Here I am, back in Seattle. Its a little bit of a shock to me back, but everythinghas gone very well. My flight was very long, and my last plane was delayedthree hours, so I got in around mignight instead of 9pm. I've been spendingmy time unpacking, reading Harry Potter, seeing my friends, and watchinglots of American TV, which is SO MUCH BETTER than French TV. Now that its 'week #2' back home, I've had to start making my life normal. I'm going tobe babysitting several times a week for a family, which is going to get mesome money, but I'm also looking for a "real" job. One of the strangest thingsabout being back home is that not much has changed, my life seems the sameas before, my friends and my town seem aged a bit, but not much is different.I suppose I'll notice more distinct changes after school starts and everythings settled.
I miss my friends a lot, and I miss speaking French. Its unbelievableto me that everyone is talking in English, it gets quite confusing. All inall, life is going good.
I'm ending this blog now that my year is over, if you ever have any comments or questions, email me at futura1187@hotmail.com.
My mom has posted a bunch of pictures from our trip on her blog if you'd like to see.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Today is my last day in France, and I am very depressed.
This past week has been fairly busy, its been a great "last week". On the first day back I sat around with my parents with nothing to do, and in the afternoon, my friend Gilles saved me from dying of boredom by coming all the way to Menthon, where I was staying, to meet my parents and go to the beach with us. There were lots of fireworks at night too. The next day was Bastille Day, which was a lot of fun for me. I went to a party at my friend Maxime's house. He lives way out in the country and we played badminton and had a big fire and burned their schoolwork from last year. The next day I went in town a bit with my friend Amandine, and then I missed the bus home and had to spend some hours in town with 5 euros and nothing to do. Once I got home I packed up some stuff and finished things that needed to be finished. My friend Colombe spent the night, and there was also an American boy visiting my host brother this week, so everyone has been talking in English. Yesterday, I spent the day in town with my mom, doing my last day of shopping. We bought cookbooks and clothes and all sorts of stuff. I also got to meet my friend William and say goodbye. We ate dinner at my first host families house last night, and I had a great time. Their daughter who was in South Dakota was back, and I was happy to talk to her and Marion. Today I came to my house, packed up with my mom, cried a bit, and am now sitting in front of the computer. We should be going water skiing this afternoon and then ill sit around and mope a bit more. Tomorrow at 11am I'll be on the plane.
What a great year.
This past week has been fairly busy, its been a great "last week". On the first day back I sat around with my parents with nothing to do, and in the afternoon, my friend Gilles saved me from dying of boredom by coming all the way to Menthon, where I was staying, to meet my parents and go to the beach with us. There were lots of fireworks at night too. The next day was Bastille Day, which was a lot of fun for me. I went to a party at my friend Maxime's house. He lives way out in the country and we played badminton and had a big fire and burned their schoolwork from last year. The next day I went in town a bit with my friend Amandine, and then I missed the bus home and had to spend some hours in town with 5 euros and nothing to do. Once I got home I packed up some stuff and finished things that needed to be finished. My friend Colombe spent the night, and there was also an American boy visiting my host brother this week, so everyone has been talking in English. Yesterday, I spent the day in town with my mom, doing my last day of shopping. We bought cookbooks and clothes and all sorts of stuff. I also got to meet my friend William and say goodbye. We ate dinner at my first host families house last night, and I had a great time. Their daughter who was in South Dakota was back, and I was happy to talk to her and Marion. Today I came to my house, packed up with my mom, cried a bit, and am now sitting in front of the computer. We should be going water skiing this afternoon and then ill sit around and mope a bit more. Tomorrow at 11am I'll be on the plane.
What a great year.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
trip
I'm back in Annecy! Sorry for the lack of posts as I traveled around Italy and France with my parents, I managed to find computers several times, but never had the energy to write about all that was going on. Heres the (brief) review of our trip... or what I can remember of it
day 1: Train to Paris. got there and it was pouring rain. Our hotel had the best location ever... top floor of a hospital across the street from Notre Dame. Its a secret place, not expensive at all.
day 2: Walked to the Louvre in the morning. Spent the rest of the day shopping, walking through places. I climbed the tower at Notre Dame with my mom as well, and in the early evening we climbed the tour d'eiffel. The weather was super hot... but out hotel had a/c.
day 3: met up with my penpal, Camille, who lives in northern France in Lille and her parents. They drove 4 hours to see us! We went to Montmartre (where Amelie and Moulin Rouge take place) and saw the Sacre Coeur then took the metro to the Champs-Elsees and walked around. It was really too hot, we all got burned. I also went to Shakespeare and Company bookstore at night and walked to the Luxembourg Gardens and Parthenon.
day 4: Musee d'Orsay. I loved that museum, I really like impressionism. Mom and I went to Le Marais in the afternoon and shopped, my dad did something. At night we met up with my host sister, Emilie, who lives in Paris for dinner. It was fun to see her and hear her talk in English.
day 5: flight to Rome. Kinda a stressful flight, Ryanair is cheap, but not convenient. Il faisait trop chaud. In the afternoon I left my parents and went to my friend Flaminias house. I was so happy to see her, she was an exchange student at VHS the year before last. The two of us sat around in her hot hot hot apartment and she studied for huge tests she had to take and we gossipped quite a lot.
day 6: met up with my parents in the morning and went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peters. In the afternoon I walked them all around Rome and we saw the Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, and the Parthenon, amongst other things. Then I went back to Flami's house.
