Au Revoir New Zealand & Bonjour France

Finally another update, i know it’s been a while but i’ve been super busy over the holidays and haven’t had the time…

Paris:

Two days after I arrived back from Annecy, I went to Paris for the week with my host mum. Technically it was the last week of school but my school had a “semaine culturelle” a week where everyone in the school does an internship, or goes on a trip in France or to another country with the school. Unfortunately it was too late for me to do anything… BUT one of my friends from New Zealand, Christine, was coming to England with her family for the holidays and was coming to Paris for a day.

So on the Tuesday I drove up to Paris with my host mum, then on Wednesday morning I got to see one of my best friends! I was so happy! I spent the day with her and her family walking around Paris which was AMAZING! We took the metro, walked from Notre Dame to The Louvre, then took a little bike thing (when you sit in the back and there is a person who rides the bike) to the Eiffel tower. Later we said goodbye to Christine’s parents and my host mum picked us up and we went up the Arc de Triomphe at night, it was my favourite part of the trip! The lights of Paris at night are incredible! Then we went and had some dinner. It was a very good test for my French because I realised how much I do actually understand in French because my host mum would talk then I would translate to Christine and vice-versa.

The next day we went to the Chateau de Versailles (we were staying in Versailles with the mum of my host mum), we didn’t actually go into the main chateau but we went to the Trianon and the house of Marie Antoinette. It was very pretty in the gardens there because the last time I was there the gardens were closed because of the snow. After we went back home and had a quick lunch and then drove into Paris for Christine to catch her train. We left at a good time and would arrive about 30minutes before the train, but when we got into Paris that’s where things went downhill… there were massive traffic jams because of an accident and took us almost 40minutes to drive somewhere and normally it would only take about 10minutes because all the roads we took were closed. So we ended up taking the metro from Gare de St Lazare to Gare du Nord because it was quicker than driving. But it took about 5 minutes for the metro to arrive, THEN when we arrived there was a lady checking tickets but we didn’t realise you had to keep them and Christine accidently dropped hers and we had to pay a 40 euro fine! (Not doing that again) then by the time we arrived to the station there was about 3 minutes till the train but the immigration line was about a 30minute wait. So she missed her train…but there was fortunately another train later that night, so after paying an extremely expensive last minute ticket to London, Christine eventually got home. It was a very stressful hour!!!  My host mum and I drove back to Saint-Nazaire the next day.

Beautiful Spring trees

Cadenas d’armour

 La Tour Eiffel

View from the Arc de Triomphe, Me, Christine and my host mum

L’Arc de Triomphe

Le temple de l’armour (Marie Antoinette)

Me, My host mum, My host grandma, Christine

Easter:

I spent Easter day with my host family and Alain’s mum at the house, we had a nice meal and I made a Pavlova for dessert (My mum also sent me some Easter eggs as well, thanks mum!) Sunday night I found out that I would move to my friend Melissa’s the next day. So I had to pack my all my bags that night. It was sad leaving my first host family because I had become very comfortable in the house and with the family. But the family offered to have me back for the last couple of months of my exchange, so I may be possibly returning back to that family! In the morning Alain, Pascale, Cassandre and I drove to pick up Florian in Trinité-sur-Mer and on the way stopped in a couple of Bretagne (Brittany) towns and Vannes. That night I moved into Melissa’s house for the holidays.

Vannes:

Bretagne:

My Host Family:

Easter:

Le Mans:

From Tuesday 10^th until Saturday 14^th I went to Le Mans with the hip-hop group at MJC. It was a basically a hip-hop workshop also with also different types of performances each day. The first morning we met at 9am and took two vans filled with 18 people to Le Mans. We arrived just in time for the class, there were two groups. One group was for beginners and the other for people who had been in the group for a long time. I was put in the beginner group in case the other class was too hard.  The classes were students from La Baule (us) a group of girls from another MJC and then people who did classes at Le Mans. The first day we learnt a dance with the teacher Saise who was really cool, then at the end of the class people did some freestyle. There were these two little boys (10 and 8) who did breakdancing, they were so good!!! In the afternoon there was a Rap demonstration, we then had dinner at MJC before going to the youth hostel.

