Rotary Weekend in Annecy

I wish I could tell you all that I've been absolutely wonderful these past few days, but to be completely honest, I think I am dying. I can barely breathe, I have a major sinus headache, and to top it all off, I sound like the girl in the Exorcist. Luckily, I wasn't on my deathbed until after I got back from Annecy last weekend, and since I'm sure you don't want to hear me dragging on about my dreary, plague-like symptoms, I'll talk about my Rotary weekend instead.

When I arrived at the hotel in Annecy, I was kind of nervous. All the exchange students in my district were already chatting away in their pre-formed, best-friend groups, and I didn't know anyone. At all. Does this only ever happen to me? Apparently, there was some Facebook group for my district, and all the exchange students had been chatting away for a month, but I never got the memo. Anyway, when I went to get registered, I was given a key and told to find someone who could be my roommate. Great! (sarcasm) I started walking around asking random people if they wanted to be my roommate, but they were all paired off. After being rejected many times, one girl from India named Pruthvi finally said yes. I wanted to give her a big hug right then and there, but I refrained from it to avoid looking tragically-desperate.

Pruthvi and I went to our room to unpack, and after a while of hanging out and talking, we headed back up to the main hall for the Rotary presentations on the rules and bus trips and such. I would like to take both of the bus trips (one from Paris to Barcelona, and another one throughout Europe, including the countries: France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Switzerland). I know I'll probably go on the Europe tour, but since they're both kind of expensive, I'm not sure if I'll do the Paris to Barcelona one. 

That night, we had a talent show. Pruthvi and I were late because I had to help her with her complicated costume and hair for a traditional Indian dance. After many ties and clasps and bobby pins, we were all suited up and ready to go. I ended up playing my violin and Pruthvi danced amazingly, and it was all lots of fun. 

I spent the rest of the night talking to Pruthvi. I'm so glad I ended up rooming with her, and now, she feels like an old friend. She told me all about her life in Bombay, and we compared our lives in France with our lives back at home. It was so easy to talk to her, and since we had so much to talk about, there was never a break in the conversation. 

The next morning, I got up and went to breakfast. It was amazing. I ate so much (insert_look at picture), and it was all so much fun, and everything tasted so good! I didn't even care that I had about twice as much as everyone else; I was just so happy to see a limitless expansion of the wonderful invention: buffet food!

All the exchange students went into Annecy and we broke off into our groups and wandered around. Pruthvi and I were lucky to meet Lana, an Australian girl who lives in Annecy, so she was our tour guide for the day. She took the two of us to the best ice cream place, a bakery, and the market. (Did I mention how much I like Lana?) The weather was sunny and warm, and Annecy was so pretty! Later on in the day, we took a boat ride around the lake with all the other exchange students. It was such a fun day, and we were all depressed to be heading back to our home towns and schools afterwards. 

Now that I'm back in Privas, I'm focusing on not dying so that I can go back to Annecy one day. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I was so lucky to pass an amazing weekend there!

Victory!!!

So, I really don't have too much to say today, but I really wanted to share with you all that I finally found chocolate! During a long talk with my sister, Gigi, I realized that there was a supermarket right next to the place where I go swimming for school (yes - I was completely oblivious, for I didn't notice it myself). Luckily, Gigi does her research and finds these things out for me. After school, I took a detour, found exactly what I needed, and was quite happy with my heavy backpack on my return home. For the first time since I've been in France, I majorly pigged out, and it was absolutely wonderful. This post goes out to Gigi - thanks so much for enlightening me! Even half a world away, you make my life so much better!

Too Much Smoke!

                                                      (Privas Fair)

I have been in France for exactly 4 weeks since today! That's practically a month. The thought just hit me, and I'm not even sure how I feel about it. On one hand, it feels like I've been here forever, and I'm all settled in and I now my neighborhood. However, these 4 weeks have gone by incredibly quickly, and I'm starting to realize my year will pass in a flash. In these past couple weeks, I've learned a lot about the French, the similarities and differences of French vs. American living, the language, the culture, and myself. I've decided to dedicate this blog to all of these topics, and believe me, they will not fit all in one entry, so I'm keeping a notebook so I can share my thoughts on these aspects along with the things I do throughout the year.

