2nd week of school

SALUT!!

Wow where should I start? Well as you may have imagined, from my complete lack of blogging, I have been quite busy!! Last week I had my first Rotary meeting with my club, they were quite genuinly nice and all wanted very much to meet me - so that was great! I spoke a few words about who I am, home, etc. Later on I will give a presentation on Canada!! I met my Counselor for the first time, he seemed real nice. I had alot of questions about the program here, trips and meetings, etc. So my counselor said that he would meet me sometime this week, but he is one of those people who never answers their phone, unfortunately! ha ha anyway apparently I am the first exchange student that they have ever hosted!! So I assume there, as there has been already, some problematic points and unknown areas...but I am sure it will all work itself out! The meeting was actually a diner meeting and the food was insanely good, I am not actually sure when or where their other meetings are but they said that I am not to go so whatever, more free time for me I guess! lol

I had soccer on Monday night, an english teacher who plays soccer with me picked me up to take me. She is very nice and it is great to speak good, understandable english. We had a good meaningful discussion, which was great because in french I still have trouble talking about anything deep or meaningful - which I suppose is to be expected. I have been here 4 weeks tomorrow!! I am very proud of that actually!! lol Anyway Maud, the girl who took me to soccer, has agreed to take me to soccer on monday nights, which is really nice of her!! However I've had some difficulty being allowed to go as my host mother says that I am not allowed. I haven't yet really understood why, other than she says "it's not french culture", Maud says this s ridiculous! lol and I have to admit I agree! lol but c'est la vie! et Hopefully I can speak to my couselor about this..

Anyway on Tuesday it was Julia's Birthday!! she turned 18, it was a suprise party for her, so all day she was kinda bummed out because nothing was going on for her birthday and she was feeling pretty homesick! All I could do was say, oh yeah don't worry, i'm sure it'll be ok, you have a great host family!! Tomorrow will be better, and Happy Birthday!! - it was soo hard to just lie to her, because we are together ALL day!! ha ha but when I got to her house at about 7 and surprised her in her room she screamed soo much!! It was soo great! We had soo much fun, however I forgot my camera so that was crappy! Anyway her host grandparents and aunt and uncle came over! They were all SO SO nice and funny, and wow...lol talk about openess at the diner table!! ha ha No, it was a great night, I spoke alot of french and we drank alot of wine, even the cake had alcohol in it!! ha ha It was great! During supper, her aunt and oncle learned that I am alone on the weekends for the most part and I don't do anything and so they invited me and Julia to their other house, which is right beside a lake!! They have a boat - and well that weekend is a-whole-nother story!! Anyway Julia's birthday night was great and I stayed the night, the next day was our half day of school so carrying around my over night bag plus my school bag wasn't too bad!! lol

- One of my more hilarous episodes happened this past week. So Julia and I are trying to fit in, right? of course! So I decided that one day I should wear my heels to school, as this is what alot of the girls where, however they all wear the skinny jeans and I swear I won't do it!! Julia says I'lll be wearing them by christmas..lol but I refuse! Anyway so I wore my heels, got on the bus, that was fine, climbed into one of the higher seats and was content. However I realised that I was in a group of 4 seats and I don't really have anyone to sit with so that would be pointless, so as I am about to get out of this higher up seat, to move to a single one, the bus lurches forwards, I catch my heal on the ledge of the seat platform and go flying face first into the aisle!! Thank the lord that my bus stop is the first one so there was virtually no one on the bus yet..But wow I drove into the aisle, my knee starting bleeding - I still have the bruises and scars lol - All I could do was laugh, I laughed so hard I honestly must have looked like a complete lunatic! Anyway for the rest of the 30min bus ride to school I tried to get my knee to stop bleeding. ha ha Needless to say I refused to wear my heals again for the rest of the week, however today I was feeling brave so I wore them!! I am happy to report I did no falling of any sort! However I did miss the first bus this morning - these city buses are extremely difficult to get used to!!


