I have officially been here for one week. It's crazy. I feel like I have been through a years worth of ups and downs. So many new things and way too many emotions. Last night I made a vow to not eat anymore baguette while I was here and take it easy on the sugar filled items (I could already feel the pounds being added on). This lasted exactly 24 hours. Tonight we had pasta and it just didn't taste quite right with out the bread. :) The first day of school was painful. I felt as though I had walked into an alternate universe. Of course I knew things would be different, the language, the people, the food, the culture, etc. But it's the little things that catch you off guard; like how everyone writes in cursive all the time and when one hasn't even practiced cursive since second grade (like me) it is impossible to read, or the fact that the wonderful smell after it rains in Santa Fe isn't the same here, or that I have to walk up 3 flights of stairs to get to my first period class most days. These little things, if you let them, are the things that get to you the most.
I have since learned that my French professor is infamous for his awful handwriting, and that it's important to layer because its freezing in the morning and extremely hot in the afternoon, and that no, sadly, walking up multiple flights of stairs does not burn off all the calories from eating baguette all the time. It's the little things too, that can get you through a day (and by day I mean a few hours) like figuring out that I did indeed remember to pack my favorite pair of jeans!! or that my new little sister, Malou, gives me a thousand hugs a day, or that stupid phrase that AFS grinded into our brains "it's not good, it's not bad, it's just different".
School is hard for me on multiple levels. To begin with the way they teach sets a completely different learning environment. At prep, we sit in circle and talk, everyone talks, or to be a bit more accurate, the teachers encourage everyone to talk. In France the teachers lecture. For the first few days I sat in total and complete fear that a teacher would direct a question at me and I would have no idea what they were saying and pee in my pants. I now know that teachers don't ask questions that they are not going to answer themselves. It also very important to take notes, and not the little notes on the side of the paper or on your hand (the kind I'm used to) no, I'm talking hardcore notes. The kids here underline the different titles with a ruler, it shocked me. At prep I could have cared less how straight a line was, but not here. Each student has multiple colored pens (never, ever a pencil) and they have learned to write what the teacher is saying while he or she is saying it instead of after the teacher has messily scribbled it on the board. I am trying my best to learn to do this, but I'm still using a pencil. I happen to like having the option of making a mistake and being able to fix it. It just makes me feel better all around. (I keep two fairly large erasers with me at school)
Today I had my first test. It was for Spanish class. Definitely not level 1 Spanish. The teacher speaks in Spanish for the duration of the class and we are supposed to answer difficult question. We are not learning how to conjugate verbs (as I was expecting). My first day of Spanish class consisted of me being utterly confused, chewing my lip consistently and trying to figure out what everyone was doing. I was given a simple sheet with a translation of all the common used terms, so I slipped it into my binder and started copying notes from that day's lesson which needed to be memorized by Friday for the teacher was going to pick someone at random and orally quiz them on the subject. Holy shit. I was not chosen. Yessss! But we did start studying a ridiculously difficult exercise in the workbook and we were told that we have a test on Monday (today).
This weekend we went to visit Carole's parents (they live two hours from Chateauroux). Her brother and his wife had recently had a baby girl, Flavi and she was being baptized. Road trip!! And what was an extremely long Sunday. Carole has five other siblings and each one has multiple kids and there are many, many cousins. So sixty or more 'family members' attended this baptism. It began at 11, services ended around 1 ish and then began the feast which consisted of a lot, a lot of food and Champagne and wine and whiskey and traditional ice cream alcohol thingies. I should know the names, but by 5 I was totally fried and starting to stress about my test. After what I can only assume was hundreds of cheek kisses we started to head home around 8. We got home at 10, I drank some hot chocolate and started studying. Pierre-Yves spent a lot of time translating the exercise into French and English with me and I spent a lot of time with Sarah on line with her teaching me how to correctly answer a question.
