Frolicking around France : Toussaint period

The Toussaint vacations were more than welcome to arrive the week after my birthday week.
Every student up to the lycée (high school) level in France eagerly awaited the first two-week vacation of the school year, and I was no exception. To get an idea of what I did, have a look at this map.

See those pins? Those are cities I found myself in within this two-week period. Yup. So, in chronological order, let me recount my adventures to you, dear reader.

On Monday the 29th, I went to Angers to see my good friend Aurore. You may or may not remember me mentioning her in my first blog entry, but she is the girl who spent her exchange last year in my city in Oregon, Tualatin.

This time, it was me who went to see her in her home city. We were extremely happy to meet up again (I hadn't seen her since shortly before she left in early July), and I even got to meet her parents. We got to see the castle in her city Monday night. I spent the night at her house, then Tuesday morning we went to the art museum. Admission was free because we were students; it's like that in heritage sites in France. How cool is that? They really encourage appreciation of history and the arts here. It was great to catch up with Aurore, and it's pretty amazing to think that when I first met her, I didn't really imagine I would meet her again in her home city in France! I still fondly think of the moment when she went and picked me as an outbound to go to France on the February ski trip, the only moment in my life I have cried tears of joy...

On Wednesday the 31st, I welcomed to my home two of my best inbound friends, Aarohi from India and Brooke from Canada. For the afternoon, I showed them around Parthenay (the medieval quarter, the cute boutique quarter, and the little historical artifact museum that I didn't know existed), and then we went to the Hyper U and bought four bags of chips. We spent a part of the evening sitting in my room, pigging out on them, talking (just like what teenage girls do in movies, which is cliché # I've lost count).

The next day, November 1, we went to Futuroscope!
Futuroscope is a theme park that is kind of hard to explain. To put it in one phrase, think of big screens, special effects, and futuristic style buildings that look way too modern and out of place to be in France. Some highlights were:
The 4D showing of a side story of The Little Prince. 4D means that the video was in 3D, but the floor moved in time with the animation, plus when the dragon (which was already in your face due to 3D) breathed, you felt it as a brief gust of air. Special effects like that.

While walking around the park, the three of us spotted these cool-looking contraptions from afar. We squealed and immediately rushed towards them wanting to try them out. Behold, the water bikes. Bet you can't say you've ridden a bike on water!

Here's the three of us looking pretty.

On Friday the 2nd, Aarohi left, but I took the return journey home with Brooke. We got dropped off at the Gare de Poitiers by my host dad. Our train was an hour late, so we had time to kill. We went to the gare restaurant and decided to order a burger. I was a bit skeptical at first, because coming from the United States I know what a good burger tastes like. I decided that mediocre burger was better than no burger, so I agreed to it. When the burger arrived, we split it, and it looked promising.
One bite, and it had me.

The burger was BEYOND HEAVENLY. With two nicely seasoned patties, no tomatoes (I do not like tomatoes), a bed of goat cheese, lettuce, and authentic dijon mustard, it was the best burger Brooke and I had ever tasted. We could have cried out of how delicious it was. It was extremely easy and clean to eat, without anything dripping from it (which added class because this is France). Definitely worth the 14 euros it cost...hahaha.
We had quite the adventure rushing through the gare at St. Pierre des Corps after our late train arrived, messing up our original plans. However, I was able to get things together by talking to the one of the gare attendants and planning the rest of our journey, in French. We ran to the next train to Tours and barely made it on time.
Getting off that train, I was greeted by the magnificent sight of the Tours gare. I think it's safe to say I'm a bit obsessed with it. I mean, just look at it! This is the classic image of an old French train station.

From there, we took a train to Château du Loir, where Brooke's host dad picked us up.
On Saturday the 3rd, we went to Le Mans to hang out with our Brazilian friend Leo. Leo is one of my ukulele buddies. That afternoon, we had drinks and desserts at this very chic café.

Leo showed us his city a bit. We saw this small cathedral, then sat on a bench near it. Since I brought my ukulele, Leo and I took turns playing it. Living the Bohemian life!