day 7: Flami and I were woken up by her cellphone... two guys from my school in the US were calling to say they were in town (they wanted to stay at her house). We went and picked up Sam and Bobby and went swimming in the pool at Flamis apartment. Did I mention how hot it was?? Really hot. In the afternoon Flaminia had plans so Bobby, Sam, and I walked all over Rome together for hours and hours. We got very tired (and they hadn't slept in 30 hours) but had such a fun time. I was so happy to get to see them and talk to them.
day 8: Early, early, early train to Florence. I had stayed up late talking to Flaminia, so I only got about 2 hours of sleep. We got to Florence by 10:30ish and went to the Uffizi at 12. It was beautiful at first, but I got burnt out really fast. After two hours we went back and crashed at the hotel. We slept through our 5pm reservations at the Accedemia. Oops.
day 9: climbed up the Duomo, which was pretty impressive. Then we saw another museum, the Bargello, which was very nice as well, but by this point in the trip I was getting museum fatigue. The afternoon my mom and I spent shopping and then we finished out the day relaxing in the courtyard at the hotel.
day 10: trains to Vernazza. Vernazza is on the Cinque Terre, which is filled with American tourists. It was so beautiful, a tiny town right on the sea. Our hotel was actually a little apartment, so we had this beautiful rooftop terrace. I sat around a lot, read a little by the water, and relaxed.
day 11: We decided to hike the 90 minutes to the next town, Monterosso. We had heard it was a hard hike... but it was even harder than I thought. And it was in the sun. There was a beautiful beach in Monterosso though, and we had a great time. Then we had to walk back, and this time it was in the afternoon, when the sun was even hotter. I nearly died.
day 12: Train to Villefranche-sur-Mer, a town right next to Nice on the French Riviera. Afternoon spent on the beach, then we had dinner in town.
day 13: Toured through the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild, an AMAZING mansion near Villefranche with acres and acres of beautiful gardens. Spent the afternoon on the beach again.
day 14: Took the bus to Monaco, which was beautiful, clean, and super luxurious. We walked all around and looked at the Yachts and houses... its astounding that people LIVE like that. Mom and I toured the Palace. Prince Albert is coronated or something this week, so they were decorating everthing. Dad went back to the Hotel and Mom and I took the bus to Eze, this town on top of a mountain, the veiws were great, and on top of this mountain-town was an exotic garden filled with cacti. Then I went to the beach again.
day 15: Woke up to a huge thunderstorm with lots of hail. The hotel courtyard was nearly flooded. We took the bus to Nice and walked throught the market and explored the beach. Most shops were closed because it was a Sunday. Beach in the afternoon (imagine that).
day 16: left Villefranche and rented a car in Nice. We drove up to Aix-en-Provence for lunch and looked around there for several hours. Then we drove to Gap. A friend of my mom married a Frenchman and now lives there with him and their two young sons. In Gap we saw a little concert at a Chateau and spent lots of time sitting around and talking.
day 17: relaxed in Gap in the morning and then drove up to Annecy. I was scared to go back to Annecy... going back means going home. We stayed at my Gospel Choir directors house, my family know them pretty well because they visited Seattle for Christmas. It felt good to get back to Annecy, but I'm psychologically quite confused about leaving.
The trip was fantastic. Now here we are, in Annecy. I'm staying with my parents right now because my host family is out of town, but I'll get to go "home" to my host house tomorrow. Tomorrow is also Bastille Day in France, and my dad leaves tomorrow morning. I've hit a really weird awkward place in the exchange where I no longer live here and I'm not yet home.
day 1: Train to Paris. got there and it was pouring rain. Our hotel had the best location ever... top floor of a hospital across the street from Notre Dame. Its a secret place, not expensive at all.
day 2: Walked to the Louvre in the morning. Spent the rest of the day shopping, walking through places. I climbed the tower at Notre Dame with my mom as well, and in the early evening we climbed the tour d'eiffel. The weather was super hot... but out hotel had a/c.
day 3: met up with my penpal, Camille, who lives in northern France in Lille and her parents. They drove 4 hours to see us! We went to Montmartre (where Amelie and Moulin Rouge take place) and saw the Sacre Coeur then took the metro to the Champs-Elsees and walked around. It was really too hot, we all got burned. I also went to Shakespeare and Company bookstore at night and walked to the Luxembourg Gardens and Parthenon.
day 4: Musee d'Orsay. I loved that museum, I really like impressionism. Mom and I went to Le Marais in the afternoon and shopped, my dad did something. At night we met up with my host sister, Emilie, who lives in Paris for dinner. It was fun to see her and hear her talk in English.
day 5: flight to Rome. Kinda a stressful flight, Ryanair is cheap, but not convenient. Il faisait trop chaud. In the afternoon I left my parents and went to my friend Flaminias house. I was so happy to see her, she was an exchange student at VHS the year before last. The two of us sat around in her hot hot hot apartment and she studied for huge tests she had to take and we gossipped quite a lot.
day 6: met up with my parents in the morning and went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peters. In the afternoon I walked them all around Rome and we saw the Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, and the Parthenon, amongst other things. Then I went back to Flami's house.
day 7: Flami and I were woken up by her cellphone... two guys from my school in the US were calling to say they were in town (they wanted to stay at her house). We went and picked up Sam and Bobby and went swimming in the pool at Flamis apartment. Did I mention how hot it was?? Really hot. In the afternoon Flaminia had plans so Bobby, Sam, and I walked all over Rome together for hours and hours. We got very tired (and they hadn't slept in 30 hours) but had such a fun time. I was so happy to get to see them and talk to them.
