Christmas in France!

Salut!

Well yes, I did survive the french version of christmas. Actually it was really good, rather different but good. My host family and I went to my host brothers step brothers girlfriends moms house. ... get that? lol ... Yeah we didn't go back to Villars unfortunately, or go to Brigitte's family. It was cool all the same though. We actually went on the 24th and spent the night. And in general french fashion we ate A LOT and had the normal insane amount of wine and champagne; but honestly you know that did not bother me...I was quite content. So anyway I guess french tradition is to celebrate the 24th and then stay up until midnight to 1 or so and then open presents. So that was cool, very different though; maybe I am just used to being SOO excited for christmas day and mom and dad saying NO! you can not open a present before christmas...I felt like I was cheating ha ha ha. (Well I guess Mom always lets Jason open one on the 24th...but he's the baby! he he)It was pretty sweet anyhow, just another christmas.....I think what I missed most was the hard coreness, there was basically no decorations here and a severe lack of family for me. But there's always next year and the year after and so on.



What else? Oh yes, here apparently according to my host mother and the other exchange students families, christmas and presents are for the children. Therefore the vast majority of people I gave presents to were rather shocked, because apparently I am just supposed to recieve presents, but like I told them, they were just little thank you's and have a very Merry Christmas. .... Definately a different attitude, hey and plus, I don't consider myself a child and I still like presents. ha ha

Anyway, as an exchange student put it; It was good!!... not great but because that is only reserved for real family, back home.

Speaking of exchange students, me and the three other exchange students who go to my high school with me, known as the Sisterhood. (Hannah, Maria, Julia and I) So we had our Secret Santa gift exchange on friday the 21st, It was SOO much fun, what a blast! First we went to Carrefour to buy the "provisions" otherwise know as some good wholesome junk food! ....Oh man I knew at the point I was going to feel sick, but in the Spirit of Christmas I just didn't care!Next we met Hannah and set off for Julia's house (on the bus that is, and honestly!! she has the slowest bus in all of france..Hannah and I swear it! lol) So we got the Julia`s house and low and behold we had already dug into the candy!... so I started making the KD!!! yeah baby!! ha ha ....they all insisted that I make because apparently I was the best cook...I really don't know how they figured that one, the only thing they'd eaten that I'd baked was Pancakes; and really how hard are those? lol but anyway I made KRAFT DINNER for all of us. I figured that we may have to share it with Julia's host familly some, but she wasn't having any of that! ha ha ha , she said that the one chance she got to have KD was all for her...and us 3 of course. So by about 8 or 9 or so we were feeling SOO sick from eating a ridiculously gross amount of some very sweet food!! We watched Superbad, in english with spanish subtitles..yes we cheated, but hey as Hannah put it: "this was our AMERICAN night"; that being North America of course lol. We also watched 16 Candles, which was really sweet too....I didn't even realise it, but we stayed up talking and all until 3am...

The next Morning we got up a 7:30 because we wanted to go for breakfast in Paris, and Julia lives about 45min by bus from the Train Station. So we missed the first bus...of course, I don't know how I assumed anything else!lol... Finally got the the Gare and took the train to Paris, again missed the first one lol....But they come very often so not a problem. When we got to Paris we took the Metro to the Jewish quarter of the city...which is just SOO cool!!.... Hannah wanted to go to a cute little american restaurant called "Breakfast in America" .....First we walked about 15 minutes in the wrong direction until we got er straight, turned around and Voila!! we found Breakfast in America, where I ordered a 2 x 2 x , which was 2 pancakes, 2 eggs and 2 pieces of bacon!! SO sweet, kind of expensive, but hey it was our "american" morning, where we could speak english and be like tourists, but not because we live here......THAT is just SOO cool to say sometimes!! Anyway, afterword we did some shopping, went to this sweet little vintage shop not the far from the restaurant and then came back to Chelles and Maria and I finished some of our Christmas shopping. Went home and watched a movie....ahhhh that's the life! lol..It was a really really great time all in all.



So now for some pictures. I'll apologize right now for the complete lack of good photo's, I forgot to take my camera out...he he sorry. Also they don't take any pictures, like of anything, so I always feel like a tourist in someone else's house. Some kind of weirdo who's photographing them for some odd reason lol.


