So I left my exchange early. I'm not going to go into the details of why I left. No one but me knows them.
I don't look back at my exchange and think that it was a mistake. I don't regret going to France. But I also don't regret leaving.
My goal in life is not to live in France and teach English, so this was not at all a bump in the road for me. It was more like a story I tell: "I lived in France for half a year and went to French high school. It was a very interesting experience. If you have the chance to go to Paris someday, go, because it's a beautiful city. And while you're there, eat some good bread ;)..."
speaking of which, that was one thing I hated about exchange - the food. Not that french food isn't really good... I'm sure most would agree with me on that. But I had to eat meat in France, which was extremely annoying because a) I think eating meat is cruel so I don't eat it and b) meat is full of fat and saturated fat (not all of it but most), so it was HORRIBLE for my regime
and also I felt like I was wasting my life away in France doing whatever host families told me to do... not that they didn't do a ton for me because they most definitely did!
but I really didn't like living with host families... it just wasn't for me. I'm far to independent, it's one of my worst, or best, traits.
So anyway,
I'm posting this to give some closure to my blog. If you're ever in Los Angeles (I'll be there studying at the University of Southern California), call me up and we can have lunch. Or not. Adieu...
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Not Only Am I Going To College Next Year...
Bonjour à tous!
So I got into Tulane University today!!! Now I can at least pick between two colleges! And Tulane is in New Orleans, where there are some people who speak French... that's a plus :) and it says on their site it offers 26 different foreign languages... I'm guessing that's a typo. Because that seems like a loooot. But I did see that they offer Haitian Creole. Which is like Creole French... that would be cool to study a differnet dialect of French. And they offer Swahili. That's pretty random but I think it would be cool to study swahili.
Okay so on Saturday night, Camille (my host sister who lives in Paris) came back to Vernon and had a dinner party with some of her friends from Paris, so I had dinner with some Parisiens... who said they loved my accent! And they didn't say it like sarcastically, they didn't even say it to me but to each other. I was talking to them in French at one point and one of them turned to another and was like "her accent is too good" (they say too good in french a lot, we don't really say it in english) and the other was like "yes, I love it". That like made my life because I thought that the American accent was not one to be desired at all. And they also called me "trop mignon" at one point, which means "too cute". lol So you know that stereotype that Parisiens aren't nice and don't like Americans? Definitely not true. But then I already knew that :)
Well okay yeah that's it but I'm really happy I got into Tulane :) Now I just have to wait some more to hear back from everywhere else.
au revoir et à bientôt!
So I got into Tulane University today!!! Now I can at least pick between two colleges! And Tulane is in New Orleans, where there are some people who speak French... that's a plus :) and it says on their site it offers 26 different foreign languages... I'm guessing that's a typo. Because that seems like a loooot. But I did see that they offer Haitian Creole. Which is like Creole French... that would be cool to study a differnet dialect of French. And they offer Swahili. That's pretty random but I think it would be cool to study swahili.
Okay so on Saturday night, Camille (my host sister who lives in Paris) came back to Vernon and had a dinner party with some of her friends from Paris, so I had dinner with some Parisiens... who said they loved my accent! And they didn't say it like sarcastically, they didn't even say it to me but to each other. I was talking to them in French at one point and one of them turned to another and was like "her accent is too good" (they say too good in french a lot, we don't really say it in english) and the other was like "yes, I love it". That like made my life because I thought that the American accent was not one to be desired at all. And they also called me "trop mignon" at one point, which means "too cute". lol So you know that stereotype that Parisiens aren't nice and don't like Americans? Definitely not true. But then I already knew that :)
Well okay yeah that's it but I'm really happy I got into Tulane :) Now I just have to wait some more to hear back from everywhere else.
au revoir et à bientôt!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
J'aime la Neige!
Which means I love snow. Today once again there were no buses to school. It snowed like an inch and then all of the snow melted by the early afternoon. So I had a day off school and got to sleep in today and do absolutely nothing. Well that's not exactly true. I took an SAT French practice test. And tried to watch Mean Girls on the Mac, but I couldn't because the DVD is from the USA, and the DVDs that you buy in the US are a little different than the ones in Europe. In order to watch them on a computer, you have to change the settings of the computer. But you can only switch continents like five times total and then you can never switch again. So I didn't get to watch it.