The next day, we all went to the supermarket to get some food and then walked back to MJC and had some lunch. After we had the class, and today it was a new dance and then at the end of the class the teacher taught Chloe and I another dance. After the class, everyone drove to another place and we watched another rap demonstration and the teachers also danced, they were all such good dancers! After we returned back to MJC and had some dinner, and that night we did a small surprise party because it was Chloe’s birthday.

The next day it was the same in the morning and then we all had some lunch until the class started at 2pm. The class each day went until 5pm and this day we all learnt the dance that Saise started teaching Chloe and I the day before. On Friday there was going to be a spectacle and this was the dance we were going to perform. After the class, there was a quiz on music and if you knew the song you pressed the buzzer. After everyone went into Le Mans and went to McDonalds for dinner. After dinner we went to see a movie on hip-hop culture. I understood parts of it because some was in English but other parts were in different languages with French subtitles. At the end of the film, we returned to the youth hostel.

Friday was our last day at MJC, in the morning there was a break dance class for about 8 people, but I decided to sleep in. The rest of us arrived for some lunch and then it was time for the dance class. We finished our dance and then had some small snacks. There was a hip-hop conference after that but it was kind of boring so we went and practiced our dance one last time before the spectacle. My group started the spectacle and we did our dance twice, then there was a group of break dancers who came who were incredible!!! Then it was the other groups dance. Later that night there was a spectacle of rap also with a beat boxer who was AWESOME! There was a dance battle happening outside with the kids from MJC and the break dancers. It was super cool but unfortunately I ran out of battery and couldn’t record it! The show went until midnight but we had to leave early in the morning so left at 10:30pm. We left the next morning at 9am and practically everyone slept in the car almost all the way back to La Baule.

Here is a link to a blog with acouple of pictures…it’s in french…google translate?

http://ateliermjclabaulehiphop.over-blog.fr/

MJC group:

Holidays with Melissa:

The last week of the holidays I spent with Melissa and her family. We did a pretty good amount of sleeping in and also… shopping, hanging out at the house, we met up with some of her friends in La Baule, spend a day with melissa’s friend Lola, met up with the group who went to Le Mans for a little conference at MJC, watched some movies, went to Nantes one day and I met her sister, went out to dinner with the family, made a Pavlova one night, went to a dance party for teenagers with the MJC group, which was so much fun! We also did a spectacle at MJC with a circus group; it was a really cool dance with UV lights, white masks and white gloves.

Me and Melissa:

School:

My first day back at school this term was my 3month anniversary since arriving in France…CRAZY! But it’s good to know that the hard part is over, but the only thing that I found difficult was understanding the language and communicating with my friends. Everyone has told me that I’ve made a lot of progress with my French and I can feel I know more when I have a conversation with someone.

Class is still pretty boring and difficult, but I don’t think it’s ever going to get much easier. Even if I understand what the teacher says/questions ask, I don’t know how to actually DO the work. And when the teacher explains it I just get even more confused. But other than that, it’s much easier to talk with the people in class which the students say they like but I don’t think the teacher likes it so much. Next week I’m going to be in a theatre production that my drama class is doing. I have a couple of lines which I will be saying in front of parents one night then the next day at school in front of the whole year level.

New Host family:

After three days at school I moved out of Melissa’s house and moved around the corner to my new host family. In the ‘Morel’ Family, the Dad is Jean-Yues, he is the one who does the cooking and if I need something sewn, I should go to him. The mum, Claire who is a dentist and if the sink is broken, I should go to her. They also have two children, Aude, who is the same age as me but doesn’t go to the same school as me, she is also in an advanced English class (they learn Shakespeare) and she speaks really good English. And then there is Tanguy, he is 13 years old and goes to the same school as Aude but in the College, he also speaks really good English. They also have a very friendly dog. The house is in Guérande, so now if I don’t get a ride with Melissa it’s about a 15 minute walk to school (about the same in New Zealand for me.) I’ve only been with the family for about 3 days but they are very nice and I like it here so far. Next weekend I’m going to a medieval festival in Guérandewith Aude and her friends, where you dress up in a long dress like in the olden days! SO COOL!

New house:

On Friday 30th March - Sunday 1st April I went down to Annecy, in the French Alps for a Rotary weekend with 430 other Rotary Students staying in France on an exchange. It was an absolutely amazing experience!