I slept for a few hours and then drank lots of coffee (they have caramel syrup in the house so yummm) and bolted out the door. Fast forward to Spanish class. Before the professor was there I noticed some kids studying that first sheet of paper I had been given. I hadn't even glanced at it, I hoped nothing from it would be on the test but I knew that I would be fine as long as I was able to read the questions and take lots of time. I sat down and the teacher went off in Spanish and kids pulled out a sheet of paper, so I did the same. I looked at my friend, Julie and asked if the test would be given orally she looked at me like "duhh". Uh oh. I started to panic, so I just closed my eyes and took deep breathes and told myself it would be fine. Sadly while doing this I missed the directions (they were in Spanish, so I wouldn't have understood them anyway). The teacher would read us questions, we would write them down and after go back and answer them. This could have been such an easy test, you know, had I studied the correct sheets of paper and oh yeah understood the directions. So basically that equals me trying my hardest and starting to cry multiple times and then looking down really quickly so no one noticed.
I came home for lunch and of course my family asked me how my test was. My eyes were so wide. It took about five different word combinations and sentence configurations before I got my point across. I was extremely embarrassed and had no idea how everyone would react. Silence. Then Carole double checked that she had heard me right and started chuckling and then we were all laughing about it, which made me feel a million times better. Live and (burn) learn, right? Carole seems to be one of the people I communicate with very well and she is one of the people, along with my three sisters (who do really love teaching me) I connect well with. And now after two hours of sleep last night, I am exhausted so bon nuit! xx
Monday, September 13, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Chapter 3 annnnd everything inbetween
Where to begin? So much has happened since I have last written anything for the blog. It really is crazy how quickly time passes by when one is having fun . . . or a nervous wreck. The day we landed in Paris involved much waiting. Waiting in the airport, waiting outside of the airport, waiting in the bus, waiting near the hostil, etc. There are 50 Americans going to France and 150 kids going to France in total. So, at the hostile, we were met by every single possible accent. It was amazing to listen to. I was, and still am completely envious that I don't have a mysterious, foreign accent. Maybe I will fake it when I get home and speak English with a French accent. Perfect! Back at the hostile I had, or I should say we, we had our first terrifying French experience. At the cafeteria. We had no idea how anything worked and all got yelled at in French multiple times. Live and burn. And we did, we never ever made the same mistake twice.
I always forget how beautiful Paris truly is. Pictures don't do it any justice. (speaking of pictures, I will try to upload some after I finish writing) Every single detail is beautiful. The cobblestone streets, lovely. The details of the sculptures and corners of every building are gorgeous. I couldn't help but be in awe every time I turned my head. Le Tour Eiffel still amazes me after multiple times of seeing it.
Le jour prochain, I woke up at the early time of 545am, but ironically I couldn't sleep anyway, so I didn't even need an alarm clock. A group of us left for the airport around 7 and you will never believe what we did at the train station. We waited! Finally, a small portion of our group was called to walk through the station and board the train that would bring us to our new homes. My name was not called, so I stayed behind with a few others. One of these people was Anna, from Budapest. We started talking and bonded over the fact that in French our names were the same. Half an hour later my liason rushed up to me and asked which family I was staying with. I quickly replied "Beuchene" and she immediately turned sheet white. "your train leaves in one minute" she said in a thick French accent. Shit. So, we ran, and I mean ran through the airport with my two extraordinarily heavy suitcases. I haven't worked out, well to be honest, in a long, long time. I though i was going to fall over. My legs felt like jello. All I wanted to do was walk and then POOF, my train magically appeared, Harry Potter style (ish). I jumped on as quickly as I could and before I could even say uncle, we were moving.
According to my infamous name tag, I was in car 4. I had hoped onto car 1, so I lugged, with much difficulties and many 'excuse-moi monsieur et madame's my suitcases, which at this pointed, I wanted to throw out of the train, to car 4. I saw my friends and waved hello asking for my passport and train ticket, which I was told one of them would have. And indeed one of them had a passport and train ticket, a Hungarian passport. Cool. So, at this point I pretty much started flipping out, but everyone calmed me down and told me it would be fine, so I sat down and closed my eyes. At this point I started picturing all those scenes from movies where people don't have tickets and the train goes to a creaking stop in the middle of no where and the people are thrown out by their ear. So, you can imagine what a calm and happy mood I was in when the ticket person came to my seat. I nervously asked him, en Francais, (just to be sure) if this train, did in fact, go to Chateauroux. "Oui, bien sur' he replied in a very deep voice, lowering his eyebrows and taking the ticket from my hands, that I had reluctantly been holding on to. He clicked it and all was well.