Yeah!!! Our Christmas tree!...ok it was fake (a 1st for me) and it was about a metre high (another first) But hey!! It was a Christmas tree with real Christmas presents! yeehah! lol



Me with my Christmas presents in my room!





Hannah (I was her Secret Santa) with her present, in Julia's "rec room" in her "basement"
( in " " because it is all relative to here..not like the basements and rec rooms you know back home)









Maria with the Socks I gave here...we all have matching fuzzy warm socks but in different colours.



Random side profile of me at Julia's for our Fete de Noel.





Maria and I on the train to Paris for "Breakfast In America"! (looking oh so very fatiguer!)





Ahh yes...the "Christmas Cooking" (again relative lol) ...This thing you see with me in the picture, honestly have noo idea what it is, but I was supposed to cut it up and boil it in some water and then we ate it the next day. Now I know what your thinking, that thing looks like the part of the corn plant you give the pigs...don't worry I thought that too!...But to my grand surprise, if you put a little salt on the soggy,boiled plant looking thing it is rather edible!






Oh dear?! I have to eat this thing...I am such a fool!






My partener in crime...the crime being killing the tradition of Christmas dinner! ahhh!....I think he coordinated his outfit quite lovely..don't you? ....the carrot matches the hat rather perfectly! lol

Villars 2!!...December 1st & 2nd

Salut all!



So...yes we went back to Villars again. I was rather excited because it was such a great time the first time. This time was for the 20th Birthday of one of Mab's cousins. (I guess that particular birthday is a pretty big deal here) So it was about the same this time too, Mab had a 2 tests on Saturday morning just until noon and then after that we left for the countryside! So this time we got there a bit later. The party/celebration was at the same little hall, with a D.J and all again. Oh man did we eat too!! ...again it was pretty impressive, the amount of food that they had accumulated for this event, and that was before the insane dessert. It was a 20th birthday party so it was just family this time, there were a lot of the guy's friends too and guys he works with too. He actually works fixing tractors, well he is apprenticing, I though that was just so farm boyish, it was great!! ha ha ha..There just aren't farm boys here in Paris, it's quite sad really!Anyway well I dont know what else to say?... It was a blast!!! We stayed up real real late and danced a lot! Mab was video taping, I really do not want to see that video!... ha ha I am very sure I looked like a fool. But it was soo great!!, for the first time since being here I heard some country music...well as country as you'll get here!! It was awesome! lol ....although no one could dance with me :( ....that is probably why I looked soo ridiculous, I seemed to feel the need to dance alone. Oh dear, I think I am lacking that thing you know, that goes off in your head to say "seriously you should stop now!!" ....I wonder who's fault that is??hmmm dad?? Are you lacking that certain thing too??ha ha ha ha just jokes!!he he he..



Anyway It was a great time again, well other than the fact that I literally did NOT sleep! By the time we got back to the house that damn rooster was going off again - seriuosly if we go back there I think that that Rooster may just mysteriously go missing, It may just have a most unfortunate accident with a garden shovel... ha ha ha nah... but anyway Mab just somehow, most "unfortunately" forgot to give me the blankets his mom had told him to give for sleeping...therefore I slept with a sheet! needless to say, I slept on the ride back home.




So now for some pictures!




The starting platters...ahh!! It was really amazing too!









The pretty table settings, each of us had a specific spot with a name tag. I was 5 in from the end! ha ha ha ..... We sat at the table with the majority of young people.






Some people up and dancing, the closest 2 people are my host parents.



My host mother, Brigitte.














My host father, Jean-Pierre; and everybody dancing in the background, at the very back of the room is the D.J.




This was the guy who turned 20! In front of him is the dessert, it was absolutely amazing. The tractor says CLAAS because that is the type of tractor that they fix where he is apprenticing.




Here is him again and his buddy's that he works with.




Ha ha ha and this is the dancing... apparently. ha ha I guess they felt the need to take their shirts off for this particular song, I found this rather amusing. lol




Mab and I ... seriuosly contemplating something; not sure what?...lol



Mab doing his dutiful cleaning in our guest house, check out the class!!, nice feather sweeper thinger.




Well thats all folks, I'm tired now. So talk to ya'll later.
Peace. ..........Lauren

District Conference... November 17th

Hello....