Friday:

I caught a train at 7am from Saint-Nazaire to Nantes with Marissa (Mexico) and Elisabeth (Rotarien.) It was about a 30minute train ride, then when we arrived at Nantes we met up with more people from my district, 1510. I met Sienna who is also new and from Sydney, Australia and Virginia from Argentina. On the train I sat with Sienna, Miryam (America) and JP (Equador.) We caught the train all the way to Lyon, when we stopped at Angers and Le Mans on the way the rest of our district got onto the train. On the train, we had some lunch and practised a song we had to sing for a talent show over the weekend. When we got to Lyon we met up with another district (Red scarfs, and we had to wear Blue scarfs throughout the weekend which actually came in handy.) It was district 1650 (which apparently we do a lot of things with) it is also the district with Amelia (also from New Zealand) and my friends from the Paris/Barcelona bus trip! I was so excited to see them and according to Amelia they were quite excited to see me aswell! I caught up with everyone then we had to get on the train to Annecy. I sat with Chelsea (America), Barbara (Brazil) and Dylan (America), we played some cards on the train. Once at Annecy there was a whole bunch of other districts, we had to get on a bus (i sat next to Sienna) and drive to where we were staying but it took about an hour because the bus driver kept driving into all these hotels that we weren’t staying at! Once we got there, there were even MORE people waiting there. Amelia and I saw Georgie and then later saw Tori (New Zealanders) it was only a quick catch up though because we had to go get rooms, I roomed with Alyssa (america.) After all of our district went back down because we had to practise the song with district 1650 and also practise a dance to go after the song. After some more groups arrived it was dinner. I sat with Tori, Georgie and Amelia and we all caught up, it was SO nice to hear people who actually speak like me and say my name the way I do!!! After dinner there was a dance party (of course) which was heaps of fun, later more New Zealanders arrived Erin, Rebekah, Frances and Regan. It was really nice to see everyone and sounds like everyone else is also loving their exchange so far! The party finished about 12 that night. It was such cool night though because we went around and met heaps of people, and everyone is so nice and friendly! I love exchange students!

NZ - me, Tori, Georgie and Amelia

Some bus trip friends

On the Train

Saturday:

After breakfast at 8am, we received our district tops and then jumped on the bus to go to a Rotary conference about the winter Olympics in Annecy 2018. After the conference we had a mini meeting at lunch time for all the new inbounds to go over the rule and for any questions we had. There is me and Matthew from New Zealand, Sienna, Nic and Joe from Australia and Virginia from Argentina. After lunch everyone went down to the jetty where there were 3 boats waiting to take everyone to the town of Annecy. We had a tiki-tour around the lake first, it’s very pretty in Annecy and it was a beautiful day as well! When everyone arrived we all walked down to the main park area and took a group photo of all the students. All the New Zealanders came together and we sung some songs, took some photos and then after all sat down on the grass and relaxed. Later we had to head back to the boats and then went back to the place where the conference was, which had now had dinner tables set out. We changed into our district tops and then found a seat. There was a big flag ceremony and then the talent show started. District 1650 started with their dance, then we all sung our “Au Student Exchange” song and then we did our dance. There were some really funny skits. The district from Paris did a really funny sketch about Life as an exchange student in Paris (I have already put the link on my blog, which is in French…but hopefully you’ll understand the point of it.) After dinner, there were the last couple of skits and then a big Rotary dance party again with a proper DJ, lights and everything. IT WAS CRAZY BUT INCREDIBLE! People were crowd surfing, jumping on stage, throwing water bottles, singing…it was AMAZING! It ended at 2am and we drove back to the camp.

Conference:

Annecy:

430 Students:

New Zealanders:

District 1510:

Flag Ceremony:

Talent Show District 1650 and 1510 :

Party:

Sunday:

We got a bit of a sleep in (luckily) after having the party the night before. After breakfast we went straight to the bus at 11am, took a group photo and jumped on the bus. Basically the whole day was spent either on a train or switching trains. It sounds very boring but it was heaps of fun the people I sat with Emma, Ellis and Chelsea (America) and Emma (Finland)and everyone else from district 1510. Then eventually we had to say goodbye to everyone, I took the train through to Nantes and then took another train to Saint-Nazaire which arrived at 8pm.

I was extremely tired after the weekend but it was absolutely AMAZING. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go because it only happens every three years in France!

D1510, le meilleur!! !

It’s been six weeks since I left New Zealand, it is flying by really fast already, probably because I’m doing something exciting everyday. Even though this is great, it leaves me INDREDIBLY tired ALL THE TIME!

