Bonjour!
After 17 years, 6 months, and 27 days, I have finally gotten a cell phone! Super exciting, I know. The best part about it is it has a radio in it, so now I can listen to music. I couldn't before because my iHome exploded (a small explosion, but still) and the computer is refusing to charge my iPod properly. So anyway, it is a good thing that I now have a phone.
Last week, Caroline, one of my friends at school, gave me the bookTwilight in English, so I had something to read last week. I actually liked it a lot.
On Thursday I walked to the bus stop in the morning and rode the bus to school, and when I got off the bus Marcus and Joël were at my school. So I was like, "Ummm, what are you doing here????". Well I guess I was supposed to go to the Guérins' house that morning instead of riding the bus, because Joël had to talk to the 9th graders at my school about Rotary Youth Exchange. Marie-Violaine forgot to tell me, though. So Marcus and I went with Joël to talk to the ninth-graders. After that they left and I went to English. I was sick that day and almost didn't go to school, and then I was going to go home but I didn't know where the nurse's office was and also I didn't know my phone number (they make you call home when you are sick, just like at Bay High). So Thursday was a bad day, but whatever.
After school on Friday I went to dance class again. About half of it was really hard, but it's okay. I was going to go to the post office on Saturday, but then I realized I had no idea how the post office works in France and I wasn't in the mood to try and figure it out, so I didn't go. Instead, I went shopping for a little while and then ate lunch with my host family. After lunch I went with Léonie and Marie-Violaine to the mall in a town called Saint-Marcel which is basically a suburb of Vernon I think. The mall was kind of small but there were a few good stores. I got a long sweaterish type thing and a scarf, and then I went to the supermarket that is in the mall. I wandered around for awhile looking for good snacks. Then it occured to me to look for American peanut butter, but I didn't have much time left before I had to meet Marie-Violaine. So I went down one random aisle which turned out to be where all the pasta and sauce was, so I was walking toward the exit of the supermarket when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a jar of Skippy peanut butter sitting randomly next to jars of spaghetti sauce. It wasn't supposed to be there; someone just stuck it there randomly. But I thought it was really funny that a jar of Skippy peanut butter appeared out of no where just when I was trying to find it. It was a small jar, like half the size of a normal jar, and it cost 3.50 €, but that's okay.
Later on Saturday I went to the library to pick out a movie, but even though the library is big they don't have a very good collection of movies. However, they had Gone with the Wind, which was good, so I watched half of that in French with English subtitles. The people doing the voices of Scarlett and Prissy were really good, but the guy doing Clark Gable's voice was kind of bad.
On Sunday, I went to Giverny again, but I still didn't go in la maison de Monsieur Monet because there was this huge flea market in the street. And I mean really, really huge. The main street in Giverny (called rue Claude Monet) is very narrow, but the flea market was like over a mile long and also took up this one field. People were selling like everything; clothes, toys, books, art, shoes, movies, records, etc. I got a croissant and cotton candy to eat, and I bought a pink ring that's really cute. I was going to buy Léonie one but they were all way too big for her fingers. As we were leaving Giverny, Philippe and Marie-Violaine ran into some people they knew, and then the lady started talking to me who is a teacher at St. Adjutor. She was talking in French and not talking slowly but I understood everything she said and only had to ask her to repeat once. So that was good because I probably talked to her for five to ten minutes.
On Monday my schedule at school changed; now I help out the Séconde troisiémes (9th graders I think) in English instead of a couple of classes. So here's my schedule; it changes every day but I'll write it all down in case anyone's interested (just skip ahead if you don't want to read it):
Monday:
8:30-10:30 Gym (ping-pong)
10:30-11:45 English with the Sécondes
11:45-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30 Study Hall
3:30-4:30 History/Geography
Tuesday:
8:30-9:30 English
9:30-10:30 Spanish
10:30-11:45 French
1:45-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30 Math
3:30-4:30 History/Geo
Wednesday:
8:30-10:30 English with the Sécondes
Thursday:
8:30-9:30 Spanish
9:30-10:30 History in English
10:30-11:45 English
Lunch
Lunch
1:30-2:30 History/Geo
2:30-3:30 French
3:30-4:30 English with the Sécondes
Friday: (I'm tired of writing the times)
English
History/Geo
English with the Terminales or Spanish
Lunch
Study Hall
Study Hall
English with the Sécondes I think
(finish at 4:30)
Okay, yeah, that's my schedule. The English teacher for the Sécondes is from England. We're trying to plan a Thanksgiving lunch for the class on Thanksgiving... we'll see if that happens.
Today (Wednesday), I went to school for two hours, then I went shopping. This afternoon I went to the Guérins because Cathérine had another group of Americans there. There were six from Texas and two from Kentucky. We were all having cider and cookies when all of a sudden there was this really, REALLY loud crashing noise coming from somewhere, and everyone thought that there had been a car crash or something right outside the house. It turned out that Marcus dropped the Guérins' giant dictionary on accident and it fell off the top of a bookshelf in the family room (which is one the second floor) onto this big glass table, completely shattering it. The table is waaaaaay beyond repair; I took a couple of pictures of it all broken. I couldn't stop laughing, but Cathérine was laughing too, she didn't seem mad or anything. It was an accident.
After that they gave me my phone :), and I went to buy more Coke Light.
Oh in case you're wondering about the title of this post, it's a reference to my recent acquirement of a cell phone. And the song Ayo Technology by Milow is popular here right now.
Well, okay, I have to go. More soon!
à bientot!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Peanut Butter!
