I had my first Rotary weekend this weekend and had an fantastic time! It was so nice to meet all the other exchange students in my district. This is the current makeup of the exchange students in my district:
37 students
31 girls
6 boys
19 Americans (2 boys)
5 Canadians (1 boy)
4 Mexicans (1 boy)
4 Australians (1 boy)
1 Argentinian girl
1 Finnish girl
1 Bermudan girl
1 Russian boy
1 South African girl
In January the Australians and South African will leave and one Australian boy, one kid from New Zealand, and two South Africans will come for the next year. So in January we'll be up to 39 kids in the district.

The main part of our weekend took place at the Eurovillage in Sevrier, a hostel. We started off with an extremely boring meeting. In was in French then translated into English. The main language of the weekend was English, because all the students there spoke it fluently. At one point I was daydreaming and then I heard my name called out. Apparently we were supposed to go to the front of the room and introduce mourselves, and I was first on the list. It was quite awkward because I wasn't paying attention and didn't know what to say. Once I started to talk I said "My name is Anna Rae and I'm from Seattle, Wa" when I realized I wasn't in the US and quickly said "Je m'appelle Anna Rae, Je suis de Seattle aux les Etas-Unis." I was kind of embarrassed for screwing up and talking in English, but some other kids didn't know how to introduce themselves in French at all. The meeting was a disaster because none of the kids were paying attention, and all the parents were ready to go home. All us kids were very eager to just meet each other and get everyones pins and cards. See, when you are a Rotary Exchange student you have to get a blazer and bring pins from your country to trade with all the other kids you meet on your exchange. By the end people have blazers covered with pins from all over the world. When my friends and I first saw people with blazers jammed with pins we thought- ewww, thats so tacky, I'm not going to do that to mine. But you quickly learn that you look much more rediculous wearing a blazer with nothing on it- and its really cool to have pins from exotic places. Also, my Rotary District in Seattle gave us about 30 pins each- not at all enough for all the people we'll meet.

After the meeting we got settled into rooms- I shared with an Argentinian girl who also lives in Annecy and is sponsored by the same club as me. Then we sat around, moved from room to room talking like crazy about our experiences and getting all the pins we could possibly get. Its so great to be able to talk to people going through the exact same thing as you. I'm the only kid in my district from the Western US- the next closest girl is from Wyoming, but I was extremely happy to discover that two of the Canadians are from B.C.- Vancouver and Victoria, and both of them live near Annecy, so we'll be able to get together. It was good to have all 8 of us Annecy exchange students together too- on Wednesday afternoon we're all planning on meeting in town.

Later we went up for our dinner. The first course was a pasterie crust box filled with mussels- it was actually pretty good. The main course was a vegetables and some sort of bird. Then came the cheese platter, and finally dessert- a pasterie with peaches on top and chocolate drizzled on it. On every table was two bottles of wine, and apparently the Rotarians didn't notice until halfway through when they had the waiters pull all the red wine off the tables- they let us drink the other bottle though.

After dinner we went back down to our assembly hall and had a talent show. Some kids played instruments or sang in their native languages, and pretty much all the countries had all their kids go up and sing their national anthem- which is what I did. After this we had a dance, which was a little weird. There were only 5 boys there- three of which were willing to dance. Most of the girls danced, but a few just went to bed. So in the end there were about 30 kids dancing, which isn't really enough. But we had a great time anyway, the music was weird at points, but it was still fun. At about one this ended and we went down to our rooms, grouped up, and talked for hours. I went from room to room for a while, talking to everyone possible. I was exhausted, but still stayed up till four- I know that there aren't many nights I'll be able to talk to these kids so I took advantage of my time.

We ate breakfast at eight the next morning- I could barely keep my eyes open after four hours of sleep. After breakfast we got on a bus to go the ten minutes to Annecy, where we stashed our bags in a boat house and then went on a walking tour of the old town (which I walk through every day). They let us loose for about a half an hour, which wasn't enough time. Most of the good shops were closed because it was Sunday morning, but the streets were JAMMED with people at the market that is set up there on Sundays selling bread, cheese, vegetables, sausage, and lots of other food. We looked around a bit and hurried back to the boathouse to eat lunch. Lunch was couscous, vegetables, sausage and lamb. I hated the lamb- it had lots of fat still stuck to it, but the rest of the food was great. After lunch we boarded a boat for a two and a half hour tour of the lake, which was fun. It gave me more time to talk to all the people I met. I spent a long time talking with the South African girl, who came to France knowing nothing eight months ago- and by nothing I mean that she learned "bonjour" in the airport. I spent most of my time this weekend with the kids who aren't from the US- I see enough Americans at home. The Australian girls were all very sweet and very fun. All three of them are blond and gorgeous. They've been here eight months and so we discussed the gaining weight issue. One of them gained around eight kilos, but just lost two, another gained ten kilos, and the other gained nothing at all- she's clearly the anomaly. I've never seen the area from the water, except for swimming, it was a beautiful ride.

When we got back we all ran an bought icecream- spreading our among the ten or so ice cream shops in the first few blocks of the old town. Zara and I along with a Canadian girl walked a little further- we know the area well. We were looking for a shop no one had been to yet when we ran into Hagen Daas. Zara has lived here eight months and never been in (neither have I) because its twice as expensive as all the other places, but we decided to go in as a treat- it was worth it.

One night is way too short for this type of weekend! My host sister, Marion, has told me that in the US they always had two night trips and even they seemed too short. But since some of our schools here have school on Saturdays ours aren't even that long. I had so much fun and I can't wait to see everyone again. I forgot my camera, but hopefully people will email me pics to put up.