I got off at Chateauroux and after twenty minutes became un peau confused parce que Pierre-Yves et Carol were no where to be seen. I bought un telecarte card and tried to call them from the pay phones but there was just a lot of beeping and a French operator speaking very quickly. After taking about five minutes to summon up some courage I walked over to a friendly-enough looking French man, and in what I can only imagine sounded like jibberish, I asked him to si'l vous plait aider moi avec le telephone. Another man overheard and called Pierre-Yves number on his cell phone, the number was out of service. At this point I had been waiting for about two hours, so, I jumped into a taxi and handed the driver l'address. The house was only a few minutes away from the train station. I rang the doorbell a few times and knocked, but no one answered. Luckily I had asked the cab to wait and so I jumped back in and went back to the train station. I decided to patiently wait, so I watched Glee on my laptop and ate my lunch and just as I was about to start stressing again, a very nice man, who new my name and had my AFS application appeared.
This man was one of Pierre-Yves very good friend and explained the whole situation to me. Everyone had gone to pick up the other Anna multiple towns over and they would be back in a few hours and everything would be fixed. In the meantime we drove a few miles outside of Chateauroux to his farm where he gave me a place to sleep for an hour and then we got back in the car and drove to my new home, where everyone was waiting. It was a very happy reunion/meeting. They showed me to my room on the third floor. It is tres adorable. I immediately fell asleep and woke up at seven, just in time for dinner. Dinner was pasta and creme fresh, which erased the negative day. There is nothing like delicious pasta to cheer me up.
Everyone is extremely nice and tres gentil. I am getting very tired at the moment, but I promise to bring more details soon. About my first day of school, which was this morning and about bonding with the girls over lady gaga!! Bon nuit <3 <3
I always forget how beautiful Paris truly is. Pictures don't do it any justice. (speaking of pictures, I will try to upload some after I finish writing) Every single detail is beautiful. The cobblestone streets, lovely. The details of the sculptures and corners of every building are gorgeous. I couldn't help but be in awe every time I turned my head. Le Tour Eiffel still amazes me after multiple times of seeing it.
Le jour prochain, I woke up at the early time of 545am, but ironically I couldn't sleep anyway, so I didn't even need an alarm clock. A group of us left for the airport around 7 and you will never believe what we did at the train station. We waited! Finally, a small portion of our group was called to walk through the station and board the train that would bring us to our new homes. My name was not called, so I stayed behind with a few others. One of these people was Anna, from Budapest. We started talking and bonded over the fact that in French our names were the same. Half an hour later my liason rushed up to me and asked which family I was staying with. I quickly replied "Beuchene" and she immediately turned sheet white. "your train leaves in one minute" she said in a thick French accent. Shit. So, we ran, and I mean ran through the airport with my two extraordinarily heavy suitcases. I haven't worked out, well to be honest, in a long, long time. I though i was going to fall over. My legs felt like jello. All I wanted to do was walk and then POOF, my train magically appeared, Harry Potter style (ish). I jumped on as quickly as I could and before I could even say uncle, we were moving.
According to my infamous name tag, I was in car 4. I had hoped onto car 1, so I lugged, with much difficulties and many 'excuse-moi monsieur et madame's my suitcases, which at this pointed, I wanted to throw out of the train, to car 4. I saw my friends and waved hello asking for my passport and train ticket, which I was told one of them would have. And indeed one of them had a passport and train ticket, a Hungarian passport. Cool. So, at this point I pretty much started flipping out, but everyone calmed me down and told me it would be fine, so I sat down and closed my eyes. At this point I started picturing all those scenes from movies where people don't have tickets and the train goes to a creaking stop in the middle of no where and the people are thrown out by their ear. So, you can imagine what a calm and happy mood I was in when the ticket person came to my seat. I nervously asked him, en Francais, (just to be sure) if this train, did in fact, go to Chateauroux. "Oui, bien sur' he replied in a very deep voice, lowering his eyebrows and taking the ticket from my hands, that I had reluctantly been holding on to. He clicked it and all was well.