Thursday this week was our first official day of gym class! There are approximately 100+ kids in my gym class. On the way to gym today there was a huge brawl outside the gymnasium, I am not going to lie I felt quite afraid just walking striaght by it but thats what everybody else was doing, other than the big guys getting in on it! It was insane though, there were teachers standing like 30 yards away just having their smoke before the next class and these guys were really going at it! Finally the actual gym teachers came and some other students and broke it up. All the same I was astonished that it went on for that long anyway. Then someone explained to me that that is why the whole school is in a huge compound, because big fights start like that. There is another school which shares the cafeteria with our school and it is right next to ours but it like everything else is also in a big compound because apparently the two schools used to fight alot! anyway needless to say I feel like something straight out of a hollywood movie! However I guess it is just VERY different for me coming from small town Minnedosa where we just don't have high fences with barb wire and jagged edges! lol...and I mean I thought that Dosa was getting to be jail like, it's kinda over the top here I think. However it is for safety and so far I feel safe.

Anyway back to gym class, they told us not to bring any money, mp3 players, expensive jewelery or our phones to school because last week some guys smashed the windows in the boys locker room and broke in and stole ALL of that stuff! so yeah I guess I really am in a big city ha ha! ANYWAY for our gym class you can pick 1 our 6 choices, they all include 3 different types of sports or "subjects" I chose track & field, badminton and volleyball (i think..)- I had wanted to go in the only one with Soccer but the prof. came up to me after and asked if I wanted to switch and of course I said NO... why would I lol I love soccer... to which he responded.. Only boys go in that class and it's really competitive.. and so I changed, Wow was I sure glad I had. At the beginning of this class all the football guys got together and went insane!! They are all big and REALLY good - so it was definately a good thing that I chose another one... As I am quickly learning, sports here are really not meant for girls!! From my perspective it is ridiculous of course, but here it's just like that!! The boys play football and sports and have motorcycles and the girls go shopping and....I actually don't know what else?!! lol but Of course that is NOT all girls!! There are always alot of exceptions - like my soccer team!

In gym class I was alone for the warm up running but then these really nice girls took an "interest" in me. lol and so I did the rest of the warm up with them and after joined their team for handball! They are soo nice and really cool, they wanted to know everything about Canada lol - it was cute. I now eat lunch with them pretty much everyday, and the one girl really wants me to live with her, so we are going to look into that! But yeah my first official day of gym was great!! I made friends and even managed to kick some ass in handball, lol the other french girls were kinda mad and but I thought it was sweet! he he --- For the next gym class we did either running, jumping (triple,long,etc) or Javalon. I did running for a bit because that was what my new friends were doing but I was dieing to try javalon so I went over to try it out! The teacher is a lady and she is really nice! She showed me how to do it and everything and I ended up beating some of the guys on my first try!! muh ha ha!! lol No javalon is really sweet, it takes alot of technique but is soo cool - I really hope we get to do it again next class!



** Another crazy thing about being an exchange student in a foriegn country where you don't speak the language very well is that ALOT of the time you feel very much like an "Attraction". Whenever people hear you speaking english or sometimes they can just tell but your french ha ha.. they ask "anglais?" and your like yes I am english... immediately they think you are American and then you have to say No I am from Canada, then they try all the english they possibly know.. and after switch back to french when you say "no no je comprend francais." D'accord... After this some people say oh thats cool and thats the end of it!! No they are not your friends you are simply the "attraction" However other people want to know a little bit more.. like where in Canada your from and why you are here and so on.. But of course after this - thats it! c'est tout! lol and you part... AND then there are the real nice people,like my new friends in gym, who really genuinly want to know about you and want to heng out with you and that is soo soo nice!! At first of course you feel the "attraction" thing again and are weary of what their real intentions are - wether they actually think you are interesting or just the highlight of that minute!?.. anyway it is all just part of the exchange!! I think now I have a great deal more appreciation for ANY foriegn person I have ever met, exchange student or otherwise. I know that it is not easy being the "Different" one, the "attraction" of a person's interest for that moment but nothing else! So cheers to all the exchange students!! I know that already I have learned to be SOO much more Patient! and some of the "life lessons" I am learning have had an affect on me already! This experience so far is a GREAT one and I can only imagine it will get better!!