On Sunday the 4th, I made the return trip back to Parthenay by myself. I was happy that one of my stops was the Tours gare!
Here's what a train looks like inside, and what I like to do on train trips by myself.

The following week, the only foreign people I saw were Australians.
On Monday the 5th, the Taylors, longtime family friends, stopped by my house in Parthenay because they were on vacation in France. We drove around looking for a place to eat, but finding no place open in the random villages we drove to, we ended up eating at McDonald's.
The Taylors first became acquainted with my family about ten years ago in the Philippines, when my mom was head of a company called Australian Business Volunteers. Since then, we have seen them in Australia and in the United States. Now here they were in France. Who knows where in the world I will see them next?

On Wednesday the 7th, I went bowling in Bressuire. The bowling alley was the classiest I have ever seen. There was nice ambient lighting, comfy furniture, and instead of a concession stand, there was a bar. It was all modern and a nice place to hang out. (Pictures are from their website, http://bowling-bressuire.fr)

On Thursday the 8th, I took the bus to Niort to hang out with Aussie Joe. It was International Hug an Exchange Student Day, so we were glad to hug each other several times that day (us being the only people we got a hug from). If you hugged an exchange student on that day, good for you and thank you! I'm sure they appreciated it. If you didn't, then keep the date November 8 (hey that rhymes!) in mind for next year. Exchange students (especially the ones in France where hugging isn't that common) are always happy to receive real hugs.

I am now approaching the end of the vacations and will be back in school on Monday the 12th. After six full weeks of school, I will have my next two-week break, Christmas break. I'm quite looking forward to it. More time to travel and spend with Rotary exchange students, yahoo!
See you all on the post on the 19th.

Exchange is 20% completed: 2 months in

It doesn't seem like that long ago I posted my one-month anniversary entry.
It doesn't seem like that long ago I stepped off the plane, confused and deliriously excited, in Charles de Gaulle Airport.
At the same time, it seems like so much has happened in the span of two months, it feels like more than two months.
In these two months, I have probably felt more emotions than I have in two years of high school. I have probably learned more about myself and about life, too. That's exchange, though. Being confused, being proud, being depressed, being in awe, feeling all of these emotions and emotions you don't know the name of with a higher intensity than normal. But that is how we grow; sometimes, we have to be uncomfortable with who we are or what is going on around us in order to learn how to truly be ourselves. Nothing can compare to exchange. Nothing can replace the lessons I have learned, nothing can replace the experiences I have shared with some of the most interesting people I have ever met. France isn't anywhere near perfect, but I love it all the same. I'm not going to say I never want to leave (there is too much of the world I need to still see), but for this moment, for this year, it is where I am meant to be.
Since I probably have to report on my progress with the language, I will do it here. I still can't express myself fluently and say everything I want to say, but I do have thoughts that are in French. For the most part, I understand what the teachers are saying (though not necessarily the meaning of the content). The important thing though, is I can feel in French. The words people say don't just go to my head, they go to my heart as well. It's like when my parents back in Oregon reprimand me in Tagalog; it goes straight to mon coeur/yung puso ko. French isn't so much just a beautiful language to listen to anymore, but it has become a language that my emotions comprehend.
Brushing all that philosophical, non-tangible stuff aside, I turned 17 on October 25 (the excuse I used to justify my excessive spending this month)!
And on the same day, my host grandma turned 90. HOW COOL IS THAT.
Because I adore her, I'd like to write about her a bit.
At the age of 90, she is still a peppy, cheerful lady. She's smaller than me, and if you know me, I am only 5 feet/152 cm tall, which is short for a 17-year-old. She goes up and down the stairs everyday, no problem. She talks A LOT. She used to be a doctor. She tells me that at her age, music and flowers are what make living pleasant. Her name is Madeleine, and here is a picture of the two of us on our birthday.

I would really like to be like her when I'm 90!
My host family surprised me with a homemade chocolate cake with sparklers on the night of my birthday. It was scrumptious!

Another thing I did for my birthday was go to McDonald's with some friends. I had a McBaguette. Yes, that is a thing here. I love clichés.

