, lots of charades.
Inevitably, I've had my share of misunderstandings. Usually they're just funny little things. The other day I told my host sisters there was a octopus in the kitchen because I got the wrong word earlier when I asked for the animal with eight legs (I was looking for "spider"). Overall, being in an enviroment where you don't understand much has been quite the expirience! School's done a nice job of teaching me how to entertain myself. I know lots of doodle games and I think I can stare at a wall for an unsettlingly long time before getting bored.
On a different note, I had a really great time mushroom hunting this weekend. Yep, mushroom hunting. I think it's kind of a regular pastime here. We drove to a beautiful forest where, armed with boots and baskets, we walked through the leaves looking for little mushrooms. It was like a giant easter egg hunt. I only found a couple (I think I some more to learn about the art of mushroom-searching) but I had a really fun time, which we finished off nicely with cider in the back yard.
Only one week to go before a two week vacation. I'm pretty excited because I get to take a trip with my host family (I keep forgeting the name of the town we're visiting). But I'll be sure to take lots of pictures (just for you, mom). Well it's raining out now, I think its time to put on some sweats and the rockin reindeer slippers my host family bought me.
Au revoir for now :)
Lauren

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

One Month Anniversary

I have been in France for officially a month! It's really weird to think back to my last day in America, because it seems like it's been much longer than 35 days. Last weekend I had an AFS rendez-vous with the other exchange students from the Il-de-France region (Paris and it's surroundings). There are about 30 of us, from all over the world, from Norway to Japan, to Honduras to Austrailia.We spent the weekend at a beautiful spot on the Seine river, doing group activites and talking about our feelings. Despite the ridiculous energizers, it was great to talk to everyone else about life, french school, missing home, host familys, and just about everything else. My roommates and I stayed up forever talking about the differences between schools in our countries. It's was really hilarious to hear the stereotypes of American highschool (Is it like high school musical? No. Are there cheerleaders and pep rallies? Yes). On Sunday, our host families came for a potluck lunch and a few more symbolic group games (popping balloons with your fears written on them, anyone?) before heading back home.
This weekend I'm planning on taking the train into Paris for the day to visit the Louvre and maybe do some shopping (don't worry Mom, we scoped out the cheap spots) with a few other AFSers. I'll upload a few photos from this weekend below.
Oh, and just a few more things to add to the list (I'm always thinking of things I forgot).
32. Most people write in cursive. I've taken it up because a) It makes my notes look fancy like everyone else's and b) It is easier to fake it when I don't know how to spell something.
33. When you enter a classroom everyone stands until the teacher tells everyone to sit down.
34. The mailmen deliver the mail by bicycle.
Okay, I had more but they always escape me. Anyway, the pictures:


 Such an awesome house!



 Potluck time!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Tidbits Continued

There's no school today because of a protest (gooo France!) so I have so time to finish up another post. The protest was actually pretty cool for me because I've never really experienced one in America. Basically, the teachers just don't show up, and the kids go and block the entrance to the school to make a point. Then everyone hangs out outside and talks or plays soccer. I still don't know exactly what they were protesting about, but it was kinda fun to see anyway. So I thought I'd add a few more things to the list of French tidbits:
28. Time is kept in 24 hour format
29. There are tons of Pharmacies here.
30. At school, people hardly ever use pencils. It's almost always pens, even in math.
31. They eat yougurt a lot more often (yes, cheese too)
32. The school lunches are bigger than in the U.S. (at my school anyways). Here's what my lunch is like in the cantine: First you scan your student card into a little machine that spits a receipt that you have to give to the lunch ladies. Next you take a few slices of bread from two huge bins. The bread goes on the tray, not on a plate. Then you take a appetizer, usually a vegtable/pasta/salad item.  They also have different cheeses, yougurt, and fruit which you can choose from. And a dessert of course, which can be anything from ice cream, pudding, and pastries to packaged chocolate-covered waffles. The main dish always has some type of meat/fish and a pasta/rice/grain. You then get your silverware and fill up your glass from a faucet in the lunchroom. When you're finished, you take your tray into a little room and sort out your silverware (its real, not plastic) and plate to be washed. The food is pretty good usually, even though the kids complain about it. If only they had American school food!
On a completely different subject, I got to go out and visit my host mom's family out in the country side this weekend. The lunch was great, with all sorts of appetizers and then sausage from the BBQ. For dessert we had little pastries from the local Patisserie and a Tarte aux ..something.. that my host sister made. I even got to cruise around the counrtyside on my host cousin's motorcross bike, which was really awesome. We got home pretty late because of all the traffic, but it was worth it.
A bien tot!
-Lauren