So I`ll just get right down to it here. On the 17th of November we had our Rotary District Conference, it was only one day at a Univeristy about 30 minutes from where I live. Once again I went with Bertrand and Julia, we had to leave a little earlier because Bertrand was helping set up some stuff for the day. So we arrived at around 8:30am (yeeehah!! nice early start!... can you sense my enthusiasm!!) When we first got there we had to go pick up our name tags and little packages. Bertrand had asked me if Mr. Kuti (my counsellor) had inscribed me? Honestly I had nooo idea, apparently he was supposed to do that and be there at the conference....hmmmm!?!Anyway I managed to get a name tag, ha ha actually the man insisted that HE write my name so I spelt it out for him and he still got it wrong. ha ha ...but I definately was not the only one, about half of us had at least one of our names spelt wrong...we all got a kick out of that.




So the day started with, guess what?? Speeches!! ...nah actually it was relatively good. Good practice for my french and it gave me time to unstitch the sewed in pocket on my Rotary jacket. There we some interesting speeches by exchange students who were doing university exchanges as well as a group who were from Minnesota, U.S on a short career exchange, and the Rotaract club; they had been to the states this past summer and showed their presentation. We also had a key note speaker who spoke about helping our communities and people in them, volunteering and creating programs and opportunities for everyone. It was really well done actually! We had a morning break at about 10:30 and then lunch at 12:30. Lunch was absolutely amazing and we totally overate again, also drank a rather large amount of wine; which just killed us because it was a rotary event!! YEEHAH!! So after lunch, it was not obligatoire for us to attend the second half of the conference and therefore we had the chance to all sit around together and discuss our exchange, our experiences and help each other. It was alot of fun and we took alot of VERY crazy pictures too!! well anyway I guess I'll show them to you now.



The Sisterhood! We call our selves that because we are soo much like the sisterhood of the travelling pants, the four of us, it's just crazy!
from left to right: Julia (Thunderbay, Ontario, Canada), Maria (Mexico City, Mexico), ME!, Hannah (Coronado, California, United States)








Kathryn (Irving, Texas, U.S) looking oh so very shocked!!



Katie (Elmira, New york, U.S) having waaay to much fun with a rotary sign! lol




Katie (Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S), ME, and Maria (Mexico) ....I actually do not know what we are doing here,...having waay to much fun at a conference, thats what!! ha ha ha



Well thats it folks!! ...don't have any pics of the speakers cuz I wasn't really sure if I was allowed.
All in all It was pretty damn good time!!

peace!
Lauren

Philosophy Theatre...October 12th

Salut a toutes et a tous!!

So this is really late and I'm sorry, I know I've said that a million time but really I am Sorry , my life is busy too yah know... lol ha ha.



Alright Anyway! So this is of the Theatre that I went to with my Philo class, it was called "Sophocle Antigone" It was all about Greek philosophy. Actually it was really interesting and cool, something you could actually follow even if you didn't understand a damn thing. The whole thing was actually done in like "old French"; like french shakespeare, so even the other students didn't understand very much. At the start I was atually trying to really pay attention but then got tired of straining myself...my brain was aching lol. The Theatre Hall place was really beautiful, yet another architectural gem! And yes as any play I assume in Europe would have, this one also included some Nudity! Ahhh!! ha ha ha... I think the biggest shocker for me and Julia, that it just came out of NO where!...Julia was basically having a little nap, trying really hard to stay awake and they all of a sudden, just out of the blue this girl starts taking her clothes off and before we could even gasp she is completely naked..ON STAGE!! Now I don't consider myself an overly reserved person but HOLY SHIT!...like who does that, I guess its for Art!?!?...Like I said I'm not that reserved, I didn't think so anyway, but poor Julia; the girl is basically the definition of the word, can you imagine? I thought she was gonna drop dead right there beside me, and that'd be the end of her exchange. She immediately looked at me, gasped, had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from screaching and looked overly horrified...I think we both were. Our immediate reactions where "WTF!!"...So the girl then put a nice little bed sheet looking thing on herself, which slipped off her shoulders rather quickly as she began to dance around the stage as if she had been possessed, honestly!, It was as if there was something inside her trying to get out, it was nuts!....So if all this wasn't enough for us, seeing a grown woman we don't know revealed. There was some crazy old man taking pictures and video content of this poor young girl flopping (for lack of a better word) all over the place. He sat front row and got the entire nude scene on camera....lovely!..... note to self: NEVER join the arts!