One of the things I have come to realize is how important the piano is to my life. I knew that I would appreciate it better after having gone a few weeks without it, but I didn't realize how much it would help me get through tough days. I've been playing since I was 4, so it has been there for as long as I can remember. It was there during my childhood in the Philippines. It was there when my life changed after I moved to the United States with my family. And now once again, my life has drastically changed, and everything is strange and different, but wherever there is a piano, I can feel at home. Sitting on the bench, listening to the sounds my fingers create, the process of it being the same no matter where in the world I am. The process having always been the same for as long as my living memory persists. Some things never change, and that is one essential part of life.
You may or may not know that Chopin is one of my favorite composers, and some of my favorite pieces are the Polonaises. A little thing about Chopin - he was Polish, and was extremely patriotic with a strong passion for his country, hence the Polonaises. However, he came to France, and he never went back to Poland. Posthumously, his heart was taken to Warsaw, by his request. Until this week, I had never met any Polish people, nor did I ever hear Polish being spoken. But my class welcomed some Polish high schoolers for the week, and I made a good Polish friend. She loves foreign languages as much as I do! She taught me phrases in Polish, and I in turn taught her phrases in Tagalog, all with a basis of French. Now that I have met someone from Poland, I love Chopin and the Polonaises even more. In April, it is my class who will visit Poland; I can't wait. I can't even imagine the emotions I will have and how much more appreciation I will have for the piano, Chopin, and the Polonaises. This is Natalia, my friend in Poland.

These past two months have been full of learning, appreciation, memories, and heightened emotions for me. I can't anticipate what'll happen the next few months, but that's part of it. Stay tuned for more updates later!

Obligatory Post on the 19th: October

On the 13th and 14th, I had a Rotary weekend.
Unless you're a Rotary exchange student, I don't think you have any idea what that really means.
To explain it in one sentence, it means spending time with people who, in an extremely short amount of time, have become my family, despite having grown up in different corners of the world.
However, this weekend was special. It wasn't just with District 1510; there were other districts as well, which equates to about 200 exchange students, all invading Mont St. Michel for the weekend.
Imagine - 200 crazy teenagers all compiled into one space, 200 teenagers with similar stories to share, 200 teenagers who all understand each other better than anyone else in the country does.
The weekend was way too short!
Here are some highlights -
It was a sweet reunion. There were hugs all around when I saw my Rotary friends again, and I was just EXTREMELY happy. Despite spending hours on a bus driving up north, the journey there was full of laughter, and it was very pleasant. I hate to keep bringing up the French countryside, but it's just so gorgeous! I'm always in awe when we drive through it, it's like living in a movie.

We didn't stay at a youth hostel like we did in Le Pouliguen, we stayed in a hotel. Yup. It was really nice. We were three to a room, and I was with Brooke from Canada and Maya from Turkey. Our room had two floors! The stairs were more like a ladder though, they were so steep. The first floor had a queen sized bed and a TV, and the second had two twin sized beds. Brooke and I took the second floor.

Mont St. Michel itself was absolutely spectacular.
There were a lot of stairs to get to the top, but it was all worth it. Also, on the way, we just kept taking pictures of everything (because it's one of the many particular habits we exchange students have, especially so for the Asians). France is so incredibly rich in its history, and Mont St. Michel enforces that supposition. It blows my mind how human beings just like us today used to live so differently only several centuries ago, having routines, technology, and habits so unlike those of modern society. Yet they were still human beings, and yet their architecture still stands as proof of their existence. (I mean, I live in a medieval town, hahhahahaha...) One of the reasons I love France, it makes me reflect on things like this, when I see all this preserved antiquity. It makes all my worries and problems seem so trivial, thinking of people across the centuries and how they somehow managed their lives as well. Before dinner, live medieval music played and there were some dancers in costume. After their initial presentation, some exchange students got up and joined them in their circle and line dances (myself included, of course)!