Going along with my last paragraph, is what peoples perception of Canada is... Can you guess? lol yeah they all think COLD!! ha ha and well for the most part I guess they are right, But as I was told before coming here... I am an unofficial ambassador for Canada and therefore it is my job to correct misconceptions to the best of my ability! So whenever people ask what it is like, I try not to specify too much and say that Canada is VERY large, the second largest country in the world and it is very diverse. Yes we have long winters and yes they can be VERY cold (down to -40) However Vancouver is much more mild than this as is the east coast. We also have very nice summers, they are short but last very long!! And No I do not and never have lived in an igloo, yes I have seen them and even made them, yet never slept in one.. I guess this is something I am going to have to come home and experience!

Well I really must go now, but I will try very hard to post more often and with some pics of course!!

gros Bisou!! miss ya'll!

Salut from Paris!!

Hello all!!


wow I am real sorry it has been quite a while since I have been on here. And actually, most surprisingly to moi!, alot of things have occured!! anyway I guess I should start cuz I need some sleep tonight!!


PARIS!! oh my god!

Well what can I say really, usually the weekends here are rather lonely as I am not very fluent in french yet and don't know that many people. However this past weekend my host mother asked wether or not I would like to go to Paris... and I mean really, who is going to say no to that? so on saturday I skipped my soccer game (this was a first for me! never have I skipped sports for pure pleasure...) anyway yes I was quite anxious to get going, however if any of you know french culture you'll know that they are people who like very much to move slowly and could possibly do not much of anything all day if given the chance, they say they like to relax and take their time which is quite true, as I've seen so far. So for those of you who know me and how I may be a tad bit like my Manns relatives (I won't give names ha ha) I like to get a move on, like now!! lol and I am not used to the waiting game, but this is an experience and a new country and so I am learning quite quickly how to pass the time.

Anyway so we finally got going around 2 pm, took the train to Paris from Vaires, was only like 20 minutes or so. When we got there the first thing I noticed was the buildings - wow!! Well and of course the vast amount of people! But the arctitecture on even the most non important buildings here is soo much better than in Canada - sorry guys!?! ha ha but ya the Train station and apartment buildings were even totally cool. So we took the bus first off (this is me, my host mother and her best friend ) I have learned that navigating is quite the skill here and one you must have in order to survive!! anyway we went to Hotel De Ville - this is the mayors office, or palace as you may call it! I am not sure why or how he seems to need all the room, anyway I assume that this is also where alot of other important people work as well. I should really ask but it is possible he lives there too!!? sorry I should know that..lol Anyway so next we went on a walk about along le Seine, I tell ya, that is a pretty sweet river, and people are everywhere on it's banks doing ALL kinds of things. I now understand why Paris or really France even (so far) is the city of Love, I guess you could say people are VERY affectionate here!! ha ha We also went to La Louvre, didn't go in because my host mom said that it takes about 3 days to actually go through the whole thing, and I believe it - that place was enormous!! But still it was like magical to see it from the outside, the history around it is soo awesome and it was real cool to see things from the Da Vinci Code too. Again the arcitecture is gorgeous you can stand there and look at it all day and still not see everything possible. Next we continued on to Notre Dame and I must say I never seen such a work of art, I can not imagine how long it took to make such an amazing place. It took your breath away just looking at it! Everything was soo detailed too! I really can't imagine the work and time that went into that, didn't go in once again because the line up of tourists was astronomical!!! well we walked around again some and got some ice cream - which was not at all like the stuff back home, more like sherbert but good all the same! By the time we got home it was like 8 or 9 and I watched The chronicles of Narnia on my t.v in my room (in english he he - I cheated...but I used french subtitles!? ha ha) yeah it was really weird and has been for the last two weeks ( WHOA 2 weeks tmorrow!) to just be at home on a friday night and especially on a Saturday!! but i'm sure that will pick up in time..!!