I’ve joined a jazz class with my host mum’s friend Laurence who is also in my Rotary club. She is super nice and really funny! In the second week of the holidays I did acouple of dance classes, went to a birthday lunch for Laurence’s son, went bowling with family friends Marine and her kids, went with Cassandre to her friend Marie’s house (she is very funny and also goes to Lycee la mennais), been to 3 french movies, played a lot of board games with my host family, Made two pavlovas :) went for a horse ride and Cassandre took my lesson in english (a new experience for both of us), had a small “soiree” with Cassandre’s friends, acouple of girls came to the house and we talked, had some dinner then played a game.

Cassandre and Me with Pavlova #1

Pavlova #2

School:

I’ve been back at school for about 2 weeks now, it’s much easier than the first weeks, still quite difficult but easier! I can actually do some work on the odd occassion (but only in some classes!) BUT I can now manage to carry a conversation with my friends without asking them to repeat the question 5 times! I find my history teacher easy to understand because she speaks quite slowly and although all the other students find her boring, i think “YES! I UNDERSTAND YOU!” It’s quite funny though because even though I’ve told her countless times that I understand what she’s saying she says ”no,you don’t understand!”(in french) and then freaks out the person sitting next to me by asking them to translate in english what she says!

My other classes consist of me listening, mostly understanding but then having no idea on how to explain the answer in french so it then turns into me, my pen and doodling…. I must say I have done some pretty impressive doodles that I will eventually have to take a picture of and share my amazing artwork.

The class also got a whiteboard and projector (NORMALITY!)  On the first day with the new board, someone thought it would be funny to put a permanent marker up where the whiteboard pens go. But one boy in the class didn’t realise, went up and started drawing on the board with the permanent marker!!! When he realised he quickly sprinted back to his seat, when someone else decided to go up and draw the boys name and scribbles all over the board!!! IT WAS SO FUNNY!

In the past weekend, my friend Melissa invited me to come to her hip-hop class in La Baule. The class reminds me a little of my dance group because all the people are very close. They are all such good dancers, I really like watching their dances aswell! After the dance class, I went with Melissa and her friend Clara to McD’s (McDo in French), and the food is so much better here, I had a McWrap it was really good :D After we went into La Baule and went to sit on the beach for a little. Then I went to a horse riding lesson. That night Robin and I went to see a Theatre production that their family friend Marine’s son Quentin was in. It was an english production because he goes to a school that speciales in their International department. The show and also the english was really good!

Recently, I’ve had some despressing news… I found out that Reece Mastin came to New Zealand :( I was pretty depressed but then I found out that New Zealand’s had really bad weather, so I a little better. BUT THEN IN THE SAME WEEK…One Direction announced that they are also coming to New Zealand! Of course this had to happen when I wasn’t in the country! But then this was completely made up for because I found out it is very possible that one of my best friends CHRISTINE may be coming to Paris for a day because she is staying in London for a week! I’M SO EXCITED, and am DESPERATELY hoping I will be able to see her!!!!

Like I said it’s much easier to talk to my friends now so it’s a lot more fun to hang out with them because I actually understand them! My friends have taking a liking to the song “Everything’s gonna be alright” by the Babysitters Circus and one of my friends decided to learn the dance! HAHAHAHAHA!

My French Friends:

Liliana and Me

Gwendolène, Marie and Me

Me and Morgane

Day 1:

Me, Gabi (Brazil)

Day 2:

Sarah (Canada), Gabi (Brazil), Me, Cassandra(USA)

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

(Gondola in barcelona)

Day 6:

Day 7/8:

I just returned from my first Rotary bus trip to Paris and Barcelona. IT WAS AMAZING! WHAT A FANTASTIC START TO MY EXCHANGE! There were 34 other students from America, Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, Mexico, Venezula, Germany, Argentina, Finland, Norway, Equador, Philippines and New Zealand (ME!) I was the only one who arrived in January, so everyone spoke really good French. But luckily for me, everyone was very nice and helped me out!