Hello everyone,
On Friday I went to school, of course. I ate lunch with Camille, Josie, and this one other girl who's name I haven't caught yet. They are all boarders during the week because they live too far away from Vernon to drive here every morning. They don't really speak English, so I talked to them in French for awhile before Physics class. My physics teacher knows some English, so every once and awhile he'll say something in English randomly. He had me write "magnifying glass" on the board next to the French word for magnifying glass, which was pretty random. I walked home from school, like I do every day. I guess when it gets cold, I'll have to take the bus. After school I went to a dance class. It was intermediate jazz, and since I've never taken jazz before, it was kind of hard. But it's the only dance class in like all of Vernon that fits into my schedule, so I'm going to try it for awhile. All of the girls in my class were really nice, there were probably like eight of them total. One girl, Amelia, speaks English fluently because her dad is British, and she was born in New York City and lived there until she was four. She goes to my school, but she is in Seconde, not Premiére. Anyway, I talked to her in English, and I asked her how many years of dance she has had, and she was like "6 or 7", and I'm pretty sure most of the girls in my class have had a lot more years of dance than I have, so I'll see how it goes.
After dance class, I went home and ate dinner by myself, which was nice. It was pizza, and it actually tasted like pizza, and since I was by myself I didn't have to eat it with a knife and fork. I also had a plain yogurt with sugar in it; it sounds gross, but it's really good as long as you use enough sugar. That's basically all I ever eat for dessert. After dinner, I met my host family at the arts center behind their house. We went to a jazz concert; it was good at first, but then I got really bored because it was all instrumental and it was like an hour and a half long. Once it was over, though, there were drinks and snacks, and they had... marshmallows and carmel popcorn! No one there (out of like 60 or more people) seemed to really like the carmel corn, so I ate like half a bowl by myself, haha.
On Saturday, I went to an exhibit about a French director named Jean Dellanoy at the Vernon tourism office. He lived near Vernon, apparently, and directed "Notre Dame de Paris", which was the original "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and some other movies that won some awards. The exhibit was all in French, though, so it was kind of boring. After that, I went to the medieval tower that is behind the Crestanis' house. The view was very good, and I took some pictures of Vernon and the Seine, as well as the Crestanis' garden. Then I went to the small castle that is in Vernon, and then I went shopping. One store was having a sale, and there were a ton of people in it, so it was very hard to move around. After that I went to get ice cream, and I tried to talk in French to the guy, but as soon as I said "two scoops" he was like "what flavor" in English. Later, after dinner that night, we went to the Vernon Museum which is a block away from the Crestanis' house, but we didn't stay long. It was some kind of special exhibit, so it was open until 10. I met some artist from Chicago who lives in Vernon, but I didn't get to talk to her long.
Sunday I went with Philippe, Marie-Violaine, and Léonie to a giant Chateau about 10 miles from Vernon. It is on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a town called Gaillon (I think that's it's name).There were a lot of people there because it's not open very often. My camera died after I took one picture of the outside of it, which was too bad because I would've taken a lot more pictures. We went on a tour of the chateau, which was built in the medieval times. We went up this tower that was sooo cool, it was like the Sleeping Beauty tower or something, with spiral stone stairs going up like five stories. The third room we went in had like a forty-foot high ceiling and stained-glass windows that were about fifteen feet high. In the 1600s, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who was the minister of Louis XIV (the "Sun King" who built Versailles), lived in it. We learned about him in AP Euro, so I thought it was funny that I was touring his house.
After we finished our tour, the line was like 10 times as long, so it was good that we didn't have to wait in it.
We went home after we toured the Chateau, and I got into the car and then Léonie got in and pointed to the seat, and there was this HUGE spider crawling right next to me on the seat. I screamed and then I tried to brush it away from me, but then it crawled on my leg, so I screamed again and jumped out of the car. It was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life apart from a tarantula, and it was whitish yellow and probably poisonous and it was really fat. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was huge. So that kind of ruined the day for me, because I really hate spiders, and that is the second time that one has been in their car. That's a lot, considering I've only ridden in their car three times, so I was afraid that another one would crawl on me again.
Today (Monday), I went to school. First, I had two hours of gym, which was ping-pong, so that was really easy. After that, it was break, and one class was selling chocolate croissants that were really good. Then I had French for two hours, so I read "the Time Traveler's Wife" in English, before going to lunch. Today it was not very good; all I had was mashed potatoes and peas, and lunch is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day. After lunch I had two hours of study hall, so I read the whole time, and then I had one hour of History/Geographie, where I read the whole time again. It was really nice out today; actually, ever since my first week here it has been pretty nice every day. I walked home, but I stopped at the supermarket, which I had not been to yet, and I found... PEANUT BUTTER! I was so happy I could've thrown myself a party. So I bought some American bread and a Cherry Coke for good measure, and I went home and made myself PB&J. The peanut butter wasn't as good as JIF or Skippy, but it was still peanut butter.
Well, I have to go, I'm watching "The Big Sleep" in French.
au revoir!
Halle
On Friday I went to school, of course. I ate lunch with Camille, Josie, and this one other girl who's name I haven't caught yet. They are all boarders during the week because they live too far away from Vernon to drive here every morning. They don't really speak English, so I talked to them in French for awhile before Physics class. My physics teacher knows some English, so every once and awhile he'll say something in English randomly. He had me write "magnifying glass" on the board next to the French word for magnifying glass, which was pretty random. I walked home from school, like I do every day. I guess when it gets cold, I'll have to take the bus. After school I went to a dance class. It was intermediate jazz, and since I've never taken jazz before, it was kind of hard. But it's the only dance class in like all of Vernon that fits into my schedule, so I'm going to try it for awhile. All of the girls in my class were really nice, there were probably like eight of them total. One girl, Amelia, speaks English fluently because her dad is British, and she was born in New York City and lived there until she was four. She goes to my school, but she is in Seconde, not Premiére. Anyway, I talked to her in English, and I asked her how many years of dance she has had, and she was like "6 or 7", and I'm pretty sure most of the girls in my class have had a lot more years of dance than I have, so I'll see how it goes.