PARIS AGAIN!!!

oh wow, yes it is true! the next day my friend Julia, who is from Thunderbay and is also a long term rotary exchange student and is living in Chelles (fairly close to me), her host dad had asked her if she would like to watch some of the Rugby World Cup!! and when she told me this I was like OMG!! that is so awesome, so she invited me to come whenever they would go and it ended up being the sunday (9th) right after I had been in Paris! so yeah I was totally physced!! so I was too meet them on the platform for the train in Chelles, because the train from Vaires stops there, anyway I got off and everything and ran around frantically trying to find them but couldn`t, so I got back on cuz I didn`t want to miss the train and figured that I could meet them in Paris, but of course they showed up as the train pulled away and had to wait for the next one, meanwhile wondering where the heck I was! so they called veronique (she wasn`t happy though....eek..lol) and then got ahold of me, on my crappy cell that I couldn`t here julia on but anyway managed to meet her in Paris (like I so cleverly thought ha ha) and went the Hotel De Ville again! At this place they have set up this monsterous t.v screen for the people to watch the rugby on!! it is really sweet and they have also put down this fake, plastic grass to sit on, it is very similar to the fake grass (I think it is plastic too) that I play football on. Anyway we watched Canada versus Wales and we had heard that Wales was gonna kill but all the same I brought a huge Canada flag and we cheered really loud and proud!! ha ha we also sang the national anthem (which was in french and I forgot it - lol so I just sang in english) and oh god the poor people around us - we can not sing ha ha!! anyway yeah it was alot of fun and actually Canada was up until the second half when they slide terribly - it was like they hit a birck wall!! ha ha but they did alright and it is only the round robin!! lol I hope that my brothers are good and jealous - actually I would like to see a live match but that is very very doubtful! OH yes and half-way through the game this little frenchman comes to speak with us because he saw our flag and he was like oh Canada - and we are like well oviously yeah lol - no we were real nice and spoke to him alot, he said that he had been to montreal (like every french person we meet here lol, Montreal or Quebec city are the only things that exist about Canada to them, lol oh yes and the fact that it's cold) and he said he loved it and that it was very big!! and yes it is. lol and then omg !! you won`t believe this - he was like 30 right? and he asked for our numbers; so we said we didn`t know them ha ha ha!! it was really funny though because it was actually true - the configuration of telephone numbers here is soo weird!!

So after the game we went to get something to eat at one of the many little stands around Paris, I chose something called a Steak hachee, the picture actually showed some real definate meat - I shouldn`t have got my hopes up because as all the other `Steak` here , it is not the same REAL steak as we know it! ha ha it is like a baby hamburger patty with a whole lotta grease - yet good all the same! And at least this time it was cooked, the majority of the meat I eat at my home is basicly still mooing - or at least cold in the middle. It was quite the transition from the way i`ve had meat at home, lets just say `well cooked` - it`s not bad though mom!! i LOVE your cooking! he he However the "meat issue" as Julia would call it was difficult for us at first because at home we are always told not to eat meat that is not fully cooked because you'll get sick - but here I suppose that is not something they are worried about...and i haven't got sick yet so, c'est la vie!!!



now for some pictures and then bed time!!!!









Le Seine - There are so so many bridges across it and also alot of buskers (sp) and performances!! Along the banks of the seine you`ll find alot of tourists and therefore things are more expensive - but it is still very good!