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I've been here for almost three weeks and so much has happened! I'm still adjusting to school, the schedule is very, very different than the U.S. but I think I'm begining to understand it all. Well, maybe. Mostly I just follow everybody else around and try not to get lost. I've already done that once and I had to ask the janitor, but, of course, it was really hard to communicate, so we had to go to the office to figure out the room number and then they had to escort me to the room. Just a liiiitle embarrasing. Hopefully I won't have to do that again.
So a few things about school:
Unlike in America, I have a different schedule everyday. There's even certain classes I have only on Week A but not Week B. Usually I begin at 8:20, other times I don't start until 9 or 10. Every other Tuesday (the whole week A and B thingy), I don't start until the gloriously late time of 12:15. I usually finish at about 4:00 or 5:00 except on Wednesdays which are half days. Very confusing. I actually like all the variety, even if it means that I'll probably never memorize my shedule.
Most of my teachers are very nice and the kids are really good about letting me copy notes. My little french-english dictionary is pretty helpful, though it makes me realize how much vocabulary I need to learn. I already failed one french test because I spent the entire class period just trying to translate the text. I'm not even sure what the the questions were. Oh well, c'est la vie!
There are so many little things that are different here that I decided to make a list of some of the things I've noticed. Some things might be specific to my school/town/family, but here it is:
1. Instead of stoplights they have roundabouts everywhere.
2. The keyboards are slightly different. I have to shift for numbers and periods and the A, Q, Z, and W are switched around. Also the M is to the left of the L, not by the N.
3. They drink a lot less milk here. I've had about as much milk in two weeks as I do in one day in the U.S.
4. I've only been to couple of houses, but I've yet to see carpet.
5. The toilets are seperate from the bathrooms.
6. The butter comes in really big blocks.
7. Most people buy fresh baguettes every day and they are soooo goooood.
8. Everybody asks if we eat a lot of hamburgers in America. I never know quite how to answer this.
9. They also think its really cool that I have my drivers license and can drive.
10. At school the teachers do not have their own rooms. They move rooms each period like the students. As a result, all the rooms are very bare, no posters or papers or anything.
11. There are also no clocks in the classrooms, which drives me nuts.
12. The students' notes are very, very neat. A lot of them use rulers to underline things, fountain pens, and white out.
13. There aren't any drinking fountains, gosh dang it.
14. They do actually do la bise here (the kisses on the cheeks), which I think is pretty cool.
15. Everybody has a pencil pouch, including all the guys.
16. When you walk into a store or a boutique, you have to say "Bonjour" to whoever's there.
17. Nobody brings a cold lunch to school.
18. You can leave school whenever you want, which is nice because you sometimes have long breaks during the day.
19. The McDonalds here are nicer as far as the area, but the food tastes the same (to me at least).
20. Most things come in smaller sizes, from McFlurries to shampoo.
21. People walk places way more often here than in the U.S., which I really enjoy.
22. The cars are generally smaller.
23. Way more kids smoke here. During breaks at school, everybody goes outside to smoke, which was really surprising to me. I'd say maybe 60% of the students smoke.
24. It's easy for them to buy cigarettes because the stores don't ask for ID.
25. The tax is included in the price, so if a Pain au Chocolat costs one euro, it really costs one euro.
26. I really love Pain au Chocolats.
27. They watch a lot of american shows with the voices dubbed over, which sounds pretty funny sometimes because the voices are totally different.
There you go, 27 things about France! There are plenty more, but I think thats enough for now :)
Au revoir,
Lauren

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Helooooo France!

I made it all the way to France!
First, I had to endure a grueling orientation in NY where, for multiple hours, they managed to repeat the same three rules - no driving, no drugs, and no hitch hiking - more times than I can count. Okay, it wasn't that bad. I got to meet a ton of people, most going to France, but also those going to Spain, Austria, Finland, and Egypt. It was pretty fun, except we weren't allowed to go out past the parking lot and Manhattan loomed luciously beyond the view of our rooms. Bummer. Finally, on the second day, all 46 antsy, France-bound AFSers boarded an airplane and said goodbye to America. We all felt extra-french when swiss airlines served us croissants for breakfast. mmmmm. And swiss chocolate. MMMMM.
So we all arrived in Paris and made our way to a hostel where our orientation continued: no driving, no drugs, no hitch hiking (but with a french accent). The hostel was better than I expected, and there, I got to meet poeple going to France from all over the world (as opposed to just Americans in New York). Thailand, Turkey, Spain, New Zealand, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Canada, Colombia, Australia- there were so many languages all at once, it was crazy awesome! On the second day we took a bus tour of Paris, driving by the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre (plus much more that I don't know the names of) and stopping at the Eiffel Tower, which, of course, was beautiful.
The next day, most kids left by train to other regions in France, but the kids going to the Il de France Region (Paris and its surroundings) like me stayed to have their host parent pick them up. Finally, finally, we got to meet our host families!
My whole host family was there: Patrick, Valérie, Ludovic, Elisa, and Lucie. All the kids and the families met in a big happy frenzy with pictures and luggage and bonjour and la bise.
The Bains took me to a little restaurant for lunch (yes, French nutella crepes are amazing) and we did a little sight seeing before heading to Villpreux (my town). Villepreux is gorgeous, with beautiful houses, narrow streets and lots of green and flowers. The Bain's house is also beautiful; I love my room at the top, with four big windows on the ceiling. I just finished putting all my stuff away a day or two ago. I'm still adjusting a bit, the Bains remind me so much of my own family that it makes me a little homesick, but I feel a little better everyday. I've been working on my french (my french-english dictionary is getting a workout) and it's getting a better one word at a time. Soon, I'll write about school, which needs an entire post on its own :)
A demain,
Lauren
All the USA AFS kids in NY
 At our layover in Zurich, Switzerland, we raided the chocolate stands.
In the Zurich Airport
 Oh yes, that Nougat Truffle was hell
 
 
 Becka, Maire (two girls I met who are also going to France) and I at the Airport in Zurich

 The dinner on the airplane. Surprisingly good.
 Free pillows and blankets and sleep masks and TVs with games and movies: I <3 swiss airlines
 Beauiful sunrise from the plane- how symbolic of the beginning of our journey.
 Oh yes, chocolate too :D

 Pretty pictures of the sun breaking through the clouds, too bad the dang wing was in the way!


A little town in Switzerland