My first two weeks with my new host family have been great!
I have to admit I was a little worried. My first two host families lived in the
city very near to downtown. With them I was able to walk to and from school,
this family lives in what the French would call, “Plein Compagne.” It is a
change but it’s not necessarily bad. Living so far away makes some things
complicated but it is great to see something that I’ve never seen before, which
at the end of the day is sort of the essence of exchange. This change brings
with it the end of my exchange, which is exciting but also terrifying. Leaving
a host family is always hard but I find that going to a new family where you
don’t know any of the rules or habits is not the hardest part. The hardest part
is definitely leaving the people who have become your family.
My first week with my new family was a sort of discovery
time. I had to put in a new wifi password, learn how to use a new shower, and
get used to a new place at the dinner table. Not the hugest things but you know
what they say, home is where the wifi connects automatically. After doing all
this it’s really just a matter of getting used to a new routine. Now, after two
weeks I am pretty accustomed to this new family and am starting to really bond
with them.
The first Monday was a little rough I’m not going to lie, it
was the first week back from the vacation and I had to get up an hour earlier
than I had for the last four months. The bus isn’t that bad though, I can
download an episode of a tv show and watch it or read a book while I’m going to
school. After school I hang out in the city or go to my second host family’s
house while I wait for a bus to head back to my new city.
I spent most of my week getting used to my new house and so
I didn’t do that much extraordinary stuff. Thursday we had people over to the
house for dinner. That weekend I spent on an island off the coast with a couple
Rotarians. This couple has owned the house on the island for about 40 years.
Needless to say, they know a lot about the history of the island and about neat
places to see. The Rotarian I went with is actually the same person who gives
me French lessons. It was a good weekend despite the fact that it rained a lot.
At the end of the weekend we visited a city called La Rochelle. It’s a pretty
big city right on the coast and played a role in the hundred years war. It was
an enlightening weekend to say the least and I learned a lot about the history
of the area.
The second week with the new family was a little special. It
was a sort of finals week at school. I ended up only taking the History and
Math tests. This meant that I didn’t have a lot of school. It did not however
mean that I could get up later because the way the scheduling worked out placed
the two tests I was taking at eight o’clock Tuesday and Wednesday and we had
had a half day Monday. Even though I still had to get up early I did not mind
having the extra time in the afternoon. I got some stuff done and hung out a
lot. It was a pretty relaxed week.
Friday we didn’t have school to commemorate the end of the
French involvement in the Second World War. I spent the night with my first
host family. We were supposed to go go carting to celebrate my and my host
dad’s birthday. We were unlucky and it
started to rain and so we went bowling instead. It was a fun thing to do with
the whole family!
The next day I woke up early to go the market with my host
parents to buy stuff for the arrival of my dad. He’s coming to visit me for the
next two weeks. We’re going to visit my city and my region of France for a
couple of days and then go to Germany to visit an exchange student we hosted in
2008. We will then come back to France and stay in Paris for a couple of days. I
think it’ll be a great trip and it’ll be really nice to see my dad again.
Saturday night Hugues and I went and picked up my dad. He
had just the time to change and take a shower before people arrived at the
house for an aperitif, we had invited my other host families over to eat with
us and meet my dad. It was a great night but I felt bad for my dad because he
didn’t understand a whole lot of what was going on and being said. He speaks
“some” French. He took a couple years in high school and college. Sunday we
went to La Rochelle and visited to city. That night we all went to my third
host family’s house for dinner. It was really good, the reason they live in the
country is because they are butchers so they live there to take care of the
animals they raise. It’s been a really great time so far and I’m excited for
the rest!
This year has been really great and with this new step I
realize that it’s just going to keep changing and evolving. This year has been
more and I’ve seen and done more than I ever thought I would. It truly is an
amazing experience and I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by. At the beginning
of the year it really does feel like it go on forever but as the year went on I
began to realize that a year is actually a very short amount of time. Now, I
feel as if I’m on the edge of my exchange about to jump back into my normal
life.
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