day 8: Early, early, early train to Florence. I had stayed up late talking to Flaminia, so I only got about 2 hours of sleep. We got to Florence by 10:30ish and went to the Uffizi at 12. It was beautiful at first, but I got burnt out really fast. After two hours we went back and crashed at the hotel. We slept through our 5pm reservations at the Accedemia. Oops.
day 9: climbed up the Duomo, which was pretty impressive. Then we saw another museum, the Bargello, which was very nice as well, but by this point in the trip I was getting museum fatigue. The afternoon my mom and I spent shopping and then we finished out the day relaxing in the courtyard at the hotel.
day 10: trains to Vernazza. Vernazza is on the Cinque Terre, which is filled with American tourists. It was so beautiful, a tiny town right on the sea. Our hotel was actually a little apartment, so we had this beautiful rooftop terrace. I sat around a lot, read a little by the water, and relaxed.
day 11: We decided to hike the 90 minutes to the next town, Monterosso. We had heard it was a hard hike... but it was even harder than I thought. And it was in the sun. There was a beautiful beach in Monterosso though, and we had a great time. Then we had to walk back, and this time it was in the afternoon, when the sun was even hotter. I nearly died.
day 12: Train to Villefranche-sur-Mer, a town right next to Nice on the French Riviera. Afternoon spent on the beach, then we had dinner in town.
day 13: Toured through the Villa et Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild, an AMAZING mansion near Villefranche with acres and acres of beautiful gardens. Spent the afternoon on the beach again.
day 14: Took the bus to Monaco, which was beautiful, clean, and super luxurious. We walked all around and looked at the Yachts and houses... its astounding that people LIVE like that. Mom and I toured the Palace. Prince Albert is coronated or something this week, so they were decorating everthing. Dad went back to the Hotel and Mom and I took the bus to Eze, this town on top of a mountain, the veiws were great, and on top of this mountain-town was an exotic garden filled with cacti. Then I went to the beach again.
day 15: Woke up to a huge thunderstorm with lots of hail. The hotel courtyard was nearly flooded. We took the bus to Nice and walked throught the market and explored the beach. Most shops were closed because it was a Sunday. Beach in the afternoon (imagine that).
day 16: left Villefranche and rented a car in Nice. We drove up to Aix-en-Provence for lunch and looked around there for several hours. Then we drove to Gap. A friend of my mom married a Frenchman and now lives there with him and their two young sons. In Gap we saw a little concert at a Chateau and spent lots of time sitting around and talking.
day 17: relaxed in Gap in the morning and then drove up to Annecy. I was scared to go back to Annecy... going back means going home. We stayed at my Gospel Choir directors house, my family know them pretty well because they visited Seattle for Christmas. It felt good to get back to Annecy, but I'm psychologically quite confused about leaving.
The trip was fantastic. Now here we are, in Annecy. I'm staying with my parents right now because my host family is out of town, but I'll get to go "home" to my host house tomorrow. Tomorrow is also Bastille Day in France, and my dad leaves tomorrow morning. I've hit a really weird awkward place in the exchange where I no longer live here and I'm not yet home.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Busy busy busy, I need to be packing right now! My parents came in Thursday afternoon and we've spent the next couple days racing around Annecy seeing host families, school, the town, etc. We were supposed to waterski today but the weather was too windy in the morning, our day ended up being pretty packed anyway (apperitifs at my first host families house, lunch at my gospel instructors, and coffee at my friend Sophies). Now I have three hours to pack EVERYTHING. At 7 I'll go into town for a goodbye dinner with about 15 friends, we're eating frogs legs. Tomorrow morning at 8:13 I'll be on a train to Paris with my parents. We'll be back in Annecy the 12th.
Wow.
Wow.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
birds on fire
birds on fire
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Yesterday was the fete de la Musique. All over France on the first day of summer there are free concerts. Its amazing in Annecy, this was probably the best night of the year. I saw a bazillion people I knew, ran all over town all night seeing different concerts, and sang with my gospel choir for the last time. It was truly a night to remember. It was also Molly's last night in Annecy, its such a great way for her to have ended her year.
fallen angels
fallen angels
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Maite had a friend in this band (the girl), so we had to stop by and see it, it was a rock band called Fallen Angels.
world music
world music
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
World Music I went and saw w/ Eric, Savannah, Maite, and Sophie.
native americans
native americans
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Native Americans performing on the streets of Annecy.
les lutins greluts
les lutins greluts
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
This was crazy, amazing French music. It was so happy and fun, everyone was really into it. I went with Sophie before we went and sang in our Gospel concert (which went fairly well). Everyone at this concert was jumping around into each other and singing and clapping, it was like a cheerful moshpit.
fish liver oil
fish liver oil
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
The last band I saw, at 12:30am, with Molly, Maite, Rachel, Florence, Cilia, and Gilles. This is the second time I've seen them, and the second time the electricity has cut out in the middle. I will have "Gay Bar" running through my head for the next week.
brazilians
brazilians
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
I was walking with the other exchange students to the veille ville, when we heard music at around 1:30, when everything else was over, we went and followed it and found a huge parade of hundreds of people dancing in the streets behind brazilian drummers. It was amazing. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it was too dark to take pictures of the crowd.
breakdancers
breakdancers
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
This is quite dark, but these are breakdancers we saw outside the town hall at around 2:30 this morning.
Friday, June 17, 2005
I haven't written in a while because I was too daunted to write the epic tale of my trip to Paris. It was nice. Lets leave it at that. I had a great time, and if you want to know about it, email me, but I'm way too lazy to write it all down now!