My French has improved since the time I arrived, but becoming fluent still seems like the impossible dream right now. I mostly understand my host family (mainly because they dumb so much down for me), but I still hardly understand people in school. It's so boring when you're sitting at a desk for up to 9 hours a day with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Some people make an effort to talk to me, but I have no close friends, and my correspondent has kind of ditched me altogether. For most of the day, I day dream and practice vocab words. I've had so many people tell me to just listen and pay attention, but honestly, it's impossible to focus your thoughts on lecture after lecture when you're cranky and tired and you don't know what anyone's saying. Rotary tells you that you'll be fluent by January, but right now, it's hard for me to think I will ever be bilingual.

One of the major differences between France and America is that people smoke here all the time. I cannot stand the smell of cigarettes, and everyday, I have someone's cigarette smoke blowing right in my face. And - I really don't think it's fair that during school, the smokers can leave the grounds during free periods and lunch, but the non-smokers can't. Smokers seem to get all the privileges here, and the rest of us (a minority) have to adhere to the majority's rules regardless. By far, this is one of my least favorite cultural changes here, but I'm learning to live with it.

On Sunday, I went to the Privas fair with Antoine, his friend, and another family friend. The fair was pretty similar to a fair back at home, but again, all the smoking was too much for me! The family friend who took us smelled of cigarettes and body odor, and by the end of the day, I was feeling a bit nauseas and was glad to come back to my smoke-free, odorless home. By the way, can I just say that I miss coming home to the smell of baked goods every day? I really do.

This week at school is going by pretty slowly with not much to report. I made chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes, eggs, and bacon for my family for dinner on Monday, and it all turned out to be a success. Fun fact: there's no such thing as buttermilk in France, so we had to make our own by mixing milk and white vinegar. The pancakes tasted delicious (if I do say so myself), and it was nice to eat something sweet and familiar.

Continuing with this food topic: the food is another big change here, but unlike the smoking, I like this change quite a lot. Almost everything we eat here is made in Ardèche (my region): milk, cheese, bread, fruit, meat, etc. If it's not, it's made somewhere close to home in France, and I've decided it just tastes so much better this way! I like that everything is fresh and flavorful, and we barely eat any processed food, which I suppose is good (even though I'm still on the lookout for mass-produced chocolate). For all of those who have been giving me advice on how to procure these elusive items (ahm – Gigi) thank you and keep me posted if you think of anything else. Right now, I have absolutely zero food hidden in my room, and I'm starting to get a bit panicky.

Not much else to say right now. I'm super excited for this weekend (my first Rotary Conference with other exchange students) in Annecy. There are no other exchange students in Privas, so I'm looking forward to meeting all the other students in my district and hearing their stories. (And I looked up pictures of Annecy, and it looks gorgeous, so there's always that aspect of being excited to go too.) I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and I'll update you soon!

Chocolate Worries

                           (On a hike through the hills surrounding Privas)

Hi everybody! Sorry it's been so long since my last blog. I was in one of those mind-frames where I didn't want to do anything, and when I actually sat down yesterday to start writing, I was whisked away for some day-long adventures. Here's what you missed:

On Wednesday, I had swimming for two hours. I was hoping to get out of it because I didn't have a one-piece bathing suit, but when I told the gym teacher, he said it wasn't a problem. Darn.

Thursday was really, really slow. I had 3.5 hours in the middle of the school day where I had absolutely nothing to do. I spent all of it reading Nat Geo in the library, using my teensy little dictionary as a translator. It took forever to get through one article, but I really wanted to know what it was talking about! The article was about an elephant sanctuary in Kenya, and I decided I want to work for something similar in the future.

Friday was all good except for French class. Two hours at the end of the day with my least favorite teacher is mildly painful. I usually don't bother taking notes unless the teacher writes something down on the blackboard. Well, my teacher, M. Saint-Clair, wrote down some notes on the board, so I copied it down. When he saw me doing this, he called me out for writing down what he was writing – which if you ask me is just weird. Why else would you bother writing something down? I stopped writing mid-word and just sat afterwards. Then, about 15 min. later, he called me out again in front of the class for day dreaming. So sorry. What does he want me to do – turn into a vegetable? He really bugs me a lot, and I didn't even bother writing down the homework assignment at the end of class. So ha.