Saturday night, we all had a dinner together - exchange students and Rotarians. Before dinner, we spent about an hour going through all the countries represented, with every exchange student going up when their country was called to sing their national anthem. It was beautiful. So many nationalities were represented in one small space, and we were all united, one big family. Each one of us shared our own national identity while also being part of a larger group, the human race. It is moments like that where I remember why I do exchange.
Heheh, when Philippines was called, I decided to go up and sing the Lupang Hinirang because I still remembered the words to it, and the Filipino girl (who just came into my district!) wanted me to go up with her. There were only three other Filipinos; I joined them proudly. Of course, I also went up during the American national anthem and sang it just as proudly, only I was in a large group of about 40. Later that night, from 11:30 - 1:30, there was a dance party, and I stayed the entire time having fun with my friends, the only thing on my mind the amazing time I was having.

On Sunday, Brooke and I returned to Mont St. Michel to look for souvenirs. In one shop, the cashier looked very Filipina to me, so I asked her:
"Vous êtes de quelle origine?"
She replied, "Je suis Philippine."
I freaked out and exclaimed, "Moi aussi!" before I added, "Taga saan ka?"
She replied, "Bisaya ako."
I freaked out and exclaimed again, "Ako din!"
One of the other employees in the store was amused and remarked, "Ça fait longtemps que tu parles comme ça!"
Before I left, I told the Filipina, "Bonne journée!" and in return she told me, "Au revoir!"
Short as it may have been, I did enjoy this multilingual conversation. And it didn't even include English.
Throughout the weekend, I was able to speak four languages! English took up the majority of it of course, but now that the Filipino girl is here, I was able to speak in Tagalog with her. I spoke French with the Rotarians, and I spoke a very minimal amount of Chinese with my Taiwanese friends. Minimal, but it still counts!
As a random note before I sign off, we took a geography test. I didn't know we'd be taking it until two days before we took it, so I frantically tried to memorize all the European countries and capitals. One thing that really helped was a site called Sporcle.com. Shout-out to my friend Sarah Lemieux for showing it to me before sophomore year ended; it helped so much! It turns out I didn't need to know all 47 European countries; I only had to identify on a map and name the capitals of 38. Check out my score!

Souviens-toi: Remember

Every first Sunday of October since the year 1948, there is a ceremony held in the village of Lageon. It commemorates the French resistance members of the region who were deported to Nazi concentration camps and died for their country. About two weeks ago, the history professor brought it up with our class and asked if anyone would volunteer to read a text in front of the congregation. She was looking for several students. I, being a France-loving exchange student, told the professor I was interested in volunteering, and she was happy I chose to do so.
Six of the kids in my class volunteered: Noémie, Ophélie, me, Adrien, Alice, and Nina.

There were four different texts, and we split up into partnerships. Adrien and I read the poem "Demain" by Robert Desnos, and these are the lines I read:

Mais depuis trop de mois nous vivons à la veille
Nous veillons, nous gardons la lumière et le feu
Nous parlons à voix basse et nous tendons l'oreille
À maint bruit vite éteint et perdu comme au jeu

Because I couldn't find an English translation for the poem, I will do my best to translate the stanza I read here:

But for too many months, we've been living in the past
We watch over, we keep the light and the fire
We speak with lowered voices, and we prick up our ears
To many a noise quickly extinguished, and lost as in a game

Here is a picture of Adrien and me reading!

I've had many an experience speaking in front of a large group of people, but this experience was different. I was speaking in French. I was speaking in an event that was very patriotic, as the following pictures show. I felt very proud to participate in something so important to my host country, honoring individuals who took great risks being part of the Resistance, losing their lives in World War II. The English professor told me, "I'm amazed at what you're doing," and the French professor said, "I think it's the first time we've had an exchange student participate in this."
Why I chose to participate, I'm not entirely sure; the best reason I can give is because I love my host country almost as if I was a native, and I just wanted to do something in return for it, even something as little as reading a stanza of a short poem.
Not to start talking about war again, but I thought of how in history class, you only ever learn of the numbers of people who were tortured and killed in war. If I stayed in Tualatin, I would be taking IB European History junior year, and it would probably have been the same. Just learning of the thousands and thousands, thinking of the figures as shadows, not really seeing the gravity of all those mortalities. In one part of the ceremony, names were read off of young members of the Resistance from the Parthenay/Bressuire area who gave their lives for France. After each name was read, "Mort pour la France" (died for France) was solemnly stated. Being there, hearing those names, made the events of the war only feel so much more real.
Right now, please take a moment to remember everybody who died for their country, in any war, in every country. They deserve to be honored, and they have all my respect.