Notre Dame - or the side of it at least!! Once again the arctitechure on this building was phinomenal! (sp)











Hotel d`Ville - like i said it is like a palace ha ha , in the background you can just see the HUGE screen (from this angle it looks like it is covered by that ugly round tree ha ha)











Gare l`est (Paris Train station- east) -it is pretty insanely large and has a shopping centre in it as well. this is where ALL the trains are out of so there is the TGV and many many others; very busy place!













Le Louvre - this is one of the squares inside the main entrance. It is pretty unreal!! I can`t wait to go inside!!





Square with a pool and cool fountains - on one of our walks through Paris i saw this and it was soo cool, it totally reminded me of Sabrina ( the movie). I found that if you just walk around aimlessly you can find alot of cool stuff. - this is now one of my favourite past times.



Ok i am not going to try and lie about what is behind me because i do not remember, i just know that these huge gates looked so cool and medieval! so... pic of me in Paris on Sat. 8th




Julia and I with my Canadian flag at the Rugby match in Paris on Sun. 9th he he good times!



Le Louvre - underneath the ground, this is in the Da Vinci Code, and it is real cool. Apparently there was ALOT of controversy over the building of this monument at first - the people REALLY didn`t want it as the thought it would ruin the history of Le Louvre, but the President insisted and today everyone loves it! ( well most of everyone does!! lol - i am sure there are still some who don`t think it was necessary ) anyway this was reallu awesome to see!!


*** well i miss you all and i hope you enjoy my blog!! ha ha
a bientot!

Crazy French!! ha ha...jj

Bonjour Bonjour!


So here it is I surely hope you're happy...lol I tryed for quite some time to manage to get these damn pics on here. ha ha


Anyway so the first pic below here is Euro Disneyland - well the entrance, I haven't been through to the rides yet cuz Maude is going to come here and go with me!! Should be a blast! anyway so yeah, it is huge though. I came here my second day with Veronique to meet a friend of hers, who is very kind and rather hilarious... especially in her perculiar french way. Anyway it was good yet I was very tired at this point, still quite jet lagged lol.



Also the Entrance into Euro Disneyland, this HUGE palace looking place is actually a very nice hotel which you pass through/under to get into the big Park. It was quite awesome I must say. Throughout this day I heard alot of english as alot of UK people come to Euro Disney so I was like hey this isn't going to be that bad - however Euro Disney was a great exception to the rest of Vaires Sur Marne and Paris haha - my bad! lol

Below, as many of you may have wondered is the traditional foreigner 'Stereotype' however, gone slightly wrong as it IS an actual complete foreigner in the picture - I am complete with tam, baggette and wine (only missing my bike) - I look absolutely ridiculous, i'm sure at this point I was very embarrassed and the family; whose house I was at was laughing histerically ha ha.

Well this is my hair, I hope you like it. Well actually I guess it doesn't matter cuz this is the only way you'll see it but even so I hope you all approve lol. I must have been getting to comfortable with it though because today as I was biking around the lake, that is about 5 minutes away from my house, and I could have swore I saw a guy - yes a boy - with the same damn hair. All I could think was for god's sake I seriuosly hope that was another "different" looking european - seeing as it's not hard to spot them! ha ha sorry that was mean. Actually though I am quite sure that I am the weird looking one as I seem to be noticed; as if I stick out like a sore thumb or at least like I am walking around naked or something!! (which i am NOT!! - seriuosly!; it's ok mom!) lol anyway yeah I guess it would be the same in Canada though, you can spot a tourist or a foreigner (although I am NOT a tourist - I have been told to make sure I do not seem to be one of "those" - crazy ppl around here!! lol It seems as though tourists have a contagious disease... rightly so I can't wait to meet one - they may contain some normalcy or familiarity... ha ha - sorry that was another jab..lol.... However seriously and honestly, I DO like it here. I think that the differences and the changes are cool!!)

Kinda looks like there is somehing wrong with my neck here - I promise though I have not been taking any drugs - other than of course what the locals have given me; not sure what it is, but it tastes good and it makes me feel free!! ...........ha ha jk mom - breathe! luv you... he he

SCHOOL!