After dance class, I went home and ate dinner by myself, which was nice. It was pizza, and it actually tasted like pizza, and since I was by myself I didn't have to eat it with a knife and fork. I also had a plain yogurt with sugar in it; it sounds gross, but it's really good as long as you use enough sugar. That's basically all I ever eat for dessert. After dinner, I met my host family at the arts center behind their house. We went to a jazz concert; it was good at first, but then I got really bored because it was all instrumental and it was like an hour and a half long. Once it was over, though, there were drinks and snacks, and they had... marshmallows and carmel popcorn! No one there (out of like 60 or more people) seemed to really like the carmel corn, so I ate like half a bowl by myself, haha.
On Saturday, I went to an exhibit about a French director named Jean Dellanoy at the Vernon tourism office. He lived near Vernon, apparently, and directed "Notre Dame de Paris", which was the original "Hunchback of Notre Dame" and some other movies that won some awards. The exhibit was all in French, though, so it was kind of boring. After that, I went to the medieval tower that is behind the Crestanis' house. The view was very good, and I took some pictures of Vernon and the Seine, as well as the Crestanis' garden. Then I went to the small castle that is in Vernon, and then I went shopping. One store was having a sale, and there were a ton of people in it, so it was very hard to move around. After that I went to get ice cream, and I tried to talk in French to the guy, but as soon as I said "two scoops" he was like "what flavor" in English. Later, after dinner that night, we went to the Vernon Museum which is a block away from the Crestanis' house, but we didn't stay long. It was some kind of special exhibit, so it was open until 10. I met some artist from Chicago who lives in Vernon, but I didn't get to talk to her long.
Sunday I went with Philippe, Marie-Violaine, and Léonie to a giant Chateau about 10 miles from Vernon. It is on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a town called Gaillon (I think that's it's name).There were a lot of people there because it's not open very often. My camera died after I took one picture of the outside of it, which was too bad because I would've taken a lot more pictures. We went on a tour of the chateau, which was built in the medieval times. We went up this tower that was sooo cool, it was like the Sleeping Beauty tower or something, with spiral stone stairs going up like five stories. The third room we went in had like a forty-foot high ceiling and stained-glass windows that were about fifteen feet high. In the 1600s, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who was the minister of Louis XIV (the "Sun King" who built Versailles), lived in it. We learned about him in AP Euro, so I thought it was funny that I was touring his house.
After we finished our tour, the line was like 10 times as long, so it was good that we didn't have to wait in it.
We went home after we toured the Chateau, and I got into the car and then Léonie got in and pointed to the seat, and there was this HUGE spider crawling right next to me on the seat. I screamed and then I tried to brush it away from me, but then it crawled on my leg, so I screamed again and jumped out of the car. It was the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life apart from a tarantula, and it was whitish yellow and probably poisonous and it was really fat. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was huge. So that kind of ruined the day for me, because I really hate spiders, and that is the second time that one has been in their car. That's a lot, considering I've only ridden in their car three times, so I was afraid that another one would crawl on me again.
Today (Monday), I went to school. First, I had two hours of gym, which was ping-pong, so that was really easy. After that, it was break, and one class was selling chocolate croissants that were really good. Then I had French for two hours, so I read "the Time Traveler's Wife" in English, before going to lunch. Today it was not very good; all I had was mashed potatoes and peas, and lunch is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day. After lunch I had two hours of study hall, so I read the whole time, and then I had one hour of History/Geographie, where I read the whole time again. It was really nice out today; actually, ever since my first week here it has been pretty nice every day. I walked home, but I stopped at the supermarket, which I had not been to yet, and I found... PEANUT BUTTER! I was so happy I could've thrown myself a party. So I bought some American bread and a Cherry Coke for good measure, and I went home and made myself PB&J. The peanut butter wasn't as good as JIF or Skippy, but it was still peanut butter.
Well, I have to go, I'm watching "The Big Sleep" in French.
au revoir!
Halle
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Giverny, Nutella, and Chanel °5
Hi everyone,
On Saturday I went to the market, then I went to the grocery store to buy more diet coke. While there, I found Oreos!!! They come in a little box and there's only 16 in the box, but they're worth the three euros. Later on Saturday, I went to Giverny with my host family. We rode bikes there, which was kind of difficult because I had my purse and I had to ride one-handed. It was a really nice day, though. Giverny is soooo nice, even though it's really touristy. We didn't go in Monet's house, but I saw his gardens. There were sooo many flowers. I can definitely understand why Monet spent half his life there. We rode bikes home along the Seine, and then I went shopping for a little while.
On Sunday, I had a Rotary orientation in a town called L'Aigle, which is somewhere in Normandy. All of the inbound exchange students in Normandy, as well as the returning students, were there. Everyone exchanged cards and pins, but of course I forgot mine. It's okay though, bacause I'll see all of them again soon. After that, we ate lunch. I sat with Jessica from New Jersey, Scarlett from France (she went to Canada last year), and a boy from Brazil whose name I forget. Jessica asked Scarlett if she smokes, and she said "Of course, I am French". The French really love their bread, cheese, wine, and cigarettes. Just an observation. Lunch was some appetizers, then fries and veal, so I only ate the fries, and some fruit tart thing for dessert. There was bread and cheese, too. After lunch, we got information about upcoming events for the inbound students. The next one is at Mt. St. Michel in October, so I'm excited for that. We might also go to Disney Paris in December, which would be really fun.