I walked home from school at 3 and decided to take out my violin when I got home. I changed my strings, took out a few pieces, and played for a while. I really like playing here, and it makes me feel more productive than if I just sit down and stare at the t.v. for a while. Charlotte came home about 2 hours after me, and she asked me if I wanted to go to another party. No – but I said yes because I don't feel like I'm in the position to turn invitations down. I was tired and kind of cranky after that, and I decided just to tell her no a little while later. It would have been another overnight affair, and I really just wanted to put on my pajamas and relax. I'm sure you all know that feeling. It just so happens to be my mood are all the time. I was also pretty happy I stayed home because Anne brought home these huge kebab pitas for dinner, and it were really good.

Now that I had the worry of another party off my back, I had a new one. So – about a month ago, I bought all these packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as presents for people when I got to France. However, when I actually got to France, I couldn't manage to give them away, and I started eating all of them by myself. How I miss American chocolate! On Friday, I ate the last of Reese's, and I started to go into a panic about my lack of chocolate. I was kind of paranoid; I started planning ideas in my head about how I will sneak out of the house and run to the center village to buy loads of chocolate. I figured my best bet was Saturday morning, during the big market in Privas.

The next morning, I told my host parents I wanted to go to the market and take a long walk home. So they drove me there, but then everything started to go downhill. First of all, Anne told me I had only half an hour to shop because we would be having an early lunch. Second of all, it started pouring. I was running around frantically trying to find chocolate, but the only stores I could find were those truffle-like chocolate shops, and they were all way too expensive. I ended up shopping at a candy shop which had lots of sweets, but barely any chocolate. I bought all this candy, some chocolate covered-almonds, and a dark chocolate bar with violet petals in it. Seriously – all the chocolate at this shop was the healthy type of chocolate without all the fake added sugar. Of course this would be my luck. I ran out of time and started walking home. And then the guilt started getting to me. I hadn't bought anything for my host family, and when I got home, I caved in and gave the chocolate-covered almonds to Anne and my candy to Antoine. I was left with a flower-flavored chocolate bar. Which has practically no sugar. It was a sad day.

The rest of Saturday was pretty busy. I went on a hike with my host dad, Manu. All in all, I think it was about 8 miles, but it seemed a lot longer considering most of it was uphill. When we got home, I took a shower, and headed off to a concert with M. Gousty, my Rotary contact. It was so nice to hear classical music again. There was a trio with a piano, a violin, and a cello, and they played Bach, Beethoven, and Dvorak. I thought it was going to be in a large concert hall, but it was actually held in this tiny little chapel. The piano was absolutely beautiful. I really wanted to play it, and it had the most perfect sound and tone for Debussy. The evening was lots of fun, but I was sad again, because my host family made fondue for Leo's birthday and I had to miss it for the concert. They reassured me they would have it again in a month for Charlotte's birthday, but I was really craving it and I didn't get a single bite.

Today is another lazy day here. The weather is cool and rainy, and I'm sitting around looking stuff up on the computer, reading the news, and signing online petitions. So far, I've signed 147 regarding animal rights, human rights, environment... I also looked up all the companies that do animal testing on their products, and I was surprised to find out that Covergirl tests all their products on animals. They've lost a loyal customer.

So I guess that's that. I return to school tomorrow :( and I'm almost done with my chocolate bar, so I'm in a bit of a somber mood. C'est la vie. I'll let you know if and when I find more chocolate, but for now, I'm out. Hasta la vista!

Lengthy Lunch Lines

                              (The Patio at my First Host Family's House)

School has gotten slightly better these past couple of days. I mostly stay by myself, and now that I know where most of my classes are, I don't have to follow Marion around everywhere. When she and her friends go outside for a smoking break, I go to the library (Mom would be proud!) I'll usually pick up the French National Geographic and flip through a couple articles. I was kind of surprised to find out I had already read one of articles from the French version in New York a few months back. What was kind of interesting, though, was the fact that the French version had just come out (Sept 2011 issue), and they apparently used a hand-me-down article that was a few months old in America! If I discover this is a common occurrence, I will let you know...

Yesterday, I was told to go to the principal's office at 10. When I got there, the office was closed, so I left and came back during my next break after lunch. This time, the principal was there and I sat down across from him and his monstrous desk. It was the most uncomfortable meeting I've had in my whole life! He asked me why I was in his office, and I said I didn't know (I really didn't). After maybe 10 minutes of both of us trying to figure out why I was there, we somehow came to the conclusion that Anne had set up this meeting so I could tell the principal all of my problems from Friday. I was slightly embarrassed when I realized this was the case; I had imagined that I would figure it out all on my own as the year went by, and I knew there wasn't much he could do anyway. I managed to survive the meeting, but it was so awkward!

