1 month +
Mood:  party time!

can you see that? ^ Its a picture of me and Jodi after we got our hair cut...or its supposed to be... I've been trying forever to get pictures to load on this website and I think thats the first one that worked...if it didn't then someone let me know...

Wednesday was the 22nd, which means that I have been here for a month and now being the 24th, its one month plus 2 days... It was Adriana's one month marker too so we went and celebrated... well ok it wasnt the best celebration I've ever had, but it was a change! Pierre and Necola took us out to the Cabere which is the community of bars in my city. (Honestly, it is two whole streets of just bars) It was fun. We didn't drink very much because we've heard horror stories about exchange students who get drunk and its better to play it safe. I had a blanch "cherry" and something else but I didn't catch the name of the second drink. That was it for drinking... Then we walked around a lot, got a really big sandwich for only 3 euros! Let me explain: here we don't go to the store and buy a loaf of bread, it is much more complicated. You go to a boulangerie which is like a bakery,(yeah like the ones Mrs. Bintliff talked about in French class!! They really do exist!) and buy whatever kind of bread you want, (they are all freshly made right there) and then you have to go out and get what you want in it an a different place, or you can just go to a sandwich shop and look at their list of 500+ sandwiches, order in perfect French, and get a sandwich that way...*deep breath.* That was Wednesday. That night I stayed at Adriana's house and went to school with her family on Thursday. Unlike my host family, hers takes the bus and mine drives me. It was kind of a hassle because it was raining as it does all the time here!

Well school gets over here soon so I'll sign off!

*Chow*

Nothing here works!
Mood:  accident prone
It seems as soon as I touch something, it breaks. This is the second computer I had to use today because the software I was trying to use wasn't working on the other one... Yesterday I tried 3 different computers (by the way, I'm at school) because they all kept freezing on me. I look around... and everyone is just buzzing away on theirs...and me? I have the computer I'm at, plus the ones on each side of me, with flashing blue screens. I decided to get out of there as soon as possible! Now class is almost over and all I've acomplished is checking my e-mail and typing this entry. EEERRRRR

Well, Adriana came over yesterday after school at 12 (because Wednesdays are 1/2 days) and we had lunch with my host family. (Well my host grandparents because both Corinne and Stephane were working.) They were all upset with me because they didn't know how she was going to get home. Rotary students arn't allowed to take a bus alone evidently, so they said no she couldn't take a bus home like she had origionally planned... But she isn't a ROTARY student! And it was hard to explain because the more upset they got, the faster and louder they talked IN FRENCH...hello over here... neither of us speak french! Finally we got it squared away, but man it was a mess! After lunch we looked over our scrapbook stuff. Adriana scrapbooks also and for now we are in search of a Scrapbooking store so we can get Noemie a scrapbook too. No one here has ever heard of it, so it is difficult to explain, and scrapbook supplies and stores are sooooo RAAARE.

Well class is over now and I have break! Chow!

Wednesday Half Days
Mood:  not sure
Yesterday I learned "bonheur" happiness. Awwwwww :-)

Today, and every Wednesday, is a half a day. So I get to go home at 12!!! I only have 4 classes today too.. or well, 4 blocks, but the first two classes are "Etude" or Study hall, then I have "Anglais" and "francais" English and French. Not too difficult! I think Adriana is coming back with me after school but I'm not sure because she has to call her host family first. If she does, it will be the first friend I have had over since I got here!

I have been studying my French like no tomorrow. Not much improvement yet, but its getting there... On the 23 of this month I am expected to make a presentation to my host rotary club IN FRENCH about where I come from, Maine, and my family. Wow talk about some stress! Once that is done and over with, I get to go canoeing with the other inbounds on the 25 if I can find the paper that needs to be signed by about 25 hundred ppl! No, no stress here!

Last night my host mom, Corinne, bought me a clock for my room! I was so excited! My favorite color is green, so she got me a little green one to put by my bed! Awwwwww. :-)

Tae-bo lessons were going to start on Mondays but not enough people signed up, so they canceled them! "Dommage!" Darn! But thats alright I guess, because classes are 130 dollars American money and 99 EUROS. "Tres cher" very expensive! But now I can take Graffiti lessons instead! :-D It's like 15 dollars American money a class, but REALLY FUN!!! So if I dont come back to America knowing how to kick some butt, at least I will know how to properly vandalise stuff! *phew* I'm not a complete failure!