After that, most people left, but the Guérins stayed to have wine with some other Rotary people. I talked to Rebecca from Charleston, who is staying in L'Aigle. We were talking about how we miss ice, pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, and peanut butter. Then Marcus, Pia from Argentina, Rebecca, and I sat in the room where the Rotarians were having wine, and Rebecca and I talked about college admissions for awhile (she is a senior, too). Then Pia asked me if I like High School Musical, and I was like "Um, it's okay", and she said she loves Zac Efron. She even had a picture of him in her wallet. I finally left with the Guérins at around 5:30 and went home.
On Monday, I discovered that the Crestanis get CNBC and two fashion channels that are in English, so I was really happy about that. Also, I watched the Simpsons and Friends in French. The people doing the voices on the Simpsons were good, but Friends was sooo weird in French. Rachel and Joey's voices are so different.
On Tuesday, I went to school. I read Harry Potter in French most of the time, but I kind of paid attention in History. The History teacher seems good, because she actually interacts with the kids in my class and there's a lot of laughing during that class. That day, she walked into class and was like "Patrick Swayze est mort" (Patrick Swayze died), except I didn't know what she was saying for a few minutes, because she said his name like Pah-treek Swaah-jze, but then I figured it out. They talked about that for a couple of minutes, and it made me want to watch Ghost. After school I watched the World Fashion Channel for a little bit, and then I went to a Rotary dinner with Joel and Marcus.
The Rotary dinner was good. First there was a meeting for like an hour, where this one guy in the club gave a presentation about how the USA is going to Mars in 2036. Apparently he works with French NASA or something. Part of the presentation was this film that NASA made showing how we will land on Mars, and all the animated astronauts had American flags on their spacesuits, which was kind of awkward. After that was dinner. I sat next to a guy who invented perfumes for Coco Chanel a long time ago. He helped develope Chanel °5. He spoke English really well, and also speaks French, Flemish, German, Spanish, and Greek fluently. He was really nice, but he is kind of deaf, so I couldn't really ask him questions about Coco Chanel. For dinner there was a salad with shrimp in it, then chicken and baked potatoes, and some kind of raspberry cake for dessert. We didn't eat until like 9:30, and we left at 11:00. The Rotary meetings are held at a hotel in Vernon, so before we left, I took some Nutella from the hotel. I just discovered Nutella; it's sooooooo good. It's chocolate and hazelnut spread, and I think you can find it at some grocery stores in the US.
On Wednesday I only had two hours of school, and all my class did was work on a project they have to do for the Baccalaureate. I read Harry Potter the whole time. After two hours I walked home. I watched the fashion channel for awhile, then I went shopping for a little bit. For dinner we had croque-monsieurs, which were really good.
Well, I have to go, but I will try to post again soon!
à tout à l'heure
Halle
On Saturday I went to the market, then I went to the grocery store to buy more diet coke. While there, I found Oreos!!! They come in a little box and there's only 16 in the box, but they're worth the three euros. Later on Saturday, I went to Giverny with my host family. We rode bikes there, which was kind of difficult because I had my purse and I had to ride one-handed. It was a really nice day, though. Giverny is soooo nice, even though it's really touristy. We didn't go in Monet's house, but I saw his gardens. There were sooo many flowers. I can definitely understand why Monet spent half his life there. We rode bikes home along the Seine, and then I went shopping for a little while.
On Sunday, I had a Rotary orientation in a town called L'Aigle, which is somewhere in Normandy. All of the inbound exchange students in Normandy, as well as the returning students, were there. Everyone exchanged cards and pins, but of course I forgot mine. It's okay though, bacause I'll see all of them again soon. After that, we ate lunch. I sat with Jessica from New Jersey, Scarlett from France (she went to Canada last year), and a boy from Brazil whose name I forget. Jessica asked Scarlett if she smokes, and she said "Of course, I am French". The French really love their bread, cheese, wine, and cigarettes. Just an observation. Lunch was some appetizers, then fries and veal, so I only ate the fries, and some fruit tart thing for dessert. There was bread and cheese, too. After lunch, we got information about upcoming events for the inbound students. The next one is at Mt. St. Michel in October, so I'm excited for that. We might also go to Disney Paris in December, which would be really fun.
After that, most people left, but the Guérins stayed to have wine with some other Rotary people. I talked to Rebecca from Charleston, who is staying in L'Aigle. We were talking about how we miss ice, pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, and peanut butter. Then Marcus, Pia from Argentina, Rebecca, and I sat in the room where the Rotarians were having wine, and Rebecca and I talked about college admissions for awhile (she is a senior, too). Then Pia asked me if I like High School Musical, and I was like "Um, it's okay", and she said she loves Zac Efron. She even had a picture of him in her wallet. I finally left with the Guérins at around 5:30 and went home.
On Monday, I discovered that the Crestanis get CNBC and two fashion channels that are in English, so I was really happy about that. Also, I watched the Simpsons and Friends in French. The people doing the voices on the Simpsons were good, but Friends was sooo weird in French. Rachel and Joey's voices are so different.
On Tuesday, I went to school. I read Harry Potter in French most of the time, but I kind of paid attention in History. The History teacher seems good, because she actually interacts with the kids in my class and there's a lot of laughing during that class. That day, she walked into class and was like "Patrick Swayze est mort" (Patrick Swayze died), except I didn't know what she was saying for a few minutes, because she said his name like Pah-treek Swaah-jze, but then I figured it out. They talked about that for a couple of minutes, and it made me want to watch Ghost. After school I watched the World Fashion Channel for a little bit, and then I went to a Rotary dinner with Joel and Marcus.