Today passed pretty slowly, and I was tired from start to finish. It takes a lot of energy to be an exchange student. School was going decently o.k. until lunch. When there are hundreds of students and one tiny lunch line, things can get pretty irritating. I was with a group of people and we were packed in a big room with all the other kids packed in like sardines. It was about a million degrees, and people were constantly pushing and shoving and stepping out of turn, and it was all quite disorganized. The main obstacle to pass is this big room. There is a teacher who shoves a table out of the way for a few people at a time to go up this long staircase and into the cafeteria. When enough people have passed, the table gets shoved back in place, and you have to wait at least another 5-10 minutes. As it turns out, the group of people I was with all got past the moving table, and I was the one who got stuck behind it. They motioned for me to push my way out, and I ended up crawling hands and knees on the floor under the table to get to the staircase. Well - the teacher wasn't too fond of this. He came up and started yelling, but I milked the whole role of "Oh - I'm a foreign exchange student, and I didn't know it was against the rules to crawl under the table to get to the lunch line more quickly." It seemed to work, because he didn't make me go back. By this time, we had 15 minutes to eat before our next class, so I ate as quickly as possible (which compared to other normal people is still incredibly slow).

Now that I mentioned it, that's another thing about France. Everyone warned me how slow people eat, how they really take their time and enjoy conversation and savor their food. However, no one warned me that I would still eat way slower than anyone here. I'm still always the last one done, and even during one of the school lunches, a classmate told me I needed to speed it up. Story of my life.

The rest of the day was pretty normal. I quite enjoy math class: The material is super-easy, especially after a year of AP Calc, so I'm usually one of the first ones done with the classwork. The teacher seems to like me a lot, and it also happens to be a class where I can't do my homework because I don't have a textbook. Oh well! I spent most of today's math class making a pretty fantastic name card. When I got to class and saw that everyone had written their names on a piece of paper so the teacher would know who's who, I decided to make my own. Everyone else's was quite boring, written in pencil or a black pen. I decorated mine festively with block letters, and red, blue, and green flowers, and now mine is definitely the best.

Not much else to say here. I walked home, played the violin, cleaned up my closet after Nella (the cat) used it as a litter-box, and ate dinner with Charlotte and Antoine. Tomorrow, I have swimming, but you need a one-piece bathing suit (another thing I don't have) so maybe I can get out of that one too. Not much else going on here, so I'm out. Thanks for all your support at home; it's made me feel much better about everything!

Lobster Soufflé and Laundry

                                  (L'église Saint-Pierre de Champagne)

These past couple days have been quite challenging. The more time I spend away from my host family, the more I feel like an outcast. It's difficult to be charming and funny and interesting when you can't even think of what to say, and you have to ask other people to repeat things over and over again because you don't understand. School is where I feel the most alone and out of place. I don't think I've ever really belonged in high school, and I definitely have had those feelings reaffirmed now that I'm there once again. I'm with a class of 15 and 16 year-olds, and I'm with the same people for the whole day. Even when I try to make conversation, people just laugh because I mess up the grammar or the pronunciation. And it hasn't helped that I've had a stomach ache / headache for most of the week. Ugh...

On Thursday morning, I had science class. I was feeling queasy, and of course we had to dissect an eyeball. Yes, and eyeball. It was the most disgusting thing in the world, and I don't see why we'd waste a perfectly good eyeball for a little observation. Can't we just watch a video or something? I managed to make it through the painfully long hour and a half, and I was so relieved when the bell finally rang. I decided to give Marion, my student correspondent, a break since I'd been following her around everywhere for the past few days, and spent a while in the library. I've taken up reading Harry Potter #7  because my host family has a copy in English and in French. I'll read a paragraph in English, then a paragraph in French. It's a painfully long process, but it's better than nothing.

Friday was my roughest day so far. I had Spanish in the morning, and even though I didn't understand anything, the teacher was nice, so it wasn't horrible. The worst part was my two hour French class in the afternoon. The teacher knows I don't know French very well, but he singled me out the class and started asking me questions. I had no idea what he was saying, so I responded politely with my limited French that I didn't understand, and hoped he would just let it go. Of course, he wouldn't take that for an answer, and insisted on me speaking in French. I stumbled along with some pitiful answer, and everyone was laughing because my French was so pathetic. It was a tad humiliating, but what was I gonna do? On top of everything, I have so much homework here, and I don't understand any of it. I asked two different people in my class if they could help me, and they both said no, so I can't say I didn't try, right? I'm just so relieved that my grades don't matter this year, because I will probably fail. And I'm sure I'm not the first one to say it, but it's definitely frustrating when everyone thinks you're stupid and you know you're not.

