Fitting In

I'm finally back. The computer here completely broke and had to be taken in to a shop for over a WEEK. I really don't know how I am still alive. And so much has happened in the last week and a half that it seems impossible to know where to begin.
On the Monday after school started Premère L (my class) and Première ES1 went on a day trip to Switzerland. It was amazing. We went way high up the Alps to a dam- barrage d'Emosson, and got to walk inside it and take pictures of the gorgeous veiw. We had a picnic lunch and then went to the Fondation Pierre Giannada where we saw amazingly famous artwork by Renoir, Monet, Cèzzanne, Picasso, Matisse and many, many others. They also had a great sculpture garden and a fantastic collection of antique cars. And they had an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks- so I got to see that drawing of the perfectly proportioned man and everything. We were stuck in deadly Geneva traffic on the way home, but managed to get home in time.

I've spent the rest of the past two weeks fitting in, finding a place, and learning a little French. I usually eat lunch at school with a group of French kids, I'm trying not to depend on the other exchange students, while not being completely rude to them. My school has all the grades at it and over 1,200 students, so its spread over a pretty big area. There is a building on one side for the Lycée and part of the école as well as a gym, and on the other side there are more buildings, the rest of the classrooms (science and computer labs as well as a library are there as well) and the lunchrooms and a student lounge area. There is a covered bridge from one side of the street to the other. The best place to meet French kids is on the sidewalks of the street that divides the school. The school is surrounded by a low stone wall where all the kids go to smoke. Many kids in the Lycée smoke, so during breaks their friends stand with them and talk, so a majority of the highschool is out there. I don't smoke, and I can't stand the smell of it, but I'm getting used to the fact that its a normal thing here for kids to smoke. For every kid who smokes, there is at least one or two who doesn't, so there is never any pressure at all to conform- they sometimes offer me a cigarette to be polite, and don't care at all when I refuse. In order to stand out there I have to have someone to stand WITH, or else it'd look weird- but I've found a group of kids in my class who seem very nice to follow around, so its no longer an issue. To balance out the time I spend with the French kids, I still spend time with other exchange students. The three Mexican girls and I all don't take a third language, so whenever the third language classes (latin, spanish, or italian) are taking place, we walk around the city together and sit and talk. And I've also joined a gospel choir. Its mostly middle aged women, but there are a handful of teenagers. One is the Australian girl, Zara, I met a few weeks ago, and the other one I've been hanging out with during choir is a French girl named Sophie. Her mom is Canadian so she speaks great English. There are a few others I haven't really met yet, but I enjoy Zara and Sophie so much (and singing in English) that is well worth my time.

I still don't speak that much french, but I definetly understand more than I did before. Not a lot more, but more. I usually catch a few words but can't understand the main idea of what people are saying. I can get the general idea of written French (though not the literature we are given in French class) but even when I understand a question written on a worksheet, I lack the vocabulary skills to write an answer. Everyone is unbelievably helpful to me though. Everyone constantly wants to try out their english and try an explain things or translate words that confuse me. Also, a lot of them went on a class trip to Oregon and Seattle last year, so they feel some connection with where I am from. My class, in general, is great. I'm glad I was placed with them.

I have more to say, but Star Academy is on in 10 minutes. Bisous!