The Rotary dinner was good. First there was a meeting for like an hour, where this one guy in the club gave a presentation about how the USA is going to Mars in 2036. Apparently he works with French NASA or something. Part of the presentation was this film that NASA made showing how we will land on Mars, and all the animated astronauts had American flags on their spacesuits, which was kind of awkward. After that was dinner. I sat next to a guy who invented perfumes for Coco Chanel a long time ago. He helped develope Chanel °5. He spoke English really well, and also speaks French, Flemish, German, Spanish, and Greek fluently. He was really nice, but he is kind of deaf, so I couldn't really ask him questions about Coco Chanel. For dinner there was a salad with shrimp in it, then chicken and baked potatoes, and some kind of raspberry cake for dessert. We didn't eat until like 9:30, and we left at 11:00. The Rotary meetings are held at a hotel in Vernon, so before we left, I took some Nutella from the hotel. I just discovered Nutella; it's sooooooo good. It's chocolate and hazelnut spread, and I think you can find it at some grocery stores in the US.
On Wednesday I only had two hours of school, and all my class did was work on a project they have to do for the Baccalaureate. I read Harry Potter the whole time. After two hours I walked home. I watched the fashion channel for awhile, then I went shopping for a little bit. For dinner we had croque-monsieurs, which were really good.
Well, I have to go, but I will try to post again soon!
à tout à l'heure
Halle
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Shopping, Side-Bangs, and Smoke
Bonjour tout le monde,
On Saturday I went with the Crestanis to a party somewhere. We stopped at a chateau on the way there, but it was closed. Then we stopped at some little village and walked around for awhile, before driving to the party. It was like an hour away from Vernon, at a really old house that was built in the 10th century. The party was kind of boring because everyone spoke French, but there was a lot of really good food there. I finally found cheese that I like in France; it was some kind of goat cheese that was really good. They had two pizzas at the party, but I didn't get any because both of them were gone in less than 10 seconds.
On Sunday I went on like a two hour walk through a forest with some other people. Then I went back home and had lasagna for dinner, except it didn't have ricotta cheese in it so it didn't really taste like lasagna.
On Monday, I went to school. The history teacher was absent until today, so I got to leave at 3:30 instead of 4:30. I walked home because I didn't want to wait for the bus, and I didn't get lost. After school I went to a grocery store to look for peanut butter, but it didn't have any. Then I went to a different grocery store, and I looked for peanut butter for like an hour, but there wasn't any. I did find hummus, coke lite, and M&M's. The M&M's cost €3.50 for a small bag, which is like 5 dollars, but I bought them anyway. I also saw Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the store for €6 for one pint, which is like 9 dollars. So I didn't buy any.
On Tuesday, I went to my second Rotary meeting. They are okay because they aren't very long, and they have Tropicana orange juice there. I didn't get to eat dinner until like 9 though.
On Wednesday, I went to school from 8:30 to 10:30, and then I got to go home because my class has TEST on Wednesday for two hours, which I think is just one big test that they have every Wednesday. Joel wrote a letter to the principal, so I don't ever have to go to test. Which means that I only have two hours of school every Wednesday for the rest of the year. On Wednesday Ludivine and another girl, Annelise, were asking me what I was going to do when I got home and I was like "faire du shopping" and they said they had to do homework, so I am lucky. I walked home from school, which takes like 35 or 40 minutes by the way, and had lunch. Then I went shopping, but of course I forgot that I'm in France, so all of the stores in Vernon were closed from 12:30 to 2:30. I walked around instead, and I saw a bunch of American tourists. Then once the stores opened I went in a couple. In one I didn't know how to say "fitting room" in french, so I walked up to one of the guys who worked there and I was like "pardon, ummmm" and started gesturing towards the dressing rooms. Right away he was like "parlez-vous anglais" so that was good. He wasn't rude or anything, I think it is only the Parisiens who are rude. Anyway, I bought a trench coat and a scarf (they wear scarves here a lot). Then I went in a newspaper/magazine store and they had People magazine in English, but they didn't have American Vogue or French Vogue, which is weird. After that I went home, then later I went to the grocery store to buy more hummus because I ran out of it in like two days (it was a small container).
Today (Thursday), I had school from 8:30 to 5:30. It was soooo boring, but I had History in English because my 'specialty' is English (some people have like German or Chinese instead of two English classes). The teacher didn't really know English that well, she just copied everything out of a textbook, but at least I understood everything. The history teacher was finally back from maternity leave, and she was talking about America being a melting pot. She picked up her pencil pouch and pulled out a pen and was like 'hispanic' and then took a hi-liter and was like 'black' and a pencil was white, I think, and then she put them back in the pencil pouch, pulled one out at random, and was like " un Americain". That was the only part of class I understood really, and I thought it was funny. Then I had french fries at lunch today, which were good. They eat french fries with a fork here and they don't eat them with ketchup. Most days I don't really like the lunch, even though it's good food, because they don't have that many choices. There is no salad bar or snack bar, and the only drink they have is water in pitchers at all the tables. The French don't really drink much; at lunch they maybe have one glass of water, and maybe one glass at dinner. Or they have wine of course. But there aren't any drinking fountains in my whole school, and no one has bottles of water. It's really annoying.