Well anywho, here are some pics...and NO (to the disapointment to some of you) I did not take pictures of the poor young naked girl.




Picture of me and Adeline, just outside the Luxembourg Park; near the Theatre.





Pretty sweet, grand hallway leading to the theatre stage....everything was marble in there!!





Inside the Theatre, this is the stage.




Inside the Theatre, Again the architectural design was really sweet.





Close-up of one of the murals on the ceiling.

1st Rotary exchange student weekend!! ...October 27th & 28th

Bonjour a toutes et a tous,


I hope that this blog finds you all in good shape!!


So the first weekend of the school vacations, the 27 & 28 of October, seemed to arrive very slowly because ALL of us wanted this weekend to happen fast!!... But when it rolled around we were all soo excited! So we went with Bertrand, the YEO for the other exchange students in Chelles, he is very nice; he is the one who found me my new host family! So we left Saturday morning and it was only about an hour and a half drive to Beauvais, where the weekend was taking place. When we got there the majority of the other exchange students were already there. We were figuring that it would be obligatory to speak French the entire time, which we were all really excited about because it was a great chance to improve some more, however we were VERY mistaken. All of the exchange students are either Canadian or American, except for 2 Mexicans, 1 Argentian girl, 1 Columbian boy, 1 Taiwanese girl and 1 Indian girl... all of who spoke fairly good english anyway. So that was a bit of a downer at first... however we had such a blast. We had a bunch of kinda boring presentations from the Rotary people to start off with, telling us all the rules, they would even translate it into english for us - that got frusterating because we totally understand french. Anyway after that we had a talent show... that was really cool. Of course I don't have a talent, but thank god I wasn't the only one - Hannah suggested striping however when they began to give us the lecture of the "Rotary Rules" - we decided to scratch that...lol (just a joke momma!! he he he) Man though they are seriously strict here, I was hoping that they would losen up with some time, but I am not so sure. We have agreed that they are basicly just paranoid!! Anyway after the talent show, we just kinda sat around and talked and by this time we were starving, here we eat supper at about 7 or 7:30, so for all us, not just the north americans, we were down right hungry. This weekend was a bad weekend for the "weight factor" as we call it, because we were all together and there was good food, so we just pigged out!! It was bad. Then of course after that was 2 weeks of vacations, so needless to say, we all gained a bunch of weight! ahhh!







Anyway back to the weekend, It was alot of fun, just talking to everyone about their experiences and seeing that it wasn't just us four in Chelles who were experiencing some crappy times, that it was district wide if not world wide. It was really really great to compare stories and meet some more really amazing and great people! I am really glad that even though it took FOREVER to happen, that retreat finally occured. So on satuday night there was a dance, which got a little wild - which was great!! then after that we all basicly talked until 4am in the morning... then you will NOT believe. It was daylight saviings time, and they had told us that we HAD to be at breakfast at 9 so we got up at 8am or what we thought was 8 but apparently it was 7am and they had neglected to tell us this very major fact. Needless to say, we were seriuosly lacking sleep! So after breakfast we had to go play badminton for 2 hours, and had a big tournament. Which was fun, except that there was like 5 of us who actually knew the rules.. It was pretty amusing! After this was over, we had our group picture, ate lunch and then had more "meeting" stuff... where they explained the Rotary trips that we can take. We also had to make a postive statement for the Long term Rotary exchange program, for publicity for the program.


So all in all it was a really great weekend where I met alot of great new people. When I returned that night to my house at about 6pm, My family and I were to leave for our vacations to Bordeaux an hour later. Needless to say I was freakin tired!! But very worth it.

YEAH Pictures!!

Julia, dancing Highland for the talent show.... very well done Jules!

Maria (the mexican) and I

(not a great pic but the others were worse - if you can imagine!??eek!)

At the end of the Talent Show, we just started making stuff up..they came up with the Macarina.




This is Katie (from New York, U.S), Me (Manitoba, Canada!!) and Katie; yes another one (from Minnesota, U.S)



Me and Bethany (from Ontario, Canada!)