Well anyway the next thing I guess is the school, today (wednesday) was my first day, and seriuosly whoever made the school system WAS on some real drugs!! ha ha...just joking.. man though today I have to get up at 6:00 am and go to school for like an hour and a half and then it was over! I do not have school tomorrow but I do have it on friday. OH YEAH!! and I met this other Canadian Rotary Exchange student at school because I overheard her trying to speak to the teacher and I was like hmm, yes indeed. lol So I asked her if she spoke english and then she screamed and I was like what the H*LL lol and she asked me whether I was the other Canadian and I was like ah HECK yes!!! and proud of it haha. So then we were set and spoke in english so much and so fast that the entire class standing there at the door looked at us as if we were aliens, I felt like something out of a movie - an old horror one ha ha.

Oh yeah and seriuosly excuse my brutal sentence structure - lack of periods and good punctuation as well as my poor spelling - this french speaking thing seriuosly messes with you! - this is even edited!! lol, so don`t show Ms. Bartley - she would be appalled! ha ha... Anyway so yeah the first day was alright - had to just learn to deal with a whole lot of people staring at me, as well as not understanding the really fast speaking professeurs. But that is all part of the exchange I suppose.

Vaires Sur Marne!!

Ok so it is very hard to tell what I have told some of you and what I haven`t so I am basicly going to resay alot of it. I hope that`s cool with you- I know these can get long and boring.

So here there are at least two lakes that I know of. One is very very close to my home so I went for a bike ride around it on your average French person bike, quite proper not meant for anything other than their very nice paved roads. Which by the way are soo small that I am sure only one half-ton from back home would fit down them and then it would block off the entire road. So yeah this bike is made for paris streets - not a mountain bike, remember this lol. Anyway so there was a very nice paved walkway around the lake - or so I thought "around" - but at least on the one side.

It was hell trying to get to this nice little lake because you have to cross like two major roads and then bike down another one that takes you out of Vaires sur Marne, just to get to the lake. I am NOT an experienced bicycle rider, I know what you are thinking, oh come on it`s not that hard and yes your right, it isn`t when you are biking on open roads at home or in town (Minnedosa) where the roads are actual proper vehicle sized and sometimes double laned!!! ha ha...

So I guess the other thing that you need to know is that here people like their speed!!! and we aren`t talking about nice straight roads either, these are winding roads with cars flying around corners.... I am sure most of the guys from back home would love this, however people like my mother and grandmother shouldn`t experience it for the sake of their own health!! lol Sorry so anyway I am nearly killed on this god forsaken road, - and once again I seriously almost pissed my damn pants!

Anyway so I get to this lake and of course it is miniature in comparison to the lake in Minnedosa and most lakes back home... This is like EVERYTHING in france! From the people who are tiny, and of course I am big compared to them all and I am short or smaller compared to people in Canada, trying to explain this, is certianly funny - as they just don`t believe it!!! ha ha.. Right down to the houses are small and i suppose it is the same in big Canadian cities though, but they don`t have yards. I think that the added effect of being so close to Paris and being in another country makes this place so very different to me!

K Sorry I am rambling alot so I get to this lake and I have all afternoon so I decide to bike around the entire thing which seemed like a great relaxing way to end my day, right...Well I get across the bridge and the road splits into 2, which I pick the road right along the lake naturally - why bike in the bushes right. Well there may have been a reason, this was no road or even a path!, seriuosly it was comparable to trying to bike -on a bike with absolutely NO shocks lol - into the riding mountain national park or on a cattle trail, pretty much impossible, ha ha. Anyway I managed it eventually, but again not without some very bizzarre looks from all the locals walking on this dirt trail. By the end of it was I sweating and not really all that pleased with the directions I`d been given by Veronique. However I survived, and lived to tell the tale, lol I also swore to myself I would never again bike on such a horendous damn little cattle trail.