I've hit my final week of liberty, my final week alone with out my parents. I've tried to keep it pretty filled up with things to do, people to see. I don't want to feel like I've wasted the little bit of summer I was given here. My week:
Fri-Mon: Paris with my host parents. We stayed at my host sisters apartment, went to a birthday party, walked around a lot...
Tues: Met up with Molly who had just returned from her bus trip. We shopped, attempted to make train reservations, and then met up with Eric, Maite, Tannia, and some other girl for coffee/cocoa. We also saw Teresa and Yolanda, Mexican exchanges who were at St. Michel with me. They left the next day, so it was the big au revoir.
Weds: Met up with a friend, Matthieu. We went and saw "Les Poupees Russes", the sequel to "L'Auberge Espagnol" (which I saw on TV the night before). I loved them both. The people in them are people like me... and the movies are in multiple languages, its so exciting to be able to understand the French and English completely, and I understood the Spanish a bit too. The Russian... non.
Thurs: Went to my friend Sophie's. We sat around and talked and then watched six or seven episodes of Friends (V.O., bien sur!), we'ed been planning all year on having a huge marathon, but never found the time. After that we went shopping in town and went on to gospel. At night Hugo had a barbecue with some of his neighborhood friends. We ate good food and swam in the pool at 11pm (the pool was 25°C... so nice).
Fri: Met up with my friend Gilles for lunch and also saw some other random friends when I was waiting for him. It was really hot today, we sat on the Paquier and talked and talked in English and read the Stranger for a couple of hours.
Sat: Rotary thing.
Sun: Waterskiing and then camping...?
Mon: ?
Tues: Fete de la Musique
Weds: ?
Thurs: Parents come.
Wow. Do you see how fast this is going?
I've hit my final week of liberty, my final week alone with out my parents. I've tried to keep it pretty filled up with things to do, people to see. I don't want to feel like I've wasted the little bit of summer I was given here. My week:
Fri-Mon: Paris with my host parents. We stayed at my host sisters apartment, went to a birthday party, walked around a lot...
Tues: Met up with Molly who had just returned from her bus trip. We shopped, attempted to make train reservations, and then met up with Eric, Maite, Tannia, and some other girl for coffee/cocoa. We also saw Teresa and Yolanda, Mexican exchanges who were at St. Michel with me. They left the next day, so it was the big au revoir.
Weds: Met up with a friend, Matthieu. We went and saw "Les Poupees Russes", the sequel to "L'Auberge Espagnol" (which I saw on TV the night before). I loved them both. The people in them are people like me... and the movies are in multiple languages, its so exciting to be able to understand the French and English completely, and I understood the Spanish a bit too. The Russian... non.
Thurs: Went to my friend Sophie's. We sat around and talked and then watched six or seven episodes of Friends (V.O., bien sur!), we'ed been planning all year on having a huge marathon, but never found the time. After that we went shopping in town and went on to gospel. At night Hugo had a barbecue with some of his neighborhood friends. We ate good food and swam in the pool at 11pm (the pool was 25°C... so nice).
Fri: Met up with my friend Gilles for lunch and also saw some other random friends when I was waiting for him. It was really hot today, we sat on the Paquier and talked and talked in English and read the Stranger for a couple of hours.
Sat: Rotary thing.
Sun: Waterskiing and then camping...?
Mon: ?
Tues: Fete de la Musique
Weds: ?
Thurs: Parents come.
Wow. Do you see how fast this is going?
Friday, June 10, 2005
On Tuesday night I went to the Festival de l'Animation with Eric, the Canadian. Annecy is the host to the International Animated Film Festival, aka. the biggest Animated Film Festival in the world, and its been pretty fun. We met up at around 7:30 in Bonlieu and looked around a little (well, I looked around, Eric is a volunteer at the festival, and he's been hanging around all week). Then we headed out to the Paquier. Each night this week they have a free concert followed by a film, and by early evening people were already starting to arrive. All my French friends were at home studying for the Bac, as were Erics, so we went and made new friends. We talked to two Israeli couples who had made a short film in the festival. I think thats the first time I've talked to people from Israel. They were extremely interesting and very cool. Their movie (Smile) premiered yesterday, and will be on Saturday also, I wasn't able to see it. Eric had managed to snag passes for the exclusive VIP party being held for the animators, directors, etc, who were at the festival. It was held on the beach of the nicest hotel in Annecy, the Imperial, and had free food and music. Quite classy... After that, we headed off to see the film, which was the old Disney Movie "The Adventurers". Before the film, a head Pixar guy talked, and we saw a short film that I think'll be turned into a movie for Disney. The Paquier was absolutely crammed with people, it was pretty amazing. Just the spirit of being there made it worth it. We also met up with Rémy, the former host brother of Tannia and Zara, and Rachel, at the film. I spent the night at Rachels after it was all done.
I LOVE this festival, and I don't want it to end! I went and saw a film yesterday afternoon as well... it wasn't very good, but I had fun all the same. It was quite random, and it was in Estonian with English subtitles... I don't think the French understood it very well. Friday and Saturday nights are going to be the crazy nights. All my friends'll be on the paquier, the concerts and movies'll be the best. Everyone'll have a little break from the Bac. Unfortunately, I'm going to Paris.