Day 1:

The night before I took the train to Paris, my host mum drove me to Nantes where I stayed the night at a Rotarien’s house where she is hosting Patricia (Venezula) and there were 2 other Mexican girls from my district staying the night aswell Tamara and Jimena. The next morning we got up bright and early to go to the train station. The train was about 2 hours long but i was distracted by the countryside which was completely covered in snow, it was so beautiful! When we arrived IN Paris, we got a little lost but eventually found the Rotary people. Once we were there, I met Brogan (Canada), Gabi (Brazil), Cassandra (USA) and Sarah (Canada.) They are all extremely lovely and we bonded as we froze while waiting 1hr outside in the cold for the bus to arrive!!! The bus took us to another station to pick up some other students then we were able to go get some lunch, the 5 of us went to a nice place and had some Gallets :) YUM! When we returned to the bus we got officially introduced to the supervisors Nathalie and Katherine (Rotariens), Marie (who is also going to be on my bus trip in october) and her daughter Amelie (did an exchange to Australia in 2004.) There was also a guide who was going to take us around Paris. We went to Notre Dame, The Louvre, The Lock Bridge, drove down the Champs-Élysées and took some photos infront of the Eiffel Tower. We then had an hour to shop in the Caroseul du Louvre but everything was very expensive. We then headed back to the bus and went to our hotel(which apparently is the dodgy area of Paris where all the riots happen, oh joy!) The hotel was suprisingly nice as we were expecting crappy youth hostels, I shared a room with Gabi. We then had some dinner and before going to bed talked to the chaperons till about 11.

Day 2:

We had to be up at 6 for breakfast and on the bus at 6:45 to go to the Louvre. Before going inside we took some pictures outside, it was FREEZING! Once in the Louvre Cassandra, Sarah, Gabi, Torstein (from Norway and we just called him tosh) and me went to see the one thing everyone wanted to see, the Mona Lisa. It was pretty cool to say that i’ve seen it but it is quite small and in a massive glass case. We went and saw all the other famous art pieces for the next 3 hours then went to have some lunch in a foodcourt. After lunch we drove a little less than an hour to Château de Versailles it was huge but absolutely beautiful, there was also a snow on the ground and in the garden which I was very excited about. But unfortunately this is why we couldn’t go in the garden. Cassandra, Gabi and Me went around together and all said the same thing, that every single thing was completely decorated, there were also huge paintings in every room! After touring the place I taught some “Kiwi” speak to my friends eg. Sweet as, the warewhare etc (even after the trip and how I have explained that Australian and New Zealand accents are very different, they still don’t think so.) We headed back to the hotel, played cards, had dinner, swapped some badges then Gabi and I went to our room to go to sleep at 8:30 but didn’t end up sleeping till 10 because we were talking.

Day 3:

In the morning, we packed up our luggage and went to the EIFFEL TOWER! It was amazing, but seems smaller when you stand underneath it. Before we got off the bus (and throughout the whole trip actually) the supervisors freak you out by saying stuff like “pick pockets” “dont sign anything, they take your stuff and have knifes on them” etc… It kind of gets you paranoid, so every time someone walked passed me I grabbed onto my camera! It was sooo cold so the chaperons decided to play a game under the eiffel tower while we waited to go up. We had to take the stairs up which was incredibly tiring and worse when its cold outside. We walked around the 1st level for a little bit then went up the second level, we climbed 669 steps in total (which after made me feel as though I was going to have killer calf muscles afterwards) and then it took us like 20minutes to get down but now I can say that I RAN DOWN the eiffel tower!!! We all hopped onto the bus and headed down south for Spain, I sat next to Cassandra on the bus ride which was about 5 hours. We stopped for lunch where I saw a trailer for The Hobbit - WOOP WOOP GO NEW ZEALAND! Then got back on the bus and kept driving. We stayed at a hotel in Brive which had snow on the ground (exciting for me), in a room with Tamara and Gabi. It was freezing in the room, i’m so glad we only stayed there for one night! After dinner we all went into a recreation room and played some music and had a little dance party. Brogan and I were busting out the white people dance moves while Gabi was showing us her Brasilian dance skills. She tried to teach us (emphasis on the tried)….It wasn’t very pretty!

