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!