I LOVE this festival, and I don't want it to end! I went and saw a film yesterday afternoon as well... it wasn't very good, but I had fun all the same. It was quite random, and it was in Estonian with English subtitles... I don't think the French understood it very well. Friday and Saturday nights are going to be the crazy nights. All my friends'll be on the paquier, the concerts and movies'll be the best. Everyone'll have a little break from the Bac. Unfortunately, I'm going to Paris.
eric and i
eric and i
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Eric and I chilling on the Paquier in the early evening at the festival de l'Animation.
soiree a la plage
soiree a la plage
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Eric eating dinner. The VIP party was on the beach of the nicest hotel in Annecy. The food was free and quite good. (La classe...)
blurry food
blurry food
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
I know this is blurry, I just want to prove I was there too. (Me, eating dinner at the soiree)
festival d'annecy
festival d'annecy
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Eric standing next to a sign at the soiree at the Imperial
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Monday, June 06, 2005
Today I looked out my classroom window and saw Anne-Sophie, the daughter of my first host family who was in Sioux Falls, SD this year. She came back yesterday, and there she was, outside of my school, surrounded by her friends. She and I lived together for the first week of my exchange, when neither of us could talk the other's language very well (or in my place, at all). When she was in South Dakota, we'd talk every now and then online, just to see how the other was doing. As soon as the bell rang I raced out of the class and out to see her. We grabbed each other and kissed each others cheeks and started talking in two languages at once. It was really exciting, she looks great, and she seemed so happy to see her friends. She wanted to show me all her pictures but I had to go home for lunch. I think we're going to try and get together sometime in the next few weeks to gossip over our experiences.
Tomorrow is the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. And I'm a little upset, because I realized that the ES classes are going to school in the afternoon, and mine is going in the morning. Now I won't be able to properly say goodbye to everyone in the other classes. I'm sure I'll run into people in town, but its a little disappointing.
BUT I'm going to the Festival de l'Animation tomorrow. And that will be fun, I know!
Tomorrow is the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. And I'm a little upset, because I realized that the ES classes are going to school in the afternoon, and mine is going in the morning. Now I won't be able to properly say goodbye to everyone in the other classes. I'm sure I'll run into people in town, but its a little disappointing.
BUT I'm going to the Festival de l'Animation tomorrow. And that will be fun, I know!
Saturday, June 04, 2005
picnic at Mme Suchet's
picnic at Mme Suchet's
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
On Thursday night after school my class, 1L, went to the house of our French teacher for a end of the year picnic. We ate lots of food, talked, played tag, hide and seek, and this cool game called tomate. I love these kids.
le bébé Najar
le bébé Najar
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Our History teacher's new baby, all us girls were cooing over him all night long.
Vivi et Alex
Vivi et Alex
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Virginia makes Alexandre more manly by drawing him a moustache during history class.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
This week has been pretty laid back, normal. EXCEPT that it is my last full week in school here, which makes it a little sad. Everyone else is super excited to get out of school (even if it means they'll be at home studying for the Bac) but for me its depressing. It means this is the end. I had my mom order a French flag online (I couldn't find one in France) and on Monday, I brought it to school to have my friends start signing it. At first my mom bought a flag that was 3x4 feet, and I told her that was too small. Then, when my big 5x4 foot flag came I realized maybe it was too big. Now I'm glad I asked for the big one, I had no idea how much my friends would write. About half of the things say "I'm glad to have met you, hope to see you again" but the other half amaze me. Some of these people really know me... and the things they say are so sweet. I've realized that I don't have enough space for them to write just on the white and red, so now I need to find a pen that'll write over the dark blue.
The sun is shining, I have no school this afternoon, and I think I'm going to go in the pool!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! And Happy Birthday to Philippe (my host dad) too!
The sun is shining, I have no school this afternoon, and I think I'm going to go in the pool!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! And Happy Birthday to Philippe (my host dad) too!
Sunday, May 29, 2005
One thing that has become a huge part of being in France right now is the vote for the European Constitution, and I've completely neglected to mention it. Really, its something that is very highly debated here. I started out thinking we needed a "non" vote, and now I'm for the "oui" side. I can probably talk about this subject for hours, I've listened to a billion people fight over it. I think its good that its controversial, and not a clear cut "oui", if you think about it, this is a CONSTITUTION. Not just a law. Its a very big deal, and its important that people know what they are doing when they are voting for it. Like I said, at first I believed that they should vote "non". I have many reasons for thinking this way, and the main one is that the constitution is 500 pages long, and extremely complex. Its virtually unreadable, and I've heard that one of the points of making this constitution was to bring the people more into the process of creating the union. If the people can't even understand the document, this clearly isn't working. Its important that it be simpler and less complicated, people need to know what they are saying oui to before they say oui.
In my class we had a little vote last week, the first run we had eight "oui" votes, eight "non" votes and one "ouon". Next try we had nine "oui" votes. I voted "non".
Now my mind has changed. I still think that the document is too complex, but I've realized how important it is that France accepts this constitution and doesn't close its self off to the rest of Europe. Saying no would be a major setback to the European Union and to France.
Today, after swimming, boating, and a barbecue with some of my friends, I went with my host parents to vote. We went into the place and there was a table with stacks of paper. One "oui" stack, one "non" stack and a bunch of brown envelopes. You take one of each and go into the little stalls and put the one you chose in the envelope. Then you go to the front, sign your name, and drop in in the box. Since my host sister is in Paris, my host dad had a paper that said he could vote for her. I probably broke a few laws, but I did Emilie's for her, I put the "oui" paper in the envelope. So, now I can say I "voted" for the European Constitution.
In my class we had a little vote last week, the first run we had eight "oui" votes, eight "non" votes and one "ouon". Next try we had nine "oui" votes. I voted "non".
