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.