I got off at Chateauroux and after twenty minutes became un peau confused parce que Pierre-Yves et Carol were no where to be seen. I bought un telecarte card and tried to call them from the pay phones but there was just a lot of beeping and a French operator speaking very quickly. After taking about five minutes to summon up some courage I walked over to a friendly-enough looking French man, and in what I can only imagine sounded like jibberish, I asked him to si'l vous plait aider moi avec le telephone. Another man overheard and called Pierre-Yves number on his cell phone, the number was out of service. At this point I had been waiting for about two hours, so, I jumped into a taxi and handed the driver l'address. The house was only a few minutes away from the train station. I rang the doorbell a few times and knocked, but no one answered. Luckily I had asked the cab to wait and so I jumped back in and went back to the train station. I decided to patiently wait, so I watched Glee on my laptop and ate my lunch and just as I was about to start stressing again, a very nice man, who new my name and had my AFS application appeared.
This man was one of Pierre-Yves very good friend and explained the whole situation to me. Everyone had gone to pick up the other Anna multiple towns over and they would be back in a few hours and everything would be fixed. In the meantime we drove a few miles outside of Chateauroux to his farm where he gave me a place to sleep for an hour and then we got back in the car and drove to my new home, where everyone was waiting. It was a very happy reunion/meeting. They showed me to my room on the third floor. It is tres adorable. I immediately fell asleep and woke up at seven, just in time for dinner. Dinner was pasta and creme fresh, which erased the negative day. There is nothing like delicious pasta to cheer me up.
Everyone is extremely nice and tres gentil. I am getting very tired at the moment, but I promise to bring more details soon. About my first day of school, which was this morning and about bonding with the girls over lady gaga!! Bon nuit <3 <3
Le Transition :)
Right now I am over the Atlantic Ocean!! Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I will never ever be able to fly another airline, other than Air France, with out crying. Everyone has their own individual tvs, there’s a mini bar in the back, there’s foot room, we get a four course dinner, oh and did I mention it’s double decker and I’m on the second floor?!? I really should be sleeping right now, in France it is around 600am, we are landing at 830am and I haven’t slept this entire flight. I am so unbelievably excited. When we got on the plane I couldn’t stop fidgeting I was so happy. I spoke to my seat neighbors in French and was from that point on super excited. I have come to the realization that I am really not that great at French and so I will need to put a lot of effort into it, which is fine by me.
Orientation, although quite repetitive, was an extremely nice and helpful transition period. It was so amazing to be around people that had the same feelings of excitement and anxiousness. It was so cool to hear about all the different places people were living and all about their families. My hotel roommate, Nicolette, is living very close to Germany in a town of 250 people and parents that have a one-year-old daughter! Wow. I have met so many interesting and wonderful people. I hope I will be able to keep in touch with them and hear about their experiences.
Oh my!! I completely forgot to talk about where I’m living! Sorry about that. I was truly just notified a few days ago. I will be living in a town of around 50,000 people, Chateauroux. It is only two hours south of Paris! Very exciting. My host father, Pierre-Yves speaks some English, and everyone else in the family, Carole, the mom, and Lola, Luanne, Malou, my three younger host sisters, all only speak French. Although it might be a little challenging, I am happy that it will push me to use French all the time and expand my vocabulary enormously. I can’t wait to meet them, but I’m really nervous to meet them. I’m afraid they will have high expectations of me that I will not be able to meet right away, but I’m still in phase where I have a smile on my face no matter what.
Once we land in Paris (Charles de Gaul), we will have more orientation with AFS-FRANCE, and will be spending the next few nights in a hostile. That will be a new experience for me. I can’t imagine what it will be like with fifty other exchange students. Tomorrow we will spend the day touring Paris!! And the day after that we meet our host families! It is all happening so fast, my brain can hardly catch up. Okay time to get some sleep. Bon nuit!!