Soon I will have my photos developed, so I can scan them and put them on my website. No, I don't have the luxury of a digital camera here with me, but the disposable ones will have to do. On and my Mom just got me a video camera and its in the mail as I speak! She is also sending me Grahmcrackers and marshmallows because here they don't have ones like they do in America. They are marshmallow wannabies... marshmallow posers. It is difficult to make smores without marshmallows or grahmcrackers. Try it some time. So I had to compensate and use some cake crackers and pink and white sugar things for the marshmallows and grahmcrackers... It wasn't pretty.

*Snif snif...plugs nose*
Mood:  smelly
It is common for people to not wear deoderant here. All my classes smell like body odor. So I feel smelly...
I am still in school right now, using their computers but class is going to get over soon... Next I have Geography until 4:15 then Im done...so well that was the bell... I should have written sooner, it isnt like I didnt have enough free time today, I had art the first two hours but the teacher wasnt here so I had those free and then I had science but I skipped that, and then I had english and french, and now another study hall... next i have Mediatheque (computer class), but there is goign to be a class in here G2G

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Well the Mediatheque is free to use now so here I am. This isn't an actual class, it is just a room that I can go to and use the computer, but on my schedule it says it is an actual class... Im beginning to like this! The only real classes I have had today are English and French, but English is really easy for me...obviously and I dont pay attention in French because the teacher talks waaaay to fast. Next I have Geography...I actually understand that class! Theres a new concept! But my "mediatheque" class ends in 5 minutes or so, so I'll pack up now.... chow!

First day of SCHOOL
Mood:  hungry
Topic: First day of school
I can't explain it...I'm always hungry. But do I reach for an apple? Nope. I just gotta' have chocolate! I swear when I return to the United States, I'll weight 500 pounds! But just a few minutes ago I had a chocolate bar that was dark chocolate with vanilla syrup in the middle! Oh, it was sooooo good, I think I might go get another one soon.

Oh, right, school...Ok well last night I set my alarm for 6:45 so that I could hop in the shower before anyone else needed it. So I was up and going around 7:00 but then Corinne came and told me that today I only had to go to school in the afternoon. So I can sleep in... good to know... so I went back to bed and got up around 9 or so. Noemie had to be at school at 10 so after I had my shower and everyone had eaten breakfast, we went and dropped Noemie off at school.

Then, since we were right there, we stopped at the bank and opened an account for me to keep the money from Rotary in. They give me about 65 EUROS a month, which is over 70 American dollars...I think, so I needed some place to put it!

We got back home around 10:30 and I just bee-bopped around the house for a bit, uploaded some pictures on to the computer from CDs that I had brought, and around 11:40 or so I went downstairs because I thought I had to be in school at 12:00 but first Corinne took me to the "boulangarie" or bakery and we got rolls and such for lunch, then we went and picked up Noemie at school. We all went back to the house and ate lunch together, with Morgane, her boyfriend,and Stephan.

Here, everyone is a lot more relaxed and layed back. No one is constantly rushing rushing rushing to get somewheres, they budget their time better than Americans, I guess.

After lunch, Corinne brought me and Noemie back to school for the last hour and 45 minutes. They took me to the English teacher and left me with her while Noemie went to her own class. She, the English teacher, took me to a classroom, 4E, which is going to be like my main classroom or something... I guess the teachers move from class to class, instead of the students, so the people who are in that classroom with me are going to be the ones in all my classes... For a little while anyways.

See I figured I'd be in the 9th grade here, but actually, they stuck me straight into 10th grade, so now I have no idea what is going on, if I am even still going to be moved to the 11th grade or not. I don't want to be with 10th graders, I want to be with people my own age!!!

Then tomorrow I have to go only in the morning, because I guess I don't have any classes in the afternoon, so Corinne is going to pick me up before lunch...But come "lundi" (Monday) I have to go alllll day long. Which is from 8:15 to 3:15. (Not that different than Mt. View)

At my school, they have a Gymnastics team and I think I'm going to join it. Corinne also showed me a brochure for a club like a YMCA kinda thing that offers gymnastics too. She said I could both take the class (which is like 99EUROS for 30 someodd classes) and join the team if I wanted. YEAH! The club has a whole bunch of things to do and the classes are all held after school, like 2 or 3 times a week. Noemie plays basketball there. There are also dance and Thai-bo (or however the hell you spell it) classes that sound kinda fun, and I need to do something with my time and calories!

Well when I know what I plan on doing, I'll let everyone know! For now, I'm off to get another CHOCOLATE BAR!!!!!!

chow