I ended up coming home and crying for the first time in front of Anne and Charlotte while we were having a drink on the patio. That was kind of embarrassing, too, but they were quite helpful and comforting. Anne reassured me that I was with a bunch of young, immature, teens who would never have the courage to be in my position. She also said to not worry about finishing my homework (yay!) Thank God for Anne.

Yesterday, I spent all day with my Rotary Club. I was right in my prediction of there being a bunch of people from Belgium who came to visit a church. Maybe my French is better than I think! We left at 9 in the morning on a tour bus, and made our way to a small village called Champagne. Our first stop was L'église Saint-Pierre, a really old church built in the early 1000s. It was very peaceful, until my phone went off super loud right when everyone was pausing to look at the columns. It wasn't even any of the three contacts who know my number; it turned out to be a wrong number. I really have to learn how to turn off the sound on my phone. I kind of wandered from the group a little and ventured up this long, spiral stone staircase. It emptied into a tiny little passageway that had a bunch of prison cells. It looked like people hadn't been there for a while, and I suddenly felt like my life had turned into National Treasure or something.

After the church, we drove to some field where we had a picnic. I made a couple of conversations, but it was awkward, because I was by far the youngest person there, and again, I didn't have much I could say. When lunch was finished, we toured a distillery where brandy is made. It was actually lots of fun, and afterwards, I had a nougat candy that is a specialty of Montélimar. It was really good (I mean the ingredients are almonds, sugar, and honey), and I plan on buying a bunch of them when I can. We stopped at a wine cave, where all the Rotary members drank wine and I took pictures outside. For one of the Rotary rules being no drinking, they sure drag me on a lot of drinking trips.

The most random part of the day was a marriage reception we stopped in at for maybe 45 minutes. I think we were planning on stopping at the actual wedding, but we spent too much time at the wine cave and were really late. The bus stopped on the side of the road where all the Belgians and French started changing right outside into their wedding clothes (I'm glad I came wearing mine). The reception was in the middle of this forest at a chateau, and it was pretty casual. I had caviar and foie gras for the first time, and I really don't understand all the hype. Desserts are so much better, and there was a lot less of them. I felt quite awkward because I barely knew anyone, including the members of the Rotary club, so I mostly wandered around eating like a true wedding crasher. I felt like even more of a wedding crasher when we had to leave because there wasn't enough food for us for the actual dinner.

We drove around to find a restaurant, and by this time it was completely dark. We ended up stopping in the middle of nowhere, where we got off the bus and trekked through these fields and pastures with no civilization in site. Finally, after walking and walking, and not finding food, the bus picked us up and we drove and we drove, and we finally found the restaurant. I was absolutely starving and we started eating soon after we arrived. There was no ordering; everyone was served the same meal: a salad with duck for a starter, a soufflé with lobsters sticking out of it for the main course, a yogurty-cheesey dish, and a flambé made with meringue, ice cream, and cake for dessert. The whole meal took about 2-3 hours, including the coffee that came after all that was finished. I was quite alarmed when the lobster dish came out. I don't understand peoples' obsession with serving food that still has its eyeballs and antennas, and other various body parts. The dish was made to look like the lobsters were clawing their way out of the soufflé and to me, it just looked like a lobster torture-chamber. The more I eat meat, the less I like it. It's hard to get used to pâtés and seafood and duck when you haven't been eating it for a long time. On the other hand, I'm learning that I like a lot of desserts I've never tried before.

Today is another relaxed day. I got home at 2 in the morning, and slept really late. My host family had the news on for me for a while with all the 9/11 memorials and remembrance. Not much else to report – I did my laundry, cleaned up my room, and wrote this blog. I'm not really looking forward to returning to school tomorrow, but unfortunately, I don't have a choice. Hopefully things will get better farther down the road. Until then, I'm stumbling through the hurtles, living day by day.

