Good Morning, night or afternoon to you all!
Prepare yourselves for an extremely long and detailed post today, as I have to inform you of the past 3 weeks, which have been nothing but eventful!
On the 23rd of November I set off to France for a 10 week exchange, leaving behind all of my familiar comforts, friends and family for Christmas and the New Year. The drive to the airport with my dad was when the reality of it all kicked in, I was missing my usual christmas festivities and going to an unknown place with new people and the struggle of a language barrier for 2 months and 2 weeks!
Upon arrival in Paris, myself and 13 other girls were to have a little 3 day trip in Paris to see the tourist destinations and to hit the shops! Within the 3 days I saw more of Paris than I had ever seen before and met some lovely people. We visited various sites in Paris, from the Louvre to Euro Disney, and of course, the Eiffel Tower.
But the only downsides to the 3 days were that:
- We didn't get the chance to do any shopping as we were always catching the metro or speed walking to our next activity.
- It was extremely tiring!
After the 3 days of utter madness, all 14 of us ventured to the airport to catch the various flights to our host families where we would stay for the next 9 weeks. This day was filled with anxiety and anticipation as unlike some of the girls, I had never met any of my host family before and I could tell the initial greetings at the airport would be sufficiently awkward... Which they were. After the 1 hour flight from Paris to Bordeaux, I greeted my host sister Clemence, and my host father Stany with the traditional 2 pecks on the cheek, and we headed off to the car to embark on the longest car ride of my life.
The duration of the car ride was around 1 hour and a half until Stany turned off the country highway and onto a dirt road and said something in french along the lines of "C'est notre maison" meaning, "this is our home". For about 15 minutes we bumped around in the mini van as Stany sped over the numerous pot holes and puddles making me feel sufficiently sick, and finally turned into a double gated and slightly less bumpy drive way where ahead I could see the French style chateau where I would be living on weekends and the 2 weeks of holidays for the festive season. Walking through the front door it was apparent as to how overwhelming this really was and I felt scared and nervous to see what my room would be like. After taking my shoes off and Clemence showing me the bottom floor of the house, we finally arrived at the staircase where she led me up and pointed to the first room. "C'est ta chambre" she said in her sweet french accent with a shy smile on her face. I responded with a merci and took my bags into the room and started to unpack. After unpacking, meeting the mother, having dinner and showering, I collapsed into bed with the knowledge that the next afternoon I would meet my host sister, Gaelle, and go to the boarding house until the end of the week.
The next day passed like an eternity and I found that everything was unfamiliar and strange to me in so many ways, and it was then I learnt that the simplest things from home are the things you miss the most. The next couple of days at the boarding school were extremely strange but also exciting, meeting new people and seeing different ways of life! That weekend my host family and I went bowling for my host brother, Mikael's birthday. We then had dinner at this weird mexican restaurant which was actually quite nice for a change. The next week at school went by extremely slowly and when I finally came back to my host family for the weekend, I found out we would go into Bordeaux on Saturday for shopping!! So, the next day we went 'shopping' where basically the whole family went into every shop together and it was just an uncomfortable experience! Therefore, I didn't buy ANYTHING!!! I know right, strange.
The next week was very eventful as the girl I came with from Australia and one of my good friends, decided to go home early due to home sickness. This made things very uncomfortable, especially between her and her host sister. Everyone was certainly confused and annoyed, including myself. But in the end it was for the best, and she said to me yesterday she thinks she made the right decision, which is good. That was a little bump in the road, but I am over it and this weekend has been very relaxing and filled with practically nothing, which I definitely needed as I was exhausted. Yesterday (Saturday), I went go-karting with Gaelle and her parents which was fun, and then we went to the beach and had waffles, hot chocolates and crepes!
Now it is Sunday and tomorrow I will leave at 6.30am to the boarding school for my last week before the holidays. Today I am just staying in my pyjamas and not moving from my room except for lunch and dinner where I will be kept hostage at the table for at least an hour as per usual.
Okay, so that was my update on the past 3 weeks in France, and as said in the title of the post, I have 6 weeks to go until I go to Dubai with my family for a week! The countdown begins,
Kit. Xx
