A Little Bread Doesn't Go A Long Way Because I Love Bread

*NOTICE*
I have already begun to lose a little bit of my english (hurray!), so, if I make mistakes, oh well, things happen, life goes on :)

 SO, I have an addiction. Bread. and it's really bad, but who cares?! :D (People who count carbs, but not I exclaimed the walrus.) The bread here is just, holy crap. If you've been to France and had French bread, then you understand my issue here. It's wonderful to have a Boulangerie on almost every block when you're hungry and in a pickle, or, in a France (haaa), but bad for the wallet when you're a semi-poor exchange student, OR WHEN THE ATM DOESN'T TAKE YOUR CARD. THERE IS MONEY IN MY BANK ACCOUNT PLEASE STOP NOT WORKING. Thanks :)

Life here is wonderful and honestly, if I could stay here for a good, oh, I dunno, forever, I'd be fine with that (of course with my dog here and the people I miss back home). We do so much everyday and there's SO MUCH to do! Everywhere I go there is something new I didn't see before or something new and delicious to try. Yesterday night I tried Salmon :) I liked it :) I've eaten so many different things I never thought I would like and I LOVE it. It's so much fun to just jump out and try new things. It's fun to wake up in the morning and have a mission: Communicate and get by. It's fun to have something new to do each day. It's fun to meet new people. It's fun to just be a new person and find who you really are. This exchange is wonderful and has just begun! With only a week under my belt I can already feel, see, and hear changes. I'm very thankful for the life God has given me and the opportunities that were and are placed in my life. The people, the gifts, and every day. I love waking up in the morning, opening the window, and hearing sounds of the city. A little change up in life is always good.

With just (in about 29 minutes since writing this sentence) 1 day left before the whole family returns, my excitement is starting to peak again, but at the same time I am sad because when they return, it means that it's the week of....

                                                           Le rentrée
*insert screams of terror* I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS. Kidding, I did :) Any-cindy loowho(loohoo? I'm quite more than two and don't know) le rentrée (or, re-rentry) is when tout le monde (everyone) returns to school (aka tuesday (blah)). I'm excited and nervous and sad and blah blah blah. A whole bunch of feelings mixed in to one. Tomorrow morning I go to see if my list of classes is up as the school was fermé ce soir(closed tonight) during our walk in the park (that's right, I went on a walk in the park ^-^).

Thank you google for the stock photo (mine has yet to be uploaded from my phone). Wow. I'm really talkative tonight. Whatever :) Where was I? The park, but no, in the middle of a thought...uuh...SCHOOL! YES! My school is GIANT! There's 3 courtyard, 3 floors, and a LARGE amount of rooms. I hope I can get this down quickly. For those of you who don't know, a French high school schedule is different than an American one. I have a different schedule everyday, a different change up of classes everyday and also A and B weeks. Shew. I think I can do it :)

OH OH OH! I learned that on my birthday weekend, my district has a ski weekend! SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ON FRIDAY (in January) AND SATURDAY AND SUNDAY I GO SKI! WOOHOO! I also have my orientation next weekend and then a thing in October like a thing I did in October in America (but only one day and in a high school, not a weekend at a 4-H camp).

I think that's all. If I missed something oh well. Questions, comments, or whuteva, leave them below :)

Au Revoir!

P.s. Sorry for the random French tiddlybits, sometimes I forget the phrases and can only spurt them out in French at the moment

C'est la vie

Bonjour!

France est...MANIFIQUE! J'adore Lyon! Ma mére et moi avons fait BEAUCOUP de choses!

Samedi le 24:

Véronique est moi sommes fait un promenade de la ville. La ville est très belle et il y a beaucoup de vieux architecture, églises, et restos :)   J'ai mangé un rouleau avec pralines (délicieux!!!). Véronique m'a donné un défi. Je dois mange VINGT fromage différent! Maintenant, j'ai mangé: 3

Dimanche le 25:

Véronique et moi sommes allé au marché en plein air! Il été beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup de chose intéressant! En France, il y a un beaucoup de légumes et fruits différent. 3 différent peches, beaucoup de melons différent, 3 différent prunes, et BEAAAUUCCOOUUPPP de légumes!! Aprés le marché, nous sommes reçu Manon (ma soeur aînée et super cool!) et allé à Vienne :) Vienne été SUPER COOL!!!

Lundi le 26:

Nous sommes allé à un SAFARI!!!!!! C'était beaaauuccoouupp de plaisir! j'appris beaucoup de noms animaux! et finalement, j'ai parlé avec mon conseiller de Rotary!

C'est tout et au revoir! :)

My New Life

After years of work and hundreds of trees killed from paper work, I am finally here. After a hard goodbye, a quick break-down in the plane, some good Chinese food, what seemed like the longest flight of my life from excitement, saying goodbye to an exchanger from our group in Paris, and horrid exhaustion, I. Am. Here. and EVERY minute was worth it! Every shift at work, and every dollar spent. When I got to Lyon, they had these doors that opened up as you stepped up to them, and all the exchange kids on the flight walked through them together, and what was on the other side? Our families. I saw my eldest host sister camera posed, and my host mother holding my Bienvenu sign, THAT'S when it hit me. The french came rolling and my mind started working. I even did Bisous with no hesitation, yeah, that's right, Frenched myself up right good (grammar on purpose). She led me up to our Lounge where all the kids were greeted by the Rotary people. There, we gave them our Paris trip money, said goodbye to our friends, and began our new life. As we drove in to the city, i couldn't help but just look out the car window at everything that passed by. France is so beautiful. We drove past my school on the way to the apartment and holy. crap. It's BIG and it's really cool looking! We got in the apartment and I began to get settled in. As I opened up my suitcase ready to just put everything away, I was greeted by a little surprise. Guess who's shampoo EXPLODED ALL OVER HIS SUITCASE!?
                                                                           Mine.