The First Day of School

Where do I even begin? There has been so much that's happened since my last post, and it feels a bit overwhelming. I think diving right in is what's best, so here's my attempt:

Monday night was my last piece of summer vacation. This has been the first summer in a long time where I haven't had summer homework, and I was actually able to go to bed at a reasonable time the night before my first day. It was quite nice. Charlotte had to go to school a day before me, and I must admit, I was a bit jealous when she came home and shared that her class was going on a week-long trip to Greece in October. How come I couldn't have been an exchange student at her school? Life is just not fair. The rest of the evening was pretty calm except for when I went to the bathroom right before bed, I practically stepped on a scorpion! I could have died. Luckily, I didn't, and Manu was able to get it with his shoe.

The next morning, I was all ready to go. I left the house at about 9 and went to Mathilde's, where we hung out for a little while before school, which started at 10. Since Mathilde lives right next to our high school, we walked there with a few minutes to spare and stood in the massive crowd of people outside. The first thing I noticed was the size of everyone's bags. My backpack looked huge in comparison to everyone else's dinky little totes, although it's a perfectly normal size in America.

I was lucky enough to meet Marion, one of Charlotte's best friends, a week before school. We have the exact same schedule, and she helped me out a lot throughout the day. The first classroom we went to was on the second floor. It was basically an orientation-type class where we were handed our schedules. The schedule here is so different than back at home because each day starts and ends at a different time. In French high school, there are three majors: Science, Economics, and Literature. I was placed in economics, which is a lot of math and social sciences. I'm taking English (yay!), history, geography, math, Spanish, French, physics, and gym, in addition to my economics course. Wednesday is by far the best day of the week. I have gym for two hours, and english for one hour, and I'm finished by 11! Sadly, Wednesday is balanced out by Thursday, which goes from 9-6 with a three hour break for lunch. Another difference between America and France is that in France, there really is no bathroom pass. Rather, one gets a green, laminated smoking pass so they can leave class and have a cig when the urge arises.

Most of the day was honestly spent sitting in the sun outside. No one regulates who leaves and comes into the school, so most students spend their free time walking around and hanging out outside. Classes didn't really start until the afternoon, so we had a lot of time to socialize in the parking lot. A few people seemed pretty interested that I was a foreign kid, and I was asked a bunch of questions regarding my high school and life in America. After many conversations which went somewhat like, "No, Norwich High School is not like the movies," or "No, I don't actually live in the city," I think people were a little less interested, and they dispersed. I know this is kind of random, and it doesn't fit into the story all that well, but I was also introduced to this one girl who had a rat sitting on her shoulder like a parrot. Everyone thought it was so cute, but it peed on my backpack, so I saw it in a different light.

Marion and I finally headed to lunch at 1. By far, it was the most exciting part of the school day. I definitely slowed up the lunch line, but it was all so much fun! There was this big barrel of baguette slices with a sign that read "4 is the maximum amount", so of course, I took four. Then, as a starter course, I took this tomato and cheese dish that was covered with olive oil and creamy sauce. The main course was fish and zucchini. However, it was not breaded or deep-fried. It all tasted fresh, and the fish was covered in these good herbs. I also had an apple and a sugary-cottagey-cheese-like dessert. Everything was served on real plates, and we drank out of real glasses. I like France.

That afternoon, I had my first class: economics. I didn't understand a thing, and rather than taking notes, I decided to listen and write down the vocabulary I caught along the way. Until I learn French really well, I'm going to treat my classes as language classes because I really want to become as fluent as possible this year. Since I do enjoy learning things other than the French language, I've decided to use my computer as my own, personal teacher when I get home. I try to read the news on cnn.com frequently, and I spent yesterday memorizing all the presidents in order. Correct me if I'm wrong, but who even knew we had a president named Chester Alan Arthur?

Yesterday also happened to be my first Rotary Club meeting. My Rotary club in Privas is very nice, but I must admit it was difficult to get through the dinner. The main course had all my least favorite foods combined, including: a really large slab of gelatiny-fatty fish smothered with a mound of room-temperature butter carved into a flower, a prawn with its eyeballs and antennas intact, mushy, seafood-flavored vegetables, and wine. I tried to drink enough wine to numb the taste buds, but it didn't work. The whole time, I was thinking, "please don't throw up on your first really important dinner here." I'm usually not a picky eater, but for me, this was one difficult dinner.