Now my mind has changed. I still think that the document is too complex, but I've realized how important it is that France accepts this constitution and doesn't close its self off to the rest of Europe. Saying no would be a major setback to the European Union and to France.
Today, after swimming, boating, and a barbecue with some of my friends, I went with my host parents to vote. We went into the place and there was a table with stacks of paper. One "oui" stack, one "non" stack and a bunch of brown envelopes. You take one of each and go into the little stalls and put the one you chose in the envelope. Then you go to the front, sign your name, and drop in in the box. Since my host sister is in Paris, my host dad had a paper that said he could vote for her. I probably broke a few laws, but I did Emilie's for her, I put the "oui" paper in the envelope. So, now I can say I "voted" for the European Constitution.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Its been a fairly busy week, on Wednesday night an American came and ate dinner with us, which was a strange experience for me, because my host family spoke entirely in English for an evening. It made me realize how different I am in English because I'm so much more proficient in it, I had a lot more control in the conversation, it was like my host brother and I switched places. I wasn't the one responding when spoken to, but adding my own ideas. Its nice to do that every now and then, it makes me remember I'm not a vegetable.
Thursday night I had an "American Night" with the other American at my school, we presented our Rotary presentation to about 35 students and teachers from our school. We also had food for them to eat- jello, chocolate chip cookies, oreos, jelly beans, tootsie rolls, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popcorn, etc. They loved the food. I think I did my presentation a lot better the time I did it for the Rotary. It was stressful to do it in front of my friends, and it was very hot, and I was so tired. And after that I went to gospel... long long day.
Friday night I went with my friends to the 24 heures de Natation, a benefit put on by my school. I believe the money goes to a hospital for the diabetic and disabled (or something) it goes to a good cause, thats one thing I'm sure of. Anyway, the whole deal is that the pool is open all night long, from 1 pm Friday to 1 pm Saturday. I ended up going from 8:30-10:30pm on Friday night, and then again this morning with my english class from 8:30-10am. Some people stayed the whole night, and they said it was extremely annoying because the pool decks were uncomfortable to sleep on, and the teachers kept waking them up because SOMEONE has to be swimming at all times. There was food, and a DJ that played music till 11pm. Then he started again the next morning. It was really a fun experience. One irritating thing was that in a HUGE pool(length= 50 m), with probably six big lanes, only two were open, because we didn't pay for more than two. And if you slipped into lane three, you got yelled at. My school is fairly large, and it was EXTREMELY hot out, so there was a bazillion people there. We were pretty much swimming on top of each other. This morning was more tranquil.
Today I went back to the pool in the morning, then I had Course d'Orientation from 10-12, running in the woods in such hot weather wasn't great fun. I figured I did pretty well today too, but our group ended up getting a 12/20... disappointing. I ate with my host family in town, and then my friend (and Hugo's) William came over. He played his guitar with Hugo on the drums and then played the drums. I was impressed, he was quite good. Then we swam (again! it is hot) and now, tonight I'm going to one of Hugo's friend's houses for dinner. He was going by himself... but his parents are eating at someones house, so I wouldn't have anyone or any food to eat, so I'll be tagging along on boy's night.
(Tomorrow: Mother's Day and the Oui/Non vote on the European Constitution... i have a lot to say about that, and I'll write about it.)
Thursday night I had an "American Night" with the other American at my school, we presented our Rotary presentation to about 35 students and teachers from our school. We also had food for them to eat- jello, chocolate chip cookies, oreos, jelly beans, tootsie rolls, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, popcorn, etc. They loved the food. I think I did my presentation a lot better the time I did it for the Rotary. It was stressful to do it in front of my friends, and it was very hot, and I was so tired. And after that I went to gospel... long long day.
Friday night I went with my friends to the 24 heures de Natation, a benefit put on by my school. I believe the money goes to a hospital for the diabetic and disabled (or something) it goes to a good cause, thats one thing I'm sure of. Anyway, the whole deal is that the pool is open all night long, from 1 pm Friday to 1 pm Saturday. I ended up going from 8:30-10:30pm on Friday night, and then again this morning with my english class from 8:30-10am. Some people stayed the whole night, and they said it was extremely annoying because the pool decks were uncomfortable to sleep on, and the teachers kept waking them up because SOMEONE has to be swimming at all times. There was food, and a DJ that played music till 11pm. Then he started again the next morning. It was really a fun experience. One irritating thing was that in a HUGE pool(length= 50 m), with probably six big lanes, only two were open, because we didn't pay for more than two. And if you slipped into lane three, you got yelled at. My school is fairly large, and it was EXTREMELY hot out, so there was a bazillion people there. We were pretty much swimming on top of each other. This morning was more tranquil.
Today I went back to the pool in the morning, then I had Course d'Orientation from 10-12, running in the woods in such hot weather wasn't great fun. I figured I did pretty well today too, but our group ended up getting a 12/20... disappointing. I ate with my host family in town, and then my friend (and Hugo's) William came over. He played his guitar with Hugo on the drums and then played the drums. I was impressed, he was quite good. Then we swam (again! it is hot) and now, tonight I'm going to one of Hugo's friend's houses for dinner. He was going by himself... but his parents are eating at someones house, so I wouldn't have anyone or any food to eat, so I'll be tagging along on boy's night.
(Tomorrow: Mother's Day and the Oui/Non vote on the European Constitution... i have a lot to say about that, and I'll write about it.)