SOCCER!!

ok OH MY GOD!!! (as maude would love to say) ha ha k so I went to soccer practice last night and I figured that they may be like a pretty good team but it would be girls my age so I would fit in and everything. Well I was a bit mistaken, they were girls all ages - women. Like ranging from 17 - 30+ but serioulsy that did not matter and it definately did NOT slow them down. These girls where insanely good, unreal, I felt like the clueless dumb foriegn kid - wait i am that person!! shit!! lol I do not know anyone in Soccer in Canada that was that good - they were like Kiliwnik but better like really better. ( reference for meg and kiki and michelle) they did everything you have seen on t.v and the "Movie Bend it Like Beckam" except their french not from the UK, not to mention they can do rainbows and stall on their backs and everywhere. k I just can't explain, I felt so so out of place. ha ha and I thought I maybe shouldn't come back but they asked me too so who knows, we have another practice on friday and a game on saturday. Oh yeah and wow the practices are unrulely hard, we ran around on this walking path around their lake - this is in serris (another small town- very rich though lol) we ran around it 4 times then jogged it back and then did crunches, sit ups and all kinds of ab workouts then some more running and then juggling - this is where I saw that I did not belong lol - and then we did some drills which were just kicking and running , not to bad. well hopefully though I won't become too fat if I keep with this team and I may even improve!! - which would be nice for the sake of me and the team lol. anyway it was cool overall...It was also so much fun and all the girls were really nice too!!

well this is real long so talk to ya'll later, luv yah!!

Lauren

First Days ......Rambling

Well what can i say, i've procrastinated as i always do and therefore today is not nearly one of my first days here however i will be so kind as to give you a brief overview. I arrived Wednesday August 29th at 1:30 pm (local time - which was 6:30 am my time) in Paris, France. It was quite the flight or rather flights! over here. I left Winnipeg at 4:00pm (local time) connected to Minneapolis then to Amsterdam (whose airport was an absolute nightmare - seriously i`m sure no one actually works there except the occasional cleaning staff).. then on to Paris!! at this point it was about 6:00 am for me and i had sleep maybe 3 hours during the entire ordeal yet by nothing short of a miracle I stayed up until 10pm local time with my host mother.



Veronique!

My host mother is a single mother and her only daughter is on a long term rotary exchange to Taiwan. She is very kind and enthusiastic. Also surprisingly she speaks english quite well which was a great relief to me when I first arrived and was exhausted and unable to say much more than "Hello my name is Lauren", etc. However in the past 4 days it is often hard for me to speak French with her as I can be lazy and it is much easier to try and explain things in english, therefore I have been very stubborn with myself about this subject and force myself to speak french, as terrible as that may be, it is good because I am not too afraid to make mistakes around Vero.





As I have been told by many exchange students (who've finished the exchange) you will have your ups and downs throughout the entire year abroad. No doubt this is something I Found out quite quickly, the first day... well first 2 days were quite difficult as of course you do not know anyone but your host family, who are very nice but you really don`t know them at all and your real family back home is soo far away it breaks your heart. This is something, although you may think you understand - as I did, you just can`t comprehend until you have left home alone, you are like 6000+ km away from home and you can`t speak the language, you don`t know anyone! and you have left everything you have ever known; even the things you really hated about home and Canada you now miss in some odd way and now somehow make you cry - this makes you appreciate your family soo soo much. Sorry that I am not painting a perfect picture but I feel that I should speak truthfully and not lead you all astray, in telling you life is perfect because we all know that that is a lie lol. (sorry I know I sound as if i am preaching however I spoke to few other exchange students and they agreed 200%!!!) They said it`s like you don`t realise it`s actually happened until you are up to your elbows in kleenex and your eyes look like somebody used them as a punching bag. Sorry i know thats not the fairytale story you all want to hear!! But once again, for better or for worse I can't help but be an honest person... he he..