Luckily, dessert (mousse and creme brûlée) was much better. After I was finished with the mousse, I was really excited when the person next to me told me that the bowl was made out of white chocolate, so I ate that, too. The creme brûlée was served in a large, silver dish. I was told to serve myself first, so naturally, I took a reasonable amount. However, when I looked around after everyone was served, I had about twice as much on my plate as anyone else. Whoops! Oh well - I ate it all. Just saying, maybe next time, they shouldn't fill themselves up on fish and prawns first.

M. Gousty, my French Rotary contact, drove me home at 10. He invited me to another Rotary event this Saturday: I think he was talking some wedding in Northern Ardeche and a church where Belgian people go? I don't know, my French isn't that good yet! I'll let you know when Saturday comes.

Today was my short day of school. The teacher for gym class never showed up, and apparently there's no such thing as substitute teachers in France, so we had two hours to sit around and wait for the next class. By far, English is my favorite subject: I feel quite intelligent, and am very capable of keeping up a conversation in English. Anne picked me up at 11, and I've just been hanging out around the house ever since. I haven't had any homework yet (I think), so it's back to my own French self-schooling for now. Sorry for the long post, although I'm sure you all secretly like it!

Simple Pleasures in Privas

These past few days have been a little slow, but I'm sure things are going to pick right up when school starts tomorrow! I'm mostly looking forward to school, even if it means waking up early and going back on a strict schedule. In a way, I do feel like I'm way beyond high school; that I should be doing something else with my time, but going to high school was part of the guarantee I made with Rotary. I'm just feeling so relieved that good grades aren't super important this year. I've got my high school diploma, and I'm into a good school (Boston College). Not that would ever slack off tons anyway...

Today was a really surprisingly slow, nice, fun day. I woke up at 8:30 and went into Privas with Anne to do a few errands. We went to the city hall where Anne had to do some paperwork, and I got a phone to use while I'm overseas. It seems as though everyone except for me has gone back to school and work today, so the streets were empty, and most of the shops were closed (I'm starting to wonder if I actually should have been in school today). When we returned, I helped Anne make lunch (we ate salad, eggs, a Provence tomato dish, cheese, bread, and ice cream). We ate on the patio soaking up the sun, and everything seemed to hit the right spot.

This afternoon, I spent a lot of time in my room; I brushed up on all my countries and capitals, skyped my good friend, and watched a couple shows on youtube. I must say, even though it's slightly embarrassing, that my new guilty pleasure is watching old Lizzie McGuire shows. All of them are on youtube, so I'm making my way through a couple seasons. And while the show is about all this middle-school drama, it gives my brain a little break from French, French, and more French. I was also really excited today when I found out that one of my favorite mini-series is on youtube: the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. That show will put anyone in a good mood, and I plan on watching them over again while I'm here.

Besides that, not much else is going on here. I took out my violin for the first time since I've been here, and played for a while. It actually made me really happy. I mostly just fooled around and played through a Suzuki book and my old violin NYSSMA solos, but it was enough to put me in a good mood. I've really enjoyed having a few laid-back days after a hectic first week in France and before the start of school. I'll let you know soon how my first day goes, and I wish all of you back at home luck on the beginning of the new school year tomorrow!

Indian Forest and St. Romain de Lerps

I must say I was pretty nervous to meet my second host family this Thursday. My first host family has been absolutely wonderful up to this point, so I guess I had pretty high expectations going to visit my second. Fortunately, they were all very nice and welcoming, and I think everything will be just peachy keen when I finally move in. When I arrived, Mathilde, my future host sister, gave me a tour of the house, and we played some ping-pong with my other future host siblings, Lena and Simone. Not long into the visit, we all sat down for lunch: octopus and fish. It was definitely a change from the usual bread, cheese, and crème, and I admit, I'm not a fan of eating anything that has tentacles, fins, etc... I managed to find an octopus that had its tentacles cut off, because, lets face it, who actually enjoys eating long, stringy tentacles?

After lunch, Charlotte came over, and Mathilde, Charlotte, and I all went to Indian Forest, a ropes course in the woods right outside of Privas. I had a great time, but I would not recommend it to anyone scared of heights. There was this one course where you had to swing on a rope and catch hold of a vertical net maybe 30, 40 ft. away. If you failed to catch the net, a lady would and bring this big ladder to where you were hanging on to the rope, and you would have to come down that way. I really wasn't in the mood to embarrass myself, so I got all nervous when I had to go. Surprisingly, it all turned out good and well because my foot managed to get caught in the net, but it wasn't exactly what you'd call graceful. I was kind of hanging there for a minute upside-down while my foot was stuck, but I managed to wiggle myself out of it. However, the zip-line at the end of the day made up for all these stressful parts: it went between two mountains and we went on it when there was no else near, so it completely silent. The zip-line was almost as cool as the cheese pastry Anne had made a fews days before. Not quite.


