ecole just around the corner!

As schoolis quickly approaching, I'm filled with mixed emotions. I'm extremely nervous to meet the other kids in Première L, and I'm freaked out about being in classes where I understand nothing. Its just a scary thing, from both the social side and the educational side. But its also going to be a good thing because it will put a stop to my week and a half of waiting impatiently and getting consistantly bored. Going to school is where exchange students really begin to absorb the language (I've been told that over and over) and I'm sick of hearing gibberish- I want to absorb the language now!

Being the seventh exchange student my family has hosted, they know exactly what this week has been like for me. They know how boring it can get, and to counteract this they tried to plan something for me to do everyday. Inside I was just wanting a day to sit around and relax, like I do all the time in Seattle. I go online, read, watch TV, etc. Today I had nothing planned at all so I got my chance to sit around, and quickly realized that it is not at all as satisfying as sitting around at my real home. I have trouble understanding the TV, so I can't just zone out in front of it, I can't check email and none of my friends are online in the middle of the day in France- they are all asleep so I can't IM them. Sitting around just gave me a day to mope about, and if I had too many of these I'd get seriously homesick.

To break up the day I DID do things. In the morning I walked down to the village and sent a bunch of letters and postcards from the post office. I bought 10 stamps to the US and one to Italy, the grand total came up to €9,50. It ate up nearly all of my money frome babysitting. I've never really noticed just how EXPENSIVE sending letters can get! I'm swearing off sending letters now (for the most part) unless someone writes to me. Hopefully I can get down to two or three letters a week, which won't be that expensive. My host parents came home for lunch like always and we ate potatoes and lamb chops. After the two of them went back to work my host mother's father (my host grandpa?) came over to mow the lawn. He also burned all the clippings that had been made when my host father trimmed the hedge- I guess there is no burn ban here. After he left I walked down to the beach to see what it was like. It was fenced in because during the tourist months it costs money to get in (that ended yesterday) and was like a little park inside, there was a big lawn dotted with trees for shade, a playground, a wading pool, a snackbar, changing rooms, and out in the water a roped off swim area like most beaches. It also had a weird pool-like thing built into the side of the lake. I just put my foot in the lake and walked bake home, but I'd really love to go back and swim someday soon before the weather gets bad. Lac d'Annecy is the cleanest lake in Europe, by the way.

Hopefully the computer will be fixed tomorrow. For now please leave any comments at the LOWER comments link, I can't read the tops ones. Just post as annonymous and leave your name at the end. When its all fixed there will only be one option and you'll be able to post as yourself! And please do say something because I haven't heard from anyone in ages!