And now it's time for pictures!

This is the monument in Lageon commemorating the French resistance deportees, where the ceremony is held every year.

The translation: "To the deported Resistance members who died for France."

The names, and where in the area they were from.

The cute primary schoolers of Lageon, who participated as well; they placed flowers in front of the monument.

And just as a final word...

Vive la France! ❤

ONE MONTH DOWN.

Today is September 28. That means that exactly one month ago, I landed in France to start my ten-month exchange. I've learned a lot about France, humanity, and myself. Before I go on to ramble about my philosophical musings, I will talk about the people I've met here that have made this past month fantastic. Without them, I honestly don't know where I would be.
The first amazing group of people I got to be acquainted with right upon arrival are the other exchange students in my district. We are a group of about 40 which, sure, allows for a ton of drama, but it also means that the support system is massive. All of us are going through similar yet vastly different experiences, and the best thing about Rotary exchange students is that they are always there for you, no matter what. We never run out of things to talk about, and our conversations often center on topics like traveling, other cultures, the delights and challenges of exchange, and hot boys (the latter applicable when I'm with other girls). Being an exchange student is a feat very few young people can accomplish, but having other exchange students as friends makes it a lot easier. I can't wait to see them in two weeks in Mont St. Michel!
Here are the exchange students of District 1510 France, a group I am very proud and happy to be a part of.

Next are the girls I hang out with at school. Their names are Noémie, Cléophée, Cassandre, Kelly, Btissam, and Tanya (who isn't in the picture). The really interesting thing is, Btissam was originally from Morocco, and Tanya was originally from England. Cassandre's older brother did a 6-month long exchange with Rotary to England. I'm glad I ended up with them for the time being, since they probably understand my situation more than anyone else in the school!

Most importantly, I have my host family, the Edwiges. If you think their last name doesn't sound very French, you are right; my host dad was originally from Martinique. I am really thankful for my host family's continual support, and I greatly enjoy living with them. From the dinner conversations about languages to my little brother dancing like Cartman from South Park, my host family has helped to truly make this experience the best it can be!