Yesterday, we took a drive that went past Valence to pick up Anne's sister and nephew. We had a nice picnic in a park, and afterwards, we continued on to a small little town nestled in the hills where Anne's parents live.  Now I understand why Anne is so nice: her parents are the sweetest couple in the world, and they were just as welcoming as Anne. Together, we drove to St. Romain de Lerps, an old chapel on top of a hill. It was a beautiful view from the top, and it's too bad the weather wasn't better, because one can see Mt. Blanc in the distance on a clear day. Anne's dad took me on a walk where he taught me all about the history of Ardeche and the Drome, and although it was hazy, St. Romain was most definitely a worthwhile excursion.


 When we returned that evening, Charlotte and I went to a friend's house for a party. For those of you who know me well, you know that I'm not a big partier, but I managed to have a reasonably good time. On a slightly different note, to be completely honest, today was not my best day. It wasn't terrible by any means, but I was exhausted after the party, where we ended up spending the night. One can only imagine how difficult it is to sleep with twenty other people going absolutely crazy. When we returned, there were guests at Anne's, and by this point, I had had enough of being social. And, just saying, it's really hard to be social when your brain is trying to frantically understand everything that's going on around and it just can't. I'm definitely not as engaged as I normally am, and am in the mood to spend hours in my room alone reading a good book, watching shows on hulu, and eating chocolate. After I take a shower. Now that I mentioned it, those are sounding really good to me right now, so I think I might just sign off for now. See you soon!

Crussol Chateau and More Cheese

The past couple days have been crazy here. I don't know how my host mom does it; she is a nurse at a psychiatric hospital, and when she comes home, she takes the family on day trips and little adventures. She has more energy than the Energizer Bunny, and I don't even think she sleeps! On top of all that, she always manages to make delicious meals every night for dinner. One of the most exciting dinners I've eaten so far in France happens to be one of Anne's recipes. (be forewarned: this recipe is a guaranteed cardiac arrest and should probably not be eaten all the time)

Here's how you make it:
1) In the bottom of a casserole dish, place really good French bread over all the surface area.
2) Once the bread is in place, smother the bread with white wine and garlic
3) Layer thin slices of ham on top of that
4) Put a huge brick of cheese covering all of the above (I looked at the cheese and the package said Comte AOP - I'm not sure if that means anything to any of you cause it sure doesn't to me)
5) Sprinkle pepper on the cheese
6) Put on as much heavy creme as you have to cover everything. It should be a lot.
7) Stick it in the oven for I don't know how long

8) Bon appétit!

This was the first dinner in France that I was not able to finish. It was a lot of cheese. And when you finish, there is still lots of cheese in the pan, and you must eat all of that too, but don't worry, you can eat it with more bread. I wasn't able to move after that course, but turns out, there was dessert to go along! The dessert  somehow consisted of even more cheese and heavy creme. It was a soft, lumpy cheese mixed with lots of creme and raspberries. Everything was delicious, but I don't think my American eating habits were ready to take on such an intense French dinner.

The next morning, after finishing the leftover cheese and creme for breakfast, we made our way to Crussol Chateau. It's an old castle on top of a mountain overlooking the city of Valence. I tried to do some research on it when I got home, but all the websites were in French, and the only site that translated anything for me was Wikipedia. Apparently, the chateau was built in the 13th Century and was taken under siege in the 17th Century? I don't know - the article wasn't very helpful. The castle was in ruins, and it was absolutely beautiful, as were the views from the top. There was barely anyone visiting the chateau except for us, and it was pretty cool just to imagine what went on at Crussol Chateau way back when...Royalty drinking wine and feasting in a great hall, knights standing their post on the castle's walls, the chateau going under siege by a neighboring kingdom...you get the point. Almost every city here has a castle, and just driving along in the car and seeing them from the window is a spectacle in itself. I would like to learn more about the history of my area when I can finally understand the websites. Until then, I'll just walk around and take lots of pictures!