Day 4:

We all got up an hour later this morning (yay) and had some breakfast then jumped in the bus to finish our travels to Spain. It was a 7 hour bus ride (oh joy) and in France they have this stupid rule where buses have to stop every 2 hours for 45minutes. We started off the journey and everyone was silent or asleep, then we stopped for a break. After the stop, they turned up the radio and the song to wake us all up was “AI SE EU TE PEGO” which is a portegeuse song that EVERYONE (and i mean everyone) knows the words and moves. It was pretty much an obligation for me to learn it. Then the next song…….WAS BROOKE FRASER’S SOMETHING IN THE WATER!!!! I was super excited to hear a new zealand song on the radio! We stopped for lunch at a place that was like a school cafeteria then kept driving. Our hotel was in a place called Lloret de Mar, just out of Barcelona. It was a seriously nice hotel!!!! I shared a room with Gabi and Cassandra. Before dinner we got dressed up nicely, then had a look around the hotel then went to the buffet dinner. After dinner we had about 3 hours before we went to the dance room which opened at 11pm. So Cassandra, Gabi, Sarah and Me went to Brogan, Pedro and Lorenzo’s room. Then Amelie and Marie (the supervisors) came in and we talked to them for about 2 hours!!! Amelie was telling us about her “mistakes” on her exchange and Brogan and Lorenzo were mocking how I say lollies not candy and how i say the word deck! At 11, everyone went into the dance room and danced to some spanish songs, there were some other couples dancing also. We returned to our rooms at 12 and Brogan and Lorenzo came into our room and we all talked (and laughed A LOT) till 2:30am!!!

Day 5:

We had to be at breakfast at 8 (yay sleep in) then we left for Barcelona at 9am. We had a guide for the day but she wasn’t very good. We drove around a lot and went to 3 churchs they were all very big and nice! Then a whole bunch of us went to lunch where it was only 10 Euros each, and the meal was MASSIVE by the time we got to the main meal I was soo full! After lunch we got back onto the bus and drove to the best view of barcelona then drove around the town some more. We then went to this place (which I unfortunately didn’t catch the name of because the guide talked so fast) that is used in movies a lot. It is so beautiful there, there are rock pillars, buildings that reminded me of whoville, seats with mosaics on them and a stunning view of the city. It was the best bit of the day! When we were walking around taking pictures we heard the “ai se eu te pego” song and there were some little kids at the school next to the place doing the dance! It was soo cute!!! After the day was over we started to head back to the hotel and on the drive home people tried to get some sleep. It was really funny because apparently we made heaps of noise the night before so Amelie was going around the bus and anyone that was sleeping she would make pig noises in their ears “oink oink” and then she started singing over the mircophone!!!! When we got back to the hotel we had a 30minute sleep before 7:30. Then we went down to dinner and because it was valentines day, the restaurant was decorated and they gave out heart shaped cookies when you came in! After dinner we went into the boys room, talked and listened to music. Then we sneakily took a photobooth picture of ourselves and set it as Pedro’s background on his computer! At 10:30, we all went down to the club in the hotel and had a dance party, we were pretty much the only ones in there. There were also lights and some music that I actually knew! At 12, we returned back to the room and talked till 1, then went to sleep.

Day 6:

At breakfast, Cassandra, Gabi and I made a sandwich to eat for lunch YUM! Then we headed off to the barcelona football stadium, we went around the mini museum inside and took some pictures. I also brought a badge for my blazer and you could buy Barcelona chips (which Lorenzo did) ahahaha!!! We left the stadium at 11:30 to go to the city for some shopping!!!! Cassandra, Gabi and I ate our sandwiches then went to the hard rock cafe for some dessert. After we went to H&M, Zara then to some souvenir shops where Gabi met some Brazilians and she was talking to them. She has never learnt spanish but she just walked up to people in shops and talked to them in Spanish…It was amazing! After shopping we all walked to the museum of Picasso which by the time we got there everyone’s feet were sore! The museum was intersting but I didn’t really understand much of what the guide said, so Gabi translated for me. We then walked back to the bus and drove back to the hotel. We went straight to have some dinner then we chilled in the rooms for a bit. Everyone had to go to one room and fill out a form about what they liked and didn’t like on the Bus trip, while we waited I drew on Pedro’s arm :) At 10:30 we went down to the club and there were actually other people there (some of the other teenagers in the hotel.) We danced, took some photos and had a great last party night! We went back to the rooms at 12 and went to sleep.