Before lunch I went to buy baguettes at a boulangerie. When I go back to the US, I will definitely miss the French bread. But fortunately Heinein's does have pretty good baguettes.
Before lunch I went to buy baguettes at a boulangerie. When I go back to the US, I will definitely miss the French bread. But fortunately Heinein's does have pretty good baguettes.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
It's Official: I'm Going To College Next Year!
Salut à tous!
I got my first college acceptance letter yesterday from Loyola University Chicago. Even though I have to wait until like April probably to hear back from all the other colleges that I applied to, at least I know I got into one.
Hmm besides that not much else is new for the moment. There's an Irish girl at my school for one month on a short-term exchange. Apparently one of her friends is coming in like a week or two. So I talked to her yesterday in English class.
I'm now with my third host family - the Guérins. On my last day with the Ferrands we ate a Galette for the Day of Epiphany. It's like a cake/pastry thing that the French eat at the beginning of January (normally the first Sunday). They buy them at the bakery and the bakers bake a "feve" in the cake (a small pottery figure), and whoever gets the feve in their piece of galette has to wear a crown. So of course I got the feve in mine. It was a little tiger figure (as in the animal, not the golfer). Then on Sunday the Guérins had a galette, and I got the feve in my piece again. It was a fake gold token thing.
Oh yeah, really important, I FOUND FRENCH CHEESE THAT I LIKE. It's called Boursin. It's like creamy with garlic and herbs? I don't know, but it's really good. Prior to discovering Boursin, the only cheese I liked in France was gruyere. Which is like swiss cheese except not cut into slices. But Boursin is way better.
à bientot
Halle
I got my first college acceptance letter yesterday from Loyola University Chicago. Even though I have to wait until like April probably to hear back from all the other colleges that I applied to, at least I know I got into one.
Hmm besides that not much else is new for the moment. There's an Irish girl at my school for one month on a short-term exchange. Apparently one of her friends is coming in like a week or two. So I talked to her yesterday in English class.
I'm now with my third host family - the Guérins. On my last day with the Ferrands we ate a Galette for the Day of Epiphany. It's like a cake/pastry thing that the French eat at the beginning of January (normally the first Sunday). They buy them at the bakery and the bakers bake a "feve" in the cake (a small pottery figure), and whoever gets the feve in their piece of galette has to wear a crown. So of course I got the feve in mine. It was a little tiger figure (as in the animal, not the golfer). Then on Sunday the Guérins had a galette, and I got the feve in my piece again. It was a fake gold token thing.
Oh yeah, really important, I FOUND FRENCH CHEESE THAT I LIKE. It's called Boursin. It's like creamy with garlic and herbs? I don't know, but it's really good. Prior to discovering Boursin, the only cheese I liked in France was gruyere. Which is like swiss cheese except not cut into slices. But Boursin is way better.
à bientot
Halle
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Play it, Sam
Let me say one thing... I love snow! I didn't have school Wednesday because it snowed like less than an inch. And today there was no school again. And tomorrow, Friday, there's no school for me! All because there are no buses. Even though the streets are clear and have like no snow on them. But hey I'm not complaining. It's like living in Washington D.C. or something. If it were like this in Bay Village, we would get like 30 snow days per year. As it is we can only have 5 in Bay. So far in France I have had 4 and it's only the beginning of January!
On Wednesday I slept in until like 12, and then packed all of my possessions into three big suitcases, two boxes, and a few other bags. Yes, that's a lot of stuff. My advice to anyone considering becoming an exchange student who may be reading this (probably no one, but whatever): Do Not Bring Too Much Stuff With You To Wherever You Go. You will end up buying stuff in the country you go to and you WILL NOT have room for everything when you go home. It will end up costing a fortune to get everything back.