(written on the plane to France)
Orientation, although quite repetitive, was an extremely nice and helpful transition period. It was so amazing to be around people that had the same feelings of excitement and anxiousness. It was so cool to hear about all the different places people were living and all about their families. My hotel roommate, Nicolette, is living very close to Germany in a town of 250 people and parents that have a one-year-old daughter! Wow. I have met so many interesting and wonderful people. I hope I will be able to keep in touch with them and hear about their experiences.
Oh my!! I completely forgot to talk about where I’m living! Sorry about that. I was truly just notified a few days ago. I will be living in a town of around 50,000 people, Chateauroux. It is only two hours south of Paris! Very exciting. My host father, Pierre-Yves speaks some English, and everyone else in the family, Carole, the mom, and Lola, Luanne, Malou, my three younger host sisters, all only speak French. Although it might be a little challenging, I am happy that it will push me to use French all the time and expand my vocabulary enormously. I can’t wait to meet them, but I’m really nervous to meet them. I’m afraid they will have high expectations of me that I will not be able to meet right away, but I’m still in phase where I have a smile on my face no matter what.
Once we land in Paris (Charles de Gaul), we will have more orientation with AFS-FRANCE, and will be spending the next few nights in a hostile. That will be a new experience for me. I can’t imagine what it will be like with fifty other exchange students. Tomorrow we will spend the day touring Paris!! And the day after that we meet our host families! It is all happening so fast, my brain can hardly catch up. Okay time to get some sleep. Bon nuit!!
(written on the plane to France)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Chapter 1!!
So, first blog entry. pressures really on now!! I apologize for the delay in starting it, but these past few days have been craaazy. I want to thank everyone for all of the wonderful letters and supportive words. It has made leaving for what is to be a very challenging, yet wonderful, adventure, much easier. I know that when I come into tough situations, I can always look back at those letters and know that I can push through.
Packing. An unbelievable pain in the butt. I have always loved packing. When camp came around packing was the first thing I would do. Checking off clothes on the list was my favorite thing to do. Super exciting. But this time it just would not end. So much to do. So much to pack. And no checklist. Oh well. The hard part is over. . . You know, ish.
Today I woke up at 4:30am in order to shower, finish packing, and make an 8:15 flight. My mom was stressed as could be as my dad and I joked about how quickly we could get to the airport. '45 minutes' I said. My dad replied 'I bet I can do it in 40'. We start chuckling as my mom inhales deeply and leaves the room. Everything was moving in slow motion. On the drive to ABQ I had an extremely hard falling asleep, even though I had only managed to wiggle in two hours of sleep the night before. The stress was finally starting to hit me and, ironically, my mom was finally quite content. At the airport we learned that parents were not allowed past security, and having assumed my parents would be able to walk me to the gate, this was a little shocking.
The moment I gave them the last hugs and started walking through the maze of security ropes, it finally hit me. I was on my own (kinda). I was leaving for ten whole months. I was going to be living in a foreign country. Awesome. And a little scary, I have to admit. My legs started to weaken and felt like I might fall over, so I held my self up straight and tried to pull off a very confident and self assured walk. I'm still not sure if that is how I came off, but I definitely fooled myself (ish). I made it through security alive and boarded the plane a mere five minutes later. No time for breakfast, but I was too nervous to eat anyway. On the plane I re-met another AFSer, Connor. She was going to Spain. So, for the rest of the day we were airport buddies, which was really nice.
We got on the plane to New York, but soon found out that the brakes were not working, so we would be waiting for the mechanic to come and fix them. Lovely. I must have dozed off because when I woke, a few hours later, we were back on the ground! Yay! I slept through the whole flight. Not really. We still hadn't left our original departure gate. Damn. Sooner or later, we took off and back to sleep I went. An AFS staff member met us at our baggage claim and took us to a cab and we arrived at the double tree hotel at about 7:00pm. Right in time for the end of dinner.