The kids at my school dress so differently than Americans. They don't wear bright colors at all, like ever. Today I looked around and EVERYONE was wearing black, grey, navy blue, or white shirts. The girls almost always wear skinny jeans. All of the girls in my school except for maybe like two or three have side bangs. It's really quite ridiculous; I've never seen so many people with the same hairstyle. They carry their books in their purses from class to class; they NEVER carry them in their arms. It's very odd. Also, pretty much everyone smokes. It is really the dumbest thing I've ever seen. At the bus stop in the morning they all smoke, and after lunch they go off school property to smoke, and after school they smoke. So instead of being addicted to bottled water like Americans, the French are addicted to cigarettes. I think that teenagers here are just always trying to look older than they are, so they wear dark colors and smoke. They are successful most of the time; most of the students in my high school look like they are juniors or seniors in college, not in high school.
I ride the bus to school every day, but most of the time I walk home. The buses are really nice; the bus to my school is like a greyhound bus, with comfortable seats and footrests and overhead compartments. The trains here are really nice, too, even though I haven't been on one yet. I walk past the train station on my way home from school, and I can see that the trains are nice.
I tried to upload pictures, but the computer is old so it doesn't have a place for cameras and iPods to be plugged in. So I probably won't be able to upload pictures for a while. So sorry everyone, you'll have to wait awhile.
au revoir for now!
Halle
On Saturday I went with the Crestanis to a party somewhere. We stopped at a chateau on the way there, but it was closed. Then we stopped at some little village and walked around for awhile, before driving to the party. It was like an hour away from Vernon, at a really old house that was built in the 10th century. The party was kind of boring because everyone spoke French, but there was a lot of really good food there. I finally found cheese that I like in France; it was some kind of goat cheese that was really good. They had two pizzas at the party, but I didn't get any because both of them were gone in less than 10 seconds.
On Sunday I went on like a two hour walk through a forest with some other people. Then I went back home and had lasagna for dinner, except it didn't have ricotta cheese in it so it didn't really taste like lasagna.
On Monday, I went to school. The history teacher was absent until today, so I got to leave at 3:30 instead of 4:30. I walked home because I didn't want to wait for the bus, and I didn't get lost. After school I went to a grocery store to look for peanut butter, but it didn't have any. Then I went to a different grocery store, and I looked for peanut butter for like an hour, but there wasn't any. I did find hummus, coke lite, and M&M's. The M&M's cost €3.50 for a small bag, which is like 5 dollars, but I bought them anyway. I also saw Ben & Jerry's ice cream at the store for €6 for one pint, which is like 9 dollars. So I didn't buy any.
On Tuesday, I went to my second Rotary meeting. They are okay because they aren't very long, and they have Tropicana orange juice there. I didn't get to eat dinner until like 9 though.
On Wednesday, I went to school from 8:30 to 10:30, and then I got to go home because my class has TEST on Wednesday for two hours, which I think is just one big test that they have every Wednesday. Joel wrote a letter to the principal, so I don't ever have to go to test. Which means that I only have two hours of school every Wednesday for the rest of the year. On Wednesday Ludivine and another girl, Annelise, were asking me what I was going to do when I got home and I was like "faire du shopping" and they said they had to do homework, so I am lucky. I walked home from school, which takes like 35 or 40 minutes by the way, and had lunch. Then I went shopping, but of course I forgot that I'm in France, so all of the stores in Vernon were closed from 12:30 to 2:30. I walked around instead, and I saw a bunch of American tourists. Then once the stores opened I went in a couple. In one I didn't know how to say "fitting room" in french, so I walked up to one of the guys who worked there and I was like "pardon, ummmm" and started gesturing towards the dressing rooms. Right away he was like "parlez-vous anglais" so that was good. He wasn't rude or anything, I think it is only the Parisiens who are rude. Anyway, I bought a trench coat and a scarf (they wear scarves here a lot). Then I went in a newspaper/magazine store and they had People magazine in English, but they didn't have American Vogue or French Vogue, which is weird. After that I went home, then later I went to the grocery store to buy more hummus because I ran out of it in like two days (it was a small container).
Today (Thursday), I had school from 8:30 to 5:30. It was soooo boring, but I had History in English because my 'specialty' is English (some people have like German or Chinese instead of two English classes). The teacher didn't really know English that well, she just copied everything out of a textbook, but at least I understood everything. The history teacher was finally back from maternity leave, and she was talking about America being a melting pot. She picked up her pencil pouch and pulled out a pen and was like 'hispanic' and then took a hi-liter and was like 'black' and a pencil was white, I think, and then she put them back in the pencil pouch, pulled one out at random, and was like " un Americain". That was the only part of class I understood really, and I thought it was funny. Then I had french fries at lunch today, which were good. They eat french fries with a fork here and they don't eat them with ketchup. Most days I don't really like the lunch, even though it's good food, because they don't have that many choices. There is no salad bar or snack bar, and the only drink they have is water in pitchers at all the tables. The French don't really drink much; at lunch they maybe have one glass of water, and maybe one glass at dinner. Or they have wine of course. But there aren't any drinking fountains in my whole school, and no one has bottles of water. It's really annoying.
The kids at my school dress so differently than Americans. They don't wear bright colors at all, like ever. Today I looked around and EVERYONE was wearing black, grey, navy blue, or white shirts. The girls almost always wear skinny jeans. All of the girls in my school except for maybe like two or three have side bangs. It's really quite ridiculous; I've never seen so many people with the same hairstyle. They carry their books in their purses from class to class; they NEVER carry them in their arms. It's very odd. Also, pretty much everyone smokes. It is really the dumbest thing I've ever seen. At the bus stop in the morning they all smoke, and after lunch they go off school property to smoke, and after school they smoke. So instead of being addicted to bottled water like Americans, the French are addicted to cigarettes. I think that teenagers here are just always trying to look older than they are, so they wear dark colors and smoke. They are successful most of the time; most of the students in my high school look like they are juniors or seniors in college, not in high school.