Reality!!

Seriuosly though, i`m only 4 days in and i love it. yeah you still miss everyone back home! and yes you want to see them but there is so much here!! EVERYTHING is interesting, you`re like a child exploring a toy store for the first time. It`s insane. You don`t actually believe you are here doing this, I seriuosly do not think it has still set in that I am in Paris, oddly it feels alot like home at times and I have smack myself to realise that I am in a whole new country!! but I love that all the same..



Happenings!!!

Well what can I say... I lost my luggage until today. It arrived tonight at about 10pm which was ridiculous because the lady said it should come the night I arrived here, so naturally it took 4 days, but hey I survived! Although barely, I was without any comsmetics or anything... including a razor which made me feel uncomfortably french (not even sure whether that stereotype is true yet -lol) - however not a feeling I enjoyed all the same. ha ha but c'est la vie!

I also must mention the fact that despite my host mother forgetting to tell me that at night she locked all the doors, which is perfectly fine and normal, however it posed the problem that in doing so she also locked the bathroom outside of the main house (just the way the doors are set up - it's a little odd) anyway so at about 1 am on my first night I woke and of course murphy's law - I really had to pee haha - so I go downstairs and find that it is locked so I try pulling on it (which oviously did nothing) so i'm dancing around the kitchen swearing like a sailor and i'm like Oh my God! what am I going to do? - i'm going piss my pants and i'm 18 years old! and it's my first night in France, like what a wonderful start! holy shit!, so luckily I had been so cleverly observant and had noticed earlier that there were some keys in my room so I ran back up stairs and I knocked on Vero's door and wispered her name - no response. OMG!! right so i'm like ok where were those keys - dear god I hope they are the right ones, I get downstairs and of course.... they are the wrong ones, by this time I am soo NOT going to make it!! oh god! and so it's pitch black out and I happened to put my hand down on the counter amidst my prancing around and felt different keys - I grabbed them, fumbled them alot and low and behold they fit, oh thank the lord i'm saved!!....... wait not yet! ha ha omg there is more than one lock!! I was cursing so loud by this point, I don't know how Veronique didn't wake up... anyway I somehow managed, by nothing short of a miracle, to unlock the other lock and ran to the bathroom .... end of story!? I made it just in time.!! ha ha I am really not sure why I shared that with all of you but I guess it's done now! ha ha I can really only imagine what this year will hold for me!! lol

Haircut!!
yes it's true, I got my hair cut. If you are wondering if I look french, I am not sure? lol but I certainly look very european!! ha ha it is very layered and shorter than I wanted but it'll have to do! lol That although was quite the experience, I learned alot of new words that day, trying to explain how you would like your hair cut in a language you don't speak very well at all to a person who understands nothing but "perfect French" is quite a difficulty! lol

Stereotypes!!
yes some are quite true!! For instance, EVERYONE has baggettes and they take them EVERYWHERE!! lol Also they walk or bike alot!! It is a very common mode of transportation. As well the Chocolate shops are seen so often it's hard to believe - I thought belgium was where all the chocolate was? Now I am not sure, Here they eat ALOT bread and they like their wine and chocolate. Also French people can be very snappy, non of the people I have been aquainted with are. However you see a fair amount of people in shops and on the street who are just angry or upset. ha ha... Sometimes it's actually hard not laugh lol especially when I don't understand what they are saying they are just yelling like a crazy person!! ha ha ha it was rather amusing when I think of it. My host mother's daughter's bestfriend and her mom took me around Vaires on my 3rd day here and they pointed this out to me, they were laughing too so I figured it can't just be me who thinks this is a little amusing... well I guess as long as it is not directed towards me, he he...

wow I have written soo soo much and rambled more than any of you every wanted me to probably lol. I am very sorry, well I must go to bed now, tomorrow we have a fair?? Although from what I understand it's really a garage sale but in a square and it is huge! lol well... a bientot
love ME!