I was quite frazzled at the point. My nerves, exhaustion, and hunger really getting to me. We registered, got our room keys along with many other papers and handouts. My hands were full with two suitcases and a heavy purse. Trying to figure out how to get all my stuff together, I forgot which room I was in. When I arrived to the 6th floor, hauling seventy or so pounds of luggage, I had no idea which way to go. So, I lugged all my crap back down stairs and asked, a little embarrassed, if she could please repeat my room number. She then pointed out that my room number was indeed written on my name card. Oh. I dropped my stuff off in my room and raced down to dinner. Every table was full, and I soon learned people were sitting with their group leaders, assigned earlier and by country. I asked a few tables whether they were France or what not. But the ones that were, were full. There was a table in the back with about five people, so I walked towards it and asked if I could sit with them. They eagerly nodded and said it would be fine. So for the next fifteen minutes I learned all about Switzerland!! It was actually quite fascinating and everyone was really nice.
After dinner, I found out my group leader and headed her way and found myself in a group with more very sweet people. I love that. Everyone is so excited to meet one another and learn about where each person is going, where they're from and their new host families. I spent the next few hours playing cards, meeting new people, and getting more and more excited. Tomorrow afternoon I am off to Paris!! Here I go!!!!!
Packing. An unbelievable pain in the butt. I have always loved packing. When camp came around packing was the first thing I would do. Checking off clothes on the list was my favorite thing to do. Super exciting. But this time it just would not end. So much to do. So much to pack. And no checklist. Oh well. The hard part is over. . . You know, ish.
Today I woke up at 4:30am in order to shower, finish packing, and make an 8:15 flight. My mom was stressed as could be as my dad and I joked about how quickly we could get to the airport. '45 minutes' I said. My dad replied 'I bet I can do it in 40'. We start chuckling as my mom inhales deeply and leaves the room. Everything was moving in slow motion. On the drive to ABQ I had an extremely hard falling asleep, even though I had only managed to wiggle in two hours of sleep the night before. The stress was finally starting to hit me and, ironically, my mom was finally quite content. At the airport we learned that parents were not allowed past security, and having assumed my parents would be able to walk me to the gate, this was a little shocking.
The moment I gave them the last hugs and started walking through the maze of security ropes, it finally hit me. I was on my own (kinda). I was leaving for ten whole months. I was going to be living in a foreign country. Awesome. And a little scary, I have to admit. My legs started to weaken and felt like I might fall over, so I held my self up straight and tried to pull off a very confident and self assured walk. I'm still not sure if that is how I came off, but I definitely fooled myself (ish). I made it through security alive and boarded the plane a mere five minutes later. No time for breakfast, but I was too nervous to eat anyway. On the plane I re-met another AFSer, Connor. She was going to Spain. So, for the rest of the day we were airport buddies, which was really nice.
We got on the plane to New York, but soon found out that the brakes were not working, so we would be waiting for the mechanic to come and fix them. Lovely. I must have dozed off because when I woke, a few hours later, we were back on the ground! Yay! I slept through the whole flight. Not really. We still hadn't left our original departure gate. Damn. Sooner or later, we took off and back to sleep I went. An AFS staff member met us at our baggage claim and took us to a cab and we arrived at the double tree hotel at about 7:00pm. Right in time for the end of dinner.
I was quite frazzled at the point. My nerves, exhaustion, and hunger really getting to me. We registered, got our room keys along with many other papers and handouts. My hands were full with two suitcases and a heavy purse. Trying to figure out how to get all my stuff together, I forgot which room I was in. When I arrived to the 6th floor, hauling seventy or so pounds of luggage, I had no idea which way to go. So, I lugged all my crap back down stairs and asked, a little embarrassed, if she could please repeat my room number. She then pointed out that my room number was indeed written on my name card. Oh. I dropped my stuff off in my room and raced down to dinner. Every table was full, and I soon learned people were sitting with their group leaders, assigned earlier and by country. I asked a few tables whether they were France or what not. But the ones that were, were full. There was a table in the back with about five people, so I walked towards it and asked if I could sit with them. They eagerly nodded and said it would be fine. So for the next fifteen minutes I learned all about Switzerland!! It was actually quite fascinating and everyone was really nice.
After dinner, I found out my group leader and headed her way and found myself in a group with more very sweet people. I love that. Everyone is so excited to meet one another and learn about where each person is going, where they're from and their new host families. I spent the next few hours playing cards, meeting new people, and getting more and more excited. Tomorrow afternoon I am off to Paris!! Here I go!!!!!
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