Day 7:

When we woke up, we had to put our suitcases straight into the bus then went and had breakfast. We left the hotel and went to the museum of Dali fergasi, the outside of the building was very intersting as it had eggs on it! The museum was cool and the paintings were different but had interesting stories behind them. Cassandra, Gabi, Sarah, Brogan, Tosh and I went to a cute little restaurant in a very spanish looking street for some lunch and we sat outside, which was such a nice change. After lunch we walked up the street to an Icecream shop and met up with Lorenzo and Pedro. Then while we were waiting to get on the bus Sarah and Brogan did the “Crea” dance! It was hilarious! We started driving and had a 45 minute stop about 1hr into the drive. I tried to sleep on the bus but it was near to impossible! Everyone was playing games and later telling scary stories. We drove a little more after dinner and everyone was silent to try and get some sleep in the next 4 hours - But again it was practically impossible!

We stopped for breakfast at 6am (we drove through the night) which was a croissant with a hot chocolate then got bck on the bus to drive until we reached Paris. We said goodbye to the people leaving from another train station then drove on to our one. Then I said goodbye to Sarah and Cassandra who were staying in Paris a few extra days. I sat and talked to Pedro and Gabi while I waited for my train at 9:55am. Emily and Ben were also on my train but got off earlier than me because I trained to Nantes. I arrived at 12:10 and Pascale and Cassandra picked me up and took me around Nantes for the day. Nantes is kind of like a mini Paris, it is really nice! We had lunch at a Thai restaurant and then walked around some more, I did a tour of the Biscuiterie (the place where a well known biscuit is made) in Nantes then we went back to the car because our feet were really sore! Cassandra and I slept in the car on the way home and when we returned home I accidently slept from 7:30pm-11:30pm (I missed dinner) so I just went back to sleep and slept till the next morning.

I had such a great time on the trip and met some amazing people! But unfortunately since my next bus trip is in october they won’t be on it because all the friends I made leave in July :( but I am still extremely excited for my next trip and also to see all these lovely people in one months time at the Rotary Youth Exchange student get-to-together where all the students in France are going to be :D

Like I said in my last post, school is very different here! I’ve been at school for about a week and a half now and i’ve definately noticed the differences: smoking, no uniform, mixed classroom (which is so weird coming from an all girls school back to a mixed one), cantine, school hours, noisy classrooms and they also go to a gym out of school for PE.

During class it’s pretty boring, I don’t really do much except doodle but now that I have the books i can at least look like I know what i’m doing. I listen to the teachers and try to understand but it’s really hard because they speak so fast! But whenever they write something onto the blackboard (yes, in france there are still blackboards) I try to copy it down. This is also near to impossible because people here write nice and linked, but it is so hard to read! Everyone must think I have horribly messy writing because I try to write it like they do which ends up looking like scribbles, so now when i’m bored I practise my linking :)

The subjects i’m taking are…

• English - incredibly boring
• French - can’t understand it (but that’s okay, because the students say they dont understand it either and wouldn’t expect me too!)
• Sciences of life - a whole bunch of scribble in my workbook
• Physics/Chemistry - and people in NZ think this subject is hard…TRY IT IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!!!!
• History/Geography - the teacher tries to help me but it ends up confusing me more.
• Theatre - on the first lesson, I had to read a massively long text….it wasn’t pretty.
• Maths - great when you understand how to do the problems, near to impossible if you don’t.
• Literature - pretty relaxed and it is in the library so I just look at different books and go on the computer (the computers here are hard to type on because where we have QWERTY they have AZERTY)
• Communications - On computers
• Orientation - its a class for what the students want to do in their future, i just sit, listen and ask people what words mean.
• Spanish - learning spanish in french is hard….especially when you have never done it and the course is for people who have taken spanish for about 4 years!

I was talking to my friend from school the other day about New Zealand… ”it’s summer there at the momment” “I finish school at 3pm” “we don’t have this many tests” (they have 1 hour tests every friday on a different subject every week as well as tests in the classroom.) She said “and why did you want to come here…?” hahahaha!

Unfortunately, from going in-between warm houses and classrooms to the freezing cold weather and breezy wind outside, I have got a cold. I stayed off school today (Friday 3rd February) and hopefully it’ll be better by next week.

I’ve done quite a few things in my first couple of weeks: I have been to a few art exibitions, gone to the small surronding towns, went out for dinner with my host family, gone to the market, attended school, seen 2 french movies, been many times to the supermarket, gone to a dance class, and tonight I have made a Pavlova for my family - hopefully it’s good :)

On the 10th of February, holidays start (YAY!) and I am catching 5am train to Paris to go on a Rotary Youth Exchange bus trip for one week around France and Spain!!! I’M EXTREMELY EXCITED!!!! :D