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
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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
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!
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
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
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
A little town in Switzerland
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