I ride the bus to school every day, but most of the time I walk home. The buses are really nice; the bus to my school is like a greyhound bus, with comfortable seats and footrests and overhead compartments. The trains here are really nice, too, even though I haven't been on one yet. I walk past the train station on my way home from school, and I can see that the trains are nice.
I tried to upload pictures, but the computer is old so it doesn't have a place for cameras and iPods to be plugged in. So I probably won't be able to upload pictures for a while. So sorry everyone, you'll have to wait awhile.
au revoir for now!
Halle
Thursday, September 3, 2009
It's a Small World After All
Bonjour everyone!
On Monday I went with Marcus and his dad on a hike up to this cliff overlooking Vernon. It was really hot out, like 85 degrees, and the trail turned out to be really steep, so I thought I wasn't going to make it up. But I did finally, even though I had my purse with me which made it really difficult to climb. The view was really good, you could see the Seine, the castle in Vernon, the Cathedral, the Guérins' house, and even my school. After that, we went to a café to get drinks. I ordered lemonade and they gave me something like sprite; I guess they don't have lemonade here.
That night, we went to have dinner at my second host family's house, the Ferrands (I think that's their name). Their daughter Caroline is in Australia on exchange this year in the same town Marcus lives in. They were very nice and they showed me the room I'll be staying in.
On Wednesday I started school. It was only a half day since Wednesdays are half days, and I didn't have to get there until 9:30. Ophélie introduced me to my class. I am in Premiére (11th grade) Literature. In France, there are three different sort of tracks you can take in high school: Literature, Economics, and Math/Science. The classes I am taking are French, English, History/Geographie, Spanish, Phys. Ed, Math, and something called TPE. I think it is where they prepare for the baccalaureate, which they take at the end of Terminale (12th grade) and which they have to pass or else they repeat Terminale. I hardly understood anything the first day because the teacher just talked in French for like two hours, but Marcus told me that I probably wouldn't understand anything at school for awhile because it's so fast.
After school I moved in with the Crestanis. They live in a really, really, really old house in the middle of Vernon. The street they live on is very old. The basement of the house was built in the 12th century (!) and the rest of it was built in the 15th century. Yes, my house is older than my country.
The Crestanis have five children, three who live at home right now. Philoméne, the oldest daughter, leaves in a couple of weeks for the Ivory Coast to teach I think. Aubin is in Ohio on exchange this year. Léonie is eight and is very small; I am like two times as tall as her. They have a fourteen-year-old son but I don't know how to spell his name. They are all very nice.
After I had lunch with them, Marie-Violaine, my host mother, took me to some dance studios to try to find dance classes I can take. The first place we went had adult intermediate ballet on Tuesday nights, but I have Rotary meetings every Tuesday night for an hour. The other ballet class they offered was advanced, so that's not going to work. The other places we went didn't have ballet, so I don't know if I'll take dance in France. None of them offer des claquettes (tap).
While we were out, Catherine called Marie-Violaine and told her to bring me to their (the Guérin's) house. I got there and there were all these American tourists in their sitting room having apple cider and cookies. Apparently, a boat with American tourists comes down the Seine every 9 or 10 days and stops in Vernon so the Americans can see Giverny (Monet's house). It stays in Vernon for like a day so the tourists can see Vernon too. Catherine and Joel volunteer to go talk to them to help improve their English. Anyway, they were talking to these Americans and found out that they were on my plane from Minneapolis, so Catherine invited them back to the house for tea. Marcus says they do this sometimes. Catherine and Marcus found out that two of the tourists (there were like 10 or 12) were from Cleveland. So they called me to come talk to them. I got there and the one man from Cleveland was like "I know your principal, Mr. Cahoon" (!!!). I really couldn't believe it, but the man and his wife know Mr. Cahoon and his wife. Then I was talking to some of the other tourists (they were all retired and on vacation by the way) and one guy was like "You're my granddaughter's age" so I was talking to him about his grandchildren and he said one goes to Ithaca College. So I was like "I've been there a lot, my sister went to Cornell!" and he said he lives close to Ithaca. So then I asked him if he'd ever eaten at Joe's and he was like "all the time"! haha, I thougt it was sooo funny. I guess it's a small world after all.
The tourists stayed awhile; they were all very nice. It was really nice to talk to some Americans. They went into Joel's workshop and Joel was telling them how he restores furniture, and they all kept taking pictures. They loved Vovlie (the Guérin's dog). Then Catherine showed them the gallery, which is in the other part of their house (kind of hard to explain) and is where they sell some furniture. The tourists took a bunch of pictures. There was a little red velvet chair for sale for 3800 €, so everything is really nice and very old.
On Thursday, I had my first full day of school. I rode the bus; it was late so everyone was late to school. School was very long and boring since I don't understand what they're saying most of the time. There are no clubs or sports teams or anything. The walls are all very plain. School starts at 8:30 and ends at 5:30 on Thursdays and 4:30 every other day. I talked to three girls in my grade: Camille, Charlotte, and Julie, and they helped me find my classes. I stay with the same class all day. The only class I understood was English. They talk in English the whole time and the level is very high. They were talking about advertising all day today. The teacher has a British accent when she speaks English and she had me read something and made some comment about my American accent which was kind of rude, but she seemed nice other than that. I talked to a girl named Ludivine in French.
Lunch is an hour and wasn't very good, but everyone ate like every bite of theirs. In France they always clean they're plates of like every crumb; I don't know how they do it. It was mashed potatoes, some kind of meat, bread, yogurt, and fruit. I only liked the bread and the yogurt, but the meat looked gross and I couldn't tell what it was. I rode the bus home from school.