If you want to stop reading here, that's fine. I have a lot of thoughts that constantly run through my head (some, like, "$^&% I'm hungry," are beginning to be in French), and some are recurring enough to be taken seriously. Thus, this next part will probably be not as well-written as the rest of my blog, but really the only person I have to apologize to is myself because I hold myself up to high standards okay.
So, things I have pondered and learned about France, humanity, and myself.
One of the remarks I have to make is that there isn't a garage in my house where the family can park the car. Instead, there are marks on the sidewalk one can occupy, and once, all of the spots near our house were taken by other cars, so we had to park our car further down the street.
They really value thoroughness in school here. I was handed a worksheet for math homework, and I just wrote down my answer next to each question like I normally would. Apparently, I was supposed to do all my work on a separate piece of paper, show the ENTIRE process of how I arrived at each answer for each question, and then write a statement summarizing my findings. Yeah. The tests are like that, too- we are handed a sheet with all the questions, and we have to write down our answers on a separate sheet of paper, all neat. It's quite meticulous. If I weren't so in-adept at expressing my complex thoughts in French, I might enjoy it instead of frantically flipping through my palm-sized dictionary to find words I need.
Did I mention French cheese is the best in the world?
The wi-fi here has punished me. I spent last weekend Skyping my friends in English, and my gut feeling told me I had done it too much, spending time holed up in my room not speaking French. So little by little, the wi-fi would die suddenly, and I'd have to reconnect again. It became more frequent which irked me slightly, but what really pissed me off is that whenever I tried to connect to my house's network, an error message would pop up saying it was impossible. IMPOSSIBLE? BUT I HAD DONE IT SO MANY TIMES BEFORE! So this week I've had to resort to using my iPad downstairs. I haven't Skyped anyone since. French wi-fi, I can conclude, is somehow conscious of my inner thoughts and knows how to act appropriately upon them. I hope I get reprieve from this dastardly form of discipline and that wi-fi will revive itself in my room again.
(Why I just wrote that in regards to what I learned about France I'm not sure; just let me assure you that I am not drunk.)
Going to high school here is starting to feel normal. As I go about my daily routines at Lycée Ernest Pérochon, I can't help but notice things that are the same as in Tualatin High School, and probably every other high school in the world. For one thing, I've begun to think that archetypes don't just exist in fiction. Archetypes of people, like the smart kid who always raises their hand in class, the girls who wear too much make-up, the popular, good-looking boys loved by everyone (better-looking in France than in anywhere else may I add!), the teacher who seems mean but just wants everyone to learn as much as they can from class, and the funny middle-aged man (cough my counselor cough), exist no matter where on the map you place a pin. Yes, everyone has their own unique personality shaped by the society they live in and the culture they were born into, but there are aspects to these personalities that exist universally and have existed for as long as human beings have roamed this planet. In this way, French individuals are not that different from Americans or Filipinos, at the core of it. While their cultures may vary in many different fascinating ways, an individual is an individual who shares common traits with random other people in other places in the world, no matter what country they originate from.
I keep wondering what the world would be like if more of today's world leaders had been exchange students. I hate it when people view other countries as outlines on a map, territories to conquer, economies to take advantage of, or inferior to one's home country. They don't see other countries for their unique cultures and traditions, as different yet similar manifestations of the human race, diversity that we should celebrate. I especially hate war. Other countries must never be viewed as evil, soulless adversaries in trying conflicts, which unfortunately is the viewpoint shared by many. Every war comes at a devastating cost of human lives, and you never really think about the people behind the statistics. Every one of those individuals had loved ones who cared for them, their own dreams and aspirations, regardless of what country they came from. So what would it be like if the people responsible for declaring war had been exchange students once? They would have friends from all over the world and therefore be more conscious of other nations' concerns. They would have a higher sense of empathy towards the people of other countries. They would be more reluctant to declare war because they not only care for their nation's welfare, they care for the welfare of other nations as well. They would not possess an ounce of xenophobia, and they would appreciate the many differences that the human race accommodates throughout the planet's population instead of being wary of what they cannot understand. I hope when my generation grows up, it will have leaders like this.
Since I've rambled enough I'm going to keep what I've learned about myself short.
I somehow always have the need for someone to praise me for me to really feel accomplished. I feel like I need to learn how to decide I can feel accomplished on my own without anyone telling me that I should be proud. Oh just so you know, today I recited the conjugations of is, ea, and id in Latin class, all 30, in order, memorized. Please tell me I did a good job.
Yeah, I need to work on my autonomy and stop worrying about what others think of me so much.
Well that's all, folks! I still can't believe it's already been a month...
Rest of exchange? Bring it on.

Obligatory Post on the 19th: September

So much has happened since I last posted, I'm going to divide this post into different topics! Here goes...

La Vie Scolaire
I am happy to report that school is nowhere near as bad as it was at the beginning! It's been two weeks now since it started, and I'm beginning to get the hang of things. I'm not even as tired at the end of the day anymore. Most importantly, I found a group of girls who have welcomed me; they are a wonderful bunch that I can laugh, be weird, eat lunch, and sing songs badly with. Having friends has really helped the transition, and they always make an effort to talk to me and help me feel more like a French high school girl. Once, I took a yogurt, and they asked if I had taken any sugar (they eat plain yogurt with sugar here). I said no, and they handed me some, and the yogurt tasted a lot better that way!
My class of Première ES 1, with only 22 kids, is a pretty great group. I have no words in any language to explain how hilarious English class on Monday was, because this is what happened. The activity that the prof assigned was to come up with excuses as to why one was late for or absent from school. Nothing special; I remember having done a similar activity in French class two years ago. Then the prof had me walk around checking everyone's grammar, and I came across some extremely bizarre sentences. The following are my favorites, from a group of boys named Hugo, Clément, and Arnaud.
"My fish had a headache."
"My computer died and I had to bury it."
"The school bus got in an accident with a submarine in front of my house."
Add bad grammar to these sentences, as well as their French accent reading them out loud, and you might be able to understand why I wanted to die laughing!
The next day, I asked Arnaud if his fish still had a headache. Without missing a beat, he replied (in French, of course), "No, it's gone. But he has a fever now, and it's not looking too good" in a tone as serious as can be. I expressed my condolences.
Here I have some physical evidence of how I'm getting used to school:
At first, my notes looked like this