Villars.... October 20th & 21st

Bonjour...

So the first weekend I spent at my new host family's place, we went to their family's place out in the country.. it was about a 4 hour drive and surprisingly to me, we ended up like right in the middle of France. So I guess France isn't really that big. Anyway it was a pretty good drive, watching the countryside change from heavy suburb to semi country, definately not the countryside I know, but it was awesome all the same. For my family; it looked alot like Belgium... well you'll see in the pics. So we left Saturday morning and arrived late afternoon, they like to stop alot. I met the majority of the family, we were actually there for the 50th anniversary of Jean-Pierre's (my host dad) older sister.... there is 19 years between them! So MAB and I walked around the farm basicly all day, I wanted to see everything!! and I took pictures of EVERYTHING! ha ha he kept saying again?? How can you take 3 pictures of the same thing? Easy... cuz I can with my camera and I want too!! lol Nah it was a really good time, I just wanted to spend the entire time outside, I didn't realise how much I really missed space I guess. It was soo amazing, to just take a deep breath of fresh air! I just felt renewed after this weekend - I know that sounds lame, but I guess I really needed my dose of the farm. It's funny how you really don't know what is important to you until you leave.


- The farm, I wish you could all see this farm, it was basicly a petting farm but in mass production.. I absolutely loved it!! It was like I went back in time. Everything on the farm had a purpose, and they intended to eat all of the animals or the products they made. They have everything from rabbits, chickens, ducks and a damn annoying rooster (who decided that everyone needed to get up at 4 - man I wanted to kill it!! ha ha) Then they have goats and a cow that they milk, beef cattle, and sheep. It was soo sweet. Haydn is destined to come here, i just know it!!


Now for the Pics!!




So this is the guest house that we stayed in, pretty nice eh!?.... So I told you how there is about 19 years between my host father and his sister. So My host father is more like the same age as his cousins, so anyway his parents built this house when he was still fairly young because his older sister was living in the original house and starting a family. So I guess that is why they have 2 houses, however now this house is just used for guests.










Here is one of the barns. I love the old bricks and the history here, it just seems to have SOO much more history to it, I love the "back in the day" feel.








Here is a side profile of basically the whole farm.









I took alot of pictures of the countryside, like this one. This is taken just from the backside of the farm. I think it's very pretty; france has alot of rolling hills like this.








The Beautiful Charolais!! and some countryside again...









Taken by MAB, my personal photographer, ha ha ha..., he took this right before I hopped the fence and said "lets go exploring" I got the feeling that he was a little ataken back by this but he came along anyway!!









Yet another picture of the countryside.









Good old tractor!...well it's not really old. lol... put that picture in for the famers sake!











Another random pic of me, nice charolais in the background.









Save the best for last, I really hope you all see this one. This is Nicole, the lady who had the 50th anniversary, she is like 70+ years old and still gets up every morning (real early) to do all the chores and that. I was really rather impressed by this!... EVERYTHING they eat on this farm is like completely natural, and they basically make it all too.









Well hope you enjoyed! A bientot!

New Host family + Versailles

Hello again,

So yes I did move host families on October 13th - wow that is 1 month today!! It has honestly flown by!! I am very fortunate, as I absoluetly adore my new host family!! - They are very kind and encourage me to play the sports and participate in the activities I would like to! They said I am just their adopted daughter - which was really cool. I arrived here the saturday morning and met my host Father and host brother!! yeah I have a sibling, he helped me carry my luggage upstairs to my room - I was a little afraid for him, thought he might break his back doing so! - I never in a million years thought that I could accumulate that much stuff! Then my host mother came home and I met her - she is very small, but very sweet. She even sowed my jacket the other day because Hannah ( the american exchange student ) had torn it, crazy girl!! lol anyway So after I said goodbye to Veronique, we ate lunch right away and during lunch they told me that they were going to take me to Versailles!! OMG!! How amazing was that - I hadn't even been here an hour and I was off to see something really unbelievable!!