So far in France I really miss peanut butter, fresh milk, hummus, pasta, Reese's, Oreos, and bottled water. They don't drink a lot of water here, the milk is gross, they don't eat pasta by itself or with tomato sauce, and they don't have Reese's (I think I mentioned that).
Well, I have to go; I'm trying to figure out how to upload pictures in France, so hopefully soon I'll have pictures.
On Monday I went with Marcus and his dad on a hike up to this cliff overlooking Vernon. It was really hot out, like 85 degrees, and the trail turned out to be really steep, so I thought I wasn't going to make it up. But I did finally, even though I had my purse with me which made it really difficult to climb. The view was really good, you could see the Seine, the castle in Vernon, the Cathedral, the Guérins' house, and even my school. After that, we went to a café to get drinks. I ordered lemonade and they gave me something like sprite; I guess they don't have lemonade here.
That night, we went to have dinner at my second host family's house, the Ferrands (I think that's their name). Their daughter Caroline is in Australia on exchange this year in the same town Marcus lives in. They were very nice and they showed me the room I'll be staying in.
On Wednesday I started school. It was only a half day since Wednesdays are half days, and I didn't have to get there until 9:30. Ophélie introduced me to my class. I am in Premiére (11th grade) Literature. In France, there are three different sort of tracks you can take in high school: Literature, Economics, and Math/Science. The classes I am taking are French, English, History/Geographie, Spanish, Phys. Ed, Math, and something called TPE. I think it is where they prepare for the baccalaureate, which they take at the end of Terminale (12th grade) and which they have to pass or else they repeat Terminale. I hardly understood anything the first day because the teacher just talked in French for like two hours, but Marcus told me that I probably wouldn't understand anything at school for awhile because it's so fast.
After school I moved in with the Crestanis. They live in a really, really, really old house in the middle of Vernon. The street they live on is very old. The basement of the house was built in the 12th century (!) and the rest of it was built in the 15th century. Yes, my house is older than my country.
The Crestanis have five children, three who live at home right now. Philoméne, the oldest daughter, leaves in a couple of weeks for the Ivory Coast to teach I think. Aubin is in Ohio on exchange this year. Léonie is eight and is very small; I am like two times as tall as her. They have a fourteen-year-old son but I don't know how to spell his name. They are all very nice.
After I had lunch with them, Marie-Violaine, my host mother, took me to some dance studios to try to find dance classes I can take. The first place we went had adult intermediate ballet on Tuesday nights, but I have Rotary meetings every Tuesday night for an hour. The other ballet class they offered was advanced, so that's not going to work. The other places we went didn't have ballet, so I don't know if I'll take dance in France. None of them offer des claquettes (tap).
While we were out, Catherine called Marie-Violaine and told her to bring me to their (the Guérin's) house. I got there and there were all these American tourists in their sitting room having apple cider and cookies. Apparently, a boat with American tourists comes down the Seine every 9 or 10 days and stops in Vernon so the Americans can see Giverny (Monet's house). It stays in Vernon for like a day so the tourists can see Vernon too. Catherine and Joel volunteer to go talk to them to help improve their English. Anyway, they were talking to these Americans and found out that they were on my plane from Minneapolis, so Catherine invited them back to the house for tea. Marcus says they do this sometimes. Catherine and Marcus found out that two of the tourists (there were like 10 or 12) were from Cleveland. So they called me to come talk to them. I got there and the one man from Cleveland was like "I know your principal, Mr. Cahoon" (!!!). I really couldn't believe it, but the man and his wife know Mr. Cahoon and his wife. Then I was talking to some of the other tourists (they were all retired and on vacation by the way) and one guy was like "You're my granddaughter's age" so I was talking to him about his grandchildren and he said one goes to Ithaca College. So I was like "I've been there a lot, my sister went to Cornell!" and he said he lives close to Ithaca. So then I asked him if he'd ever eaten at Joe's and he was like "all the time"! haha, I thougt it was sooo funny. I guess it's a small world after all.
The tourists stayed awhile; they were all very nice. It was really nice to talk to some Americans. They went into Joel's workshop and Joel was telling them how he restores furniture, and they all kept taking pictures. They loved Vovlie (the Guérin's dog). Then Catherine showed them the gallery, which is in the other part of their house (kind of hard to explain) and is where they sell some furniture. The tourists took a bunch of pictures. There was a little red velvet chair for sale for 3800 €, so everything is really nice and very old.
On Thursday, I had my first full day of school. I rode the bus; it was late so everyone was late to school. School was very long and boring since I don't understand what they're saying most of the time. There are no clubs or sports teams or anything. The walls are all very plain. School starts at 8:30 and ends at 5:30 on Thursdays and 4:30 every other day. I talked to three girls in my grade: Camille, Charlotte, and Julie, and they helped me find my classes. I stay with the same class all day. The only class I understood was English. They talk in English the whole time and the level is very high. They were talking about advertising all day today. The teacher has a British accent when she speaks English and she had me read something and made some comment about my American accent which was kind of rude, but she seemed nice other than that. I talked to a girl named Ludivine in French.
Lunch is an hour and wasn't very good, but everyone ate like every bite of theirs. In France they always clean they're plates of like every crumb; I don't know how they do it. It was mashed potatoes, some kind of meat, bread, yogurt, and fruit. I only liked the bread and the yogurt, but the meat looked gross and I couldn't tell what it was. I rode the bus home from school.
So far in France I really miss peanut butter, fresh milk, hummus, pasta, Reese's, Oreos, and bottled water. They don't drink a lot of water here, the milk is gross, they don't eat pasta by itself or with tomato sauce, and they don't have Reese's (I think I mentioned that).
Well, I have to go; I'm trying to figure out how to upload pictures in France, so hopefully soon I'll have pictures.
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