Anyway, after sleeping in on Wednesday, I watched my favorite movie, Casablanca. I watched it in English with French subtitles because I absolutely refuse to listen to a French person's voice in place of Humphrey Bogart's. Who, by the way, maybe was born on Christmas Day in 1899, or else January 23, 1899 because some people think Warner Bros. made up Bogie's birthday to make him seem even cooler than he already was. So they don't know for sure. He also was expelled from Yale for throwing the headmaster into a pond. And he had to wear three-inch blocks attached to his shoes for some scenes in Casablanca because Ingrid Bergman was taller than him. And Bogart was the one who added the "kid" to "Here's looking at you, kid". They say you learn something new everyday, so there you go.
So where was I? Oh yeah, watching Casablanca. If you've never seen this movie, drive to Blockbuster or Hollywood video and rent it. Or just go to Best Buy and buy it like I did... sure it'll cost you 25-30 dollars, but you'll want to watch it again and again. Probably. Unless you don't have a taste in film, and if so I can't help you there. I said that I put the French subtitles on? They made me really angry. "Here's looking at you, kid", which is arguably the best movie line of all time, was translated to "à toi, ma cherie". Which means "to you, my dear". As if that wasn't bad enough, they CHANGED THE LINE so that the last time Humphrey Bogart says it, it was "Bonne Chance, ma petite". Which is basically "Good luck, my dear" instead of "Here's looking at you, kid". Seriously.
But really, on a scale of one to five stars, five being the best, I'd give that movie a 10. It's that good. Of course it doesn't involve high-speed car chases or stupid humor, so if you're into that stuff, then you won't like it. The lines are just so good. Like "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the countries in all the world, she walks into mine" and of course "Play it, Sam" and "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship".
Okay, I know this blog is called "Halle in France" and not "A Tribute to Casablanca". But it's my blog after all.
Well, tomorrow is Friday and I have no school, so that means I have a three-day weekend. à bientot à tous!
On Wednesday I slept in until like 12, and then packed all of my possessions into three big suitcases, two boxes, and a few other bags. Yes, that's a lot of stuff. My advice to anyone considering becoming an exchange student who may be reading this (probably no one, but whatever): Do Not Bring Too Much Stuff With You To Wherever You Go. You will end up buying stuff in the country you go to and you WILL NOT have room for everything when you go home. It will end up costing a fortune to get everything back.
Anyway, after sleeping in on Wednesday, I watched my favorite movie, Casablanca. I watched it in English with French subtitles because I absolutely refuse to listen to a French person's voice in place of Humphrey Bogart's. Who, by the way, maybe was born on Christmas Day in 1899, or else January 23, 1899 because some people think Warner Bros. made up Bogie's birthday to make him seem even cooler than he already was. So they don't know for sure. He also was expelled from Yale for throwing the headmaster into a pond. And he had to wear three-inch blocks attached to his shoes for some scenes in Casablanca because Ingrid Bergman was taller than him. And Bogart was the one who added the "kid" to "Here's looking at you, kid". They say you learn something new everyday, so there you go.
So where was I? Oh yeah, watching Casablanca. If you've never seen this movie, drive to Blockbuster or Hollywood video and rent it. Or just go to Best Buy and buy it like I did... sure it'll cost you 25-30 dollars, but you'll want to watch it again and again. Probably. Unless you don't have a taste in film, and if so I can't help you there. I said that I put the French subtitles on? They made me really angry. "Here's looking at you, kid", which is arguably the best movie line of all time, was translated to "à toi, ma cherie". Which means "to you, my dear". As if that wasn't bad enough, they CHANGED THE LINE so that the last time Humphrey Bogart says it, it was "Bonne Chance, ma petite". Which is basically "Good luck, my dear" instead of "Here's looking at you, kid". Seriously.
But really, on a scale of one to five stars, five being the best, I'd give that movie a 10. It's that good. Of course it doesn't involve high-speed car chases or stupid humor, so if you're into that stuff, then you won't like it. The lines are just so good. Like "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the countries in all the world, she walks into mine" and of course "Play it, Sam" and "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship".
Okay, I know this blog is called "Halle in France" and not "A Tribute to Casablanca". But it's my blog after all.
Well, tomorrow is Friday and I have no school, so that means I have a three-day weekend. à bientot à tous!
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