Monday, May 23, 2005
Sunday, May 22, 2005
I'm completely exhausted, this weekend has been too busy for me. On Friday I went out to dinner with Eric and his friends. Eric has two friends from Canada visiting Annecy for about a week, I ate lunch with them on Thursday and laughed like crazy, they are funny kids. And its extremely bizarre to hear Eric talking in English, he sounds different, and his sense of humor seems different in his native language. So on Friday night I went out and ate mexican food with Eric, the two Vancouver boys, the two mexican girls, maite, and eight of his French friends from school. We had a great night, eating lots of Chicken Fajitas and talking in a mix of French, English, and Spanish.
On Saturday, I got out of school to go sing at a wedding with my gospel choir. I personally didn't think we did a fantastic job, but we didn't ruin the wedding. It was just fun to be there, singing and hanging out with my friend Sophie. We ate a picnic lunch near la Visitation, a church in Annecy, and then spent the afternoon at St. Michel. We spent the afternoon doing a "workshop" where we worked more intensively on some songs, watched a gospel DVD, ate lots of food, etc. I thought I knew my school pretty well, but apparently I was wrong. We sang in the chapel, which I never even knew existed. It's located on the top floor of the old yellow school building, where the sixièmes have class. And its really, really nice, I was impressed.
Last night I came home and Colombe, Hugo, and I decided to go swimming. The day had been really hot, but the night wasn't really, and the water was 18°C, which is not warm. The others kinda dipped their toes in and whined about how cold it is, I ran and jumped in. Eventually they followed suit. After that we ate pizza and decided to play monopoly, and then realized that Colombe had the monopoly game at her house. We ended up playing Trivial Persuit, despite me protesting that I could never handle it. It turned out that none of us could handle it, and we probably got about five answers out of fifty questions right, so we ended up giving up.
My mom thought she broke our digital camera a while back by dropping it in some water, and my parents went and bought a new one, then realized the old one still works. (The story gets complicated here) My gospel teacher's daughter goes to school in Montana, and ended up staying at my house in Seattle earlier this week because she had a stopover. My parents gave the old camera to me, and now I have it. I took the camera with me this weekend and took lots of pictures of gospel and eating with Eric's friends, came home, and realized that the card reader doesn't work with this computer, for some reason. Also, the battery charger doesn't work, even with my adaptors. So it looks like all my wonderful weekend pictures will just have to wait on that card for a while... which is quite dissapointing.
On Saturday, I got out of school to go sing at a wedding with my gospel choir. I personally didn't think we did a fantastic job, but we didn't ruin the wedding. It was just fun to be there, singing and hanging out with my friend Sophie. We ate a picnic lunch near la Visitation, a church in Annecy, and then spent the afternoon at St. Michel. We spent the afternoon doing a "workshop" where we worked more intensively on some songs, watched a gospel DVD, ate lots of food, etc. I thought I knew my school pretty well, but apparently I was wrong. We sang in the chapel, which I never even knew existed. It's located on the top floor of the old yellow school building, where the sixièmes have class. And its really, really nice, I was impressed.
Last night I came home and Colombe, Hugo, and I decided to go swimming. The day had been really hot, but the night wasn't really, and the water was 18°C, which is not warm. The others kinda dipped their toes in and whined about how cold it is, I ran and jumped in. Eventually they followed suit. After that we ate pizza and decided to play monopoly, and then realized that Colombe had the monopoly game at her house. We ended up playing Trivial Persuit, despite me protesting that I could never handle it. It turned out that none of us could handle it, and we probably got about five answers out of fifty questions right, so we ended up giving up.
My mom thought she broke our digital camera a while back by dropping it in some water, and my parents went and bought a new one, then realized the old one still works. (The story gets complicated here) My gospel teacher's daughter goes to school in Montana, and ended up staying at my house in Seattle earlier this week because she had a stopover. My parents gave the old camera to me, and now I have it. I took the camera with me this weekend and took lots of pictures of gospel and eating with Eric's friends, came home, and realized that the card reader doesn't work with this computer, for some reason. Also, the battery charger doesn't work, even with my adaptors. So it looks like all my wonderful weekend pictures will just have to wait on that card for a while... which is quite dissapointing.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Me, Bronwyn, Maite
Me, Bronwyn, Maite
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
On Tuesday night, Me, another American, Bronwyn, and Maite, gave presentations to our Rotary club of our hometowns. My presentation took my lots of time and work, and I was really nervous I'd completely forget how to speak French, but everything went really well.
Seattle Table
Seattle Table
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Here is my "Seattle Table" I had various Seattle related things laying out, and after my presentation people came and ate the smoked salmon my parents had sent. They loved it, the table was crowded with people.
Space Needle
Space Needle
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Me giving my presentation of Seattle. It went over really well, I was expecting them to be quiet and listen to me talk, but it was actually more interactive. They all asked questions through it, were extremely impressed by how big the city was, thought Mt. Ranier was beautiful, and booed and made lots of noise when I talked about Boeing.
Bronwyn's Presentation
Bronwyn's Presentation
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Bronwyn trading her Lander, Wyoming flag for an Annecy flag. Every Rotary club has a little flag, and all the clubs are obsessed with getting as many little flags from around the worlds as possible. My club in Annecy has a bazillion.
Maite's Presentation
Maite's Presentation
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Maite showing everyone where Bariloche is on a map of Argentina before her presentation.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Friday, May 13, 2005
Today was another exam day, I had just English in the afternoon. Last night I went and saw Tannia and Molly's Rotary Presentations, complete with cookies, guacamole, chips, lots of Mexican decorations, the singing of the US national anthem, and tequila. They both did a brilliant job, and I'm so proud of them! Mine is next Tuesday... it should be quite interesting, as I've been procrastinating a tiny bit and have barely begun. Thats what the weekend is for.