So, after a DELICIOUS lunch involving the best cantaloupe I have ever eaten, we started to clean all of it up. At this point, I'm barely holding on to consciousness. After some last minute things me, my host mother, and host sister went on a walk in the park! It's beautiful! and guess what, it has not one, but FIVE giraffes and one is a baby! Yup. Whole day made there. From there we went home because I was (and still am) barely hanging on. I got to say hello to my host brother and host father on the phone and I can't wait to meet them both!

What's really weird, is even after just a few hours, I'm already beginning to have a little struggle with english (though it may not seem like it). Typing this just feels forced. I have a LONG way to go before I can fully talk to my host family, but, I can tell I'm going to learn a lot everyday now.

And with that, I'M FINALLY GOING TO SLEEP!

Au Revoir from Lyon

Andrew

Homestretch

Well, today marks the homestretch of my exchange. FOUR DAYS LEFT! AAHHH!! People have been asking me how I feel and I FINALLY figured out how to describe it, kind of like this:

akjf;sdlkja;lsdkgja;lkfhohqwoirhwiohweoh;rehtoeihrg;hdgf :) ): :D D:


Thhaatttt looks about right! :)

Yesterday I went home and said goodbye to all my extended family and my eldest sister. It was really hard to say goodbye to them, but I will see them when I come back :) One of my aunts gave me one of two things she has held on to in case she decides to up and go on a trip and also as a good luck piece. Most people would just see it as a piece of currency, but it means so much more than that. Today, I said goodbye to my church. A lot of people told me goodbye and good luck, and if you guys are reading this and I just gave you that awkward smile and laugh thing, I'm just a jumbled mess and have never had to do anything like this before, but thank you :)

I still have SO MUCH to do with such a small amount of time left. I still have to make pins, do my laundry for packing, make sure all my flights are in order, purchase gifts for my host family, and say some final goodbyes to friends. I have some little things planned, but, I just kind of wish school would close on the 20th or 21st so I could hang out with them all before I climb in a metal can and roll off to my new life.

My host mother has talked to me about some of the things we will be doing my week of arrival, and some of the things we may do for vacations. Let me just say, I'm stoked. I won't say 'I can't wait for them!' because that means time will go fast, so, I can wait on them. I want this year to go by very slowly so I can take in EVERYTHING! I want to do everything I can and try and go as many places as I can!

Ok, well, that about wraps up this post. The next time I post will probably be from an airport before I become a sardine XP I come up with the dumbest things to say, but, it's my blog, so, I do as I want :)

Au Revoir!

Andrew

Time to Fly

Today was another big day, but really, this week has been a BIG week for my little exchange! :) It started off on Tuesday with the presentation of my jacket and me getting my ambassadorial certificate at a local Rotary club meeting. It feels really nice to finally call the jacket mine, as well as having a nice home for my collected pins! :D Now to fill the WHOLE thing up! (This part isn't exchange related, but is at the same time) After the meeting I went on a campus tour of my #1 choice university. It was a WONDERFUL tour and my guide was even an international student! Talk about lucky! I've decided that that university is perfect and is clearly the one for me.

~SIDE NOTE!
While on exchange, I get the wonderful opportunity to work on college applications and scholarships while in France. Weeee, stress. With any luck I can get most of the applications done BEFORE I go on to France, if not, oh well. I'll get over it.
SIDE NOTE OVER~

THEN, that night I got my itinerary for my flight! That made me incredibly happy as that means it's almost here (two weeks from today actually!!!) This plane ticket was a little cheaper than expected, but still quite a shock! After a quick trip to the bank today and getting the limit on my debit card extended, I bought that sucker, confirmed my flight tonight, and chose my seat for my flight to Atlanta. It's such a wonderful feeling to know Act 1 is coming to an end. My new life will soon begin and my dream of living in France will soon be coming true!

After all this, hopefully, this weekend I will be skyping with my host mother! I'm excited to finally get to, in a way, meet her! She's been so helpful and is VERY nice! She puts up with me and helps me out, so, I see this exchange going quite well :) Si vous lisez ceci, merci pour tout!

The last thing on this fun little Rotary and Exchange filled week will be my first going away party. Lordy, it feels weird having to do this. Sometimes I wonder if I really should be doing this and think I should back out and keep going with life here after seeing all these opportunities that area available, and then I think, am I an idiot? This is a once in a lifetime chance (well, for the most part). I get to go have fun, learn a new language, and become part of a different culture! Why stay in this little town when there is a whole world to see! GO! GET! SHOO! Anyway, yes, my first going away get together. It may be hard depending on who will be there. Some of my friends are leaving for college and I won't get to see them for a very long time, so when it comes to them, it'll be hard...I'll miss them a lot. A week from Saturday is my second going away gathering for my extended family. That one I know will be the hardest. My eldest sister moved back where we used to live, so that could be the last time I see her, which will be sad (and if you're reading this, you suck :p).

Well, I'm pretty sure half of this made NO sense, but hey, it's my blog, I do what I want! Ha :p

Au Revoir

Andrew