- A little about my family: My host dad's name is Jean-Pierre and my host mom's name is Brigette. They have two sons; Jonathon is 23 and lives close by, here in Chelles, then there is Marc Antoine who is 17, he goes to the same highschool as I do here in Chelles as well. He is also in Terminale ( like grade 12). We live in a 3 story house, it is quite cute! I even have a back yard here! yippee!...I live in Chelles, Ile de France. - it is basicly a suburb of Paris, I am also really close to down town Chelles, so that is very convient for the bank and the post and such. As well to travel into Paris is just a 5 minute walk and then a 20 minute train ride. So all in all I am very content here!!

Now for the Marvelous and unbelievable pictures of Versailles... I am absolutely enchanted by that place!! When we got their we met up with our guide, who of course spoke french, but it wasn't too bad I understood some of it. She was very enthusiastic, kinda entertaining for me. ha ha ha Oh yeah... so as we are standing there waiting for the rest of our group with the guide, we stood outside the gates of the Palace of Versailles and anyway while we are waiting there are these men trying to sell fake doves, which you just wind up and then they fly - they look kinda cool actually, but anyway they are demonstrating them all over the place and they are completely uncontrollable and one of these damn little plastic doves comes right at me and smokes me in the side of the head... like of all things to happen the first day I meet my host family!! Jeezz!! It was really rather funny I guess, but I felt like a moron even though it wasn't my fault lol..

- So the tour we took of Versailles was completely organised with Brigettes work, I found this with basicly any adult I have spoken to about this too - it is really quite remarkable... Each company actually hires 1 person who all they do is organise trips and outings in and around Paris or to other countries, such as ski trips and that... that is his job!! And then the company will subsidize it so that you only pay a small percentage of the actual cost!! - jeez we need to get something like that in Canada I tell ya! It is pretty unreal.

Me at the gates entering Versailles, just after I have been dinged with the plastic flying dove.

The outside of the Palace of Versailles, just the left wing. This place was monsterous! And the arcticheture and detail was incredible.

Another extension of the palace, it has an identical one like it on the left too. Just like the two wings of the palace are indentical on the outside.

The beginning of the gardens of Versailles.

Again the gardens, here is the lake too. The forest all around is to create the illusion that the gardens go on like that for a long time (like forever), as they did back when Versailles was up and running, However today beyond the trees is just suburban area.

This is one of the many fountains you'll find in the gardens, they are very detailed and beautiful.

Huge skeleton man... I think that this is supposed to be King Louis XVIII, expecially cuz this skeleton has a massive nose.

This is the King's throne, it has a room all of it's own. I guess this is where people would come to see him or give him presents... I think. Sorry like I said I didn't catch everything the tour guide said, as well I forgot some of it.

This is in a room just before you enter the great hall of mirrors. It is very extravagant, the gold figures around this carving are actually real gold as is the majority of the gold trimming in the Palace... pretty expensive place! In the carving is King Louis XVIII, he was real short ha ha ha, so he rode ponies so that he would look bigger... I thought that was pretty funny.




This is the hall of mirrors, apparently it is very famous! Also very impressive!!!




This is me in the the King's bedroom, it was very nice, very beautiful... although I am not entirely sure why the king had his own bedroom, because if you've seen Marie Antoinette, he slept with her... so maybe he got up real early and went back to his own bed... I don't know, I am confused. Anyway it was a nice room!




This is the Queen's bedroom. Also really nice and impressive... has a secret door in it in which the queen escaped from the castle through, when the people of france were charging the Palace. Very pretty room, as were all of the rooms though... not a single one that I didn't like..lol



This is one of the first rooms you see actually when you enter the palace. And like all the other rooms in the palace, it has magnificant paintings on the ceiling. All of the ceiling paintings and the carving on the walls and ceiling all have specific meanings, I definately don't know them, there are a ridiculous amount of them and I can't imagine that anyone knows ALL of them. But anyway most of them have saints or gods, lots of symbols. - very beautiful.



Another one of the first rooms you'll see. This place was very amazing, here again on these doors, the gold is real, therefore the doors actually have glass pains over them, so that people don't touch the gold, I guess...



--- Sorry that the pictures are soo dark and really can not see much, it was a really hard place to take pictures and the paintings on the ceilings were basicly impossible...... there was very very little lighting in all the rooms, mostly just daylight through the windows. Anyway hope you enjoyed them, sorry there was soo many!! Sometimes I get a little carried away...lol