I assured my host family that I could find the bus stop and make it to Annecy in time for my test this afternoon, and got to sleep in and sit around all morning. I assummed that if I can take the bus to downtown Seattle, I can make my way from Pringy to Annecy. I was wrong. I ended up walking 10 minutes down the wrong road, and completely missed my bus. I called my friends and Hugo was astonished- how could I have possibly messed up something so easy? I felt like a little bit of a loser. Then I managed to misread the bus schedual too. I told my friends that there was no way I could make it to Annecy, because the next bus left when the test was supposed to begin. I went back to the house, got something to eat, looked at the schedual, realized I was wrong, and ran to the bus stop. My connecting bus was a little late but I managed to make it to St. Michel only twenty minutes after the test started. Not a problem though, I finished the test an hour before everyone else anyway.
Every day when we get home from school I sit down in front of the computer and Hugo sits down in front of the TV and plays video games on the X box before he goes to work. Now, he's started to teach me how to play Pro Evolution Soccer 4. Its extremely complicated, for me at least. You need to use almost all the little buttons and knobs on the controllers. After about 45 minutes today, I started getting the hang of it, and actually doing things right, which was extremely exciting for both of us... I may eventually turn into a worth opponnent for him.
Today is my host mother's birthday, a fact I learned yesterday. I'm currently debating on whether I should give her the gift my mom sent for Mother's Day today or not. Tonight my host sister, Emilie, who is at school to become an architect in Paris, will be coming home. I've never met her, so thats a little exciting. Colombe's also coming over for the night, so we'll have a pretty full house.
I assured my host family that I could find the bus stop and make it to Annecy in time for my test this afternoon, and got to sleep in and sit around all morning. I assummed that if I can take the bus to downtown Seattle, I can make my way from Pringy to Annecy. I was wrong. I ended up walking 10 minutes down the wrong road, and completely missed my bus. I called my friends and Hugo was astonished- how could I have possibly messed up something so easy? I felt like a little bit of a loser. Then I managed to misread the bus schedual too. I told my friends that there was no way I could make it to Annecy, because the next bus left when the test was supposed to begin. I went back to the house, got something to eat, looked at the schedual, realized I was wrong, and ran to the bus stop. My connecting bus was a little late but I managed to make it to St. Michel only twenty minutes after the test started. Not a problem though, I finished the test an hour before everyone else anyway.
Every day when we get home from school I sit down in front of the computer and Hugo sits down in front of the TV and plays video games on the X box before he goes to work. Now, he's started to teach me how to play Pro Evolution Soccer 4. Its extremely complicated, for me at least. You need to use almost all the little buttons and knobs on the controllers. After about 45 minutes today, I started getting the hang of it, and actually doing things right, which was extremely exciting for both of us... I may eventually turn into a worth opponnent for him.
Today is my host mother's birthday, a fact I learned yesterday. I'm currently debating on whether I should give her the gift my mom sent for Mother's Day today or not. Tonight my host sister, Emilie, who is at school to become an architect in Paris, will be coming home. I've never met her, so thats a little exciting. Colombe's also coming over for the night, so we'll have a pretty full house.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
All has been going well with my new family, I have nothing much to report on.
This week we're having les epreuves communes, tests, again. I didn't have to go to school today (the french kids took a French test for four hours). Tomorrow I have a two hour math test and then a physique/sciences de la vie et de la terre test for another hour and a half. Math'll be fine for me, I'm much more advanced than them. But science... everything on the test is something that we did at the very beginning of the year, when I payed no attention and did nothing. I'm putting forth an effort, but there is no possible way I can learn all about alimentation and procreation in one night. I only have to go to school in the afternoon on Friday to take a English test for three hours. Then Saturday I only have an hour in the morning! Its pretty nice.
Wednesday afternoon I went into town to eat with other exchange students. After listening to my ipod, Eric came to the conclusion that he had waited long enough and he had to have one of his own, at that very moment. So the two of us went to FNAC. He looked at all the other models and I convinced him the ipod was the best choice and he decided to buy it. We went to a cash machine to get money. It ate his card and then broke. We were both extremely dissappointed.
This week we're having les epreuves communes, tests, again. I didn't have to go to school today (the french kids took a French test for four hours). Tomorrow I have a two hour math test and then a physique/sciences de la vie et de la terre test for another hour and a half. Math'll be fine for me, I'm much more advanced than them. But science... everything on the test is something that we did at the very beginning of the year, when I payed no attention and did nothing. I'm putting forth an effort, but there is no possible way I can learn all about alimentation and procreation in one night. I only have to go to school in the afternoon on Friday to take a English test for three hours. Then Saturday I only have an hour in the morning! Its pretty nice.
Wednesday afternoon I went into town to eat with other exchange students. After listening to my ipod, Eric came to the conclusion that he had waited long enough and he had to have one of his own, at that very moment. So the two of us went to FNAC. He looked at all the other models and I convinced him the ipod was the best choice and he decided to buy it. We went to a cash machine to get money. It ate his card and then broke. We were both extremely dissappointed.
Hugo and Colombe
Hugo and Colombe
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
Hugo and Colombe sitting around the house last night.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Pringy, France
Pringy, France
Originally uploaded by AnnaRae.
This is the pretty countryside view of my new neighborhood, which is actually really suburban, it just happens to have a couple fields.
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