But now, they look like this, all colorful like how the French kids do it (yeah, they write in cursive too)

One thing I hate to admit about school is that I can actually understand a little of the content, and I find myself WORKING in class. WHY. I thought this year was gonna be a break from that! I've even helped out some of my classmates in math and science... I've been asked the question, "Did you get good grades in the United States?" and I said they were very good, and I've been called a smart girl already. That reputation just follows me everywhere, I can't escape it. Guess some things never change, and some things will forever be a part of me. Of course, there are still times in class when I feel dumb and clueless, and I let it happen. I'm here to enjoy the country, not to do well in school. History class is difficult for the French kids too, anyway.

Cafés
It just wouldn't be a year in France without the cafés! These little sidewalk establishments are a huge part of French culture, and everyone likes to spend their time socializing and gossiping there. Whenever I find myself in one, I order the same thing - a sirop de fraise à l'eau. It's a chilled drink, pretty much strawberry syrup mixed with water. Trust me, it's really good.

Here is a café in Angers, where I hung out with some Rotary friends.

Traveling
Since I arrived, I have already been to 8 French cities: Le Pouliguen, Parthenay, Niort, Bressuire, Angers, Cholet, Oiron, and Thouars. European public transportation is absolutely magnificent- the trains and buses leave exactly on time, and everything is very organized. During all this traveling I've done, I feel amazed at how I handle all my issues, ticket changes/purchases, and questions entirely in French. I adore this language, and I can't believe I'm actually speaking it every day!

Castles
It's already a well-known fact that France has a myriad of castles. One of them, a relatively small one from the renaissance age, is the Château d'Oiron that my second host parents took me to see.

For some reason, there was a contemporary art exhibition happening inside the castle. The contrast of renaissance and modern age art was pleasing to my mind, but my second host dad didn't feel the same!

One of the many strange, unexplainable, yet fascinating works of art was this nautilus carriage.

Oh yeah, I got to hang out with a unicorn inside the castle too, I really felt like a princess!
I can't get enough of all the spiral staircases here.

Check out the king's chamber (the room he'd occupy on a visit) - yes, that is REAL GOLD.

Finally, here is a painting of a congregation of the Greek deities. (This is obviously not contemporary art.)

Parthenay
If you know me well, you'll know that I feel most at home in a big city, which Parthenay most certainly is not. It is a town in the middle of the French countryside, dating back to the medieval era. It has barely over 10,000 inhabitants. However, I do not wish to change my city- life all the way out here is very relaxing, and I feel like that's what I need the most this year. I know that Rotary placed me where I'm meant to be, and I have the rest of my life to choose to live in a big city anyway! While I don't think I'll convert into a country bumpkin this year, I'm definitely going to enjoy all the different aspects of living here. After all, that's what exchange is about- being placed in unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations, making the best of them. And I travel out of the city often enough anyway.
I took some photos of the St. Jacques Quartier, the medieval quarter of my city. It's very beautiful indeed.

MIKA

Also, if you know me well, you would know that one of my favorite singers is a guy named MIKA, who I think is bigger in Europe than in the US. I first heard of him on that Europe trip in 2010, when I heard his song Blame It on the Girls in Paris. From that point on, I was hooked on his cheerful, catchy, singable music, and I was absolutely ecstatic when he released a song in French summer 2011 called Elle Me Dit. When I first listened to that song, I couldn't help but idly daydream about what it'd be like to live in France. Now I am in France, and I still listen to that song, and when one of my girl friends during lunch break played it off her phone, we couldn't help but all sing part of it. And now that the new album, the one that has this song, came out on Monday the 17th (ONLY IN FRANCE) I couldn't help but rush to the Hyper U after school to buy it. I looked at it as a reward for going through two weeks of school.
Here's how excited I am to have it, and how happy I am to be living in France in general!