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