Week Ten

It’s back to school for me. The vacation is officially over. It was a good break though. I didn’t travel anywhere too special but it was nice being able to spend some time relaxing and staying up late.

On Tuesday I went to Nantes, the capital of Pays de la Loire, with Öykü. The original plan was to just meet up with another American here with Rotary but we ended up meeting up with probably ten or so people. It was nice to get to see people I haven’t seen in a while and hang out with them. It’s always really cool to hang out with the other exchange students because they are the people who understand your struggles and problems completely. We walked around a lot and saw some pretty cool things. It turns out that the people who created mechanical animals that are in La Roche made some in Nantes too. One of the animals, the only one we saw, is a mechanical elephant that is twelve meters tall. It was amazing.

Öykü spent the night at my house Tuesday night because it was a little late for her to go back to Sables. The next day we pretty much just hung out the house and watched some TV. It was nice in its own way, just relaxing. We wanted to see a movie and we found one that worked perfectly with our timeline. However, we went to the bus stop and ended up taking the bus in the wrong direction. We missed the movie and rode the bus for an hour but eventually got to the mall where we walked around and didn’t buy anything.

I made two meals for my family this week. Wednesday night I made pancakes and Thursday I made a chicken. I was pretty proud of my self because it is really the first time I’ve cooked something substantial. I was a little surprised that the meals turned out so well. It’s really funny to see my family experimenting with things that are so normal to us. For instance, they did not know what to think about maple syrup. Cooking is also always an experiment here because of the conversions I have to make. I’ve sort of just learned to make approximations and hope for the best.

Friday was Halloween so on Thursday we went to a Halloween store. It was funny because on one side there were innocent costumes and it was for kids. However, on the other side it got a much dirtier and the costumes were a pretty sketchy.

I don’t know if it is a Catholic thing or just a French thing, but on Friday we went to my host dad’s grandparents’ graves and cleaned it and put flowers on it. I think that it is a pretty common thing here and we are going to my host mom’s dad’s grave next week. It’s cool getting to experience the little differences in culture. Friday night there were some trick or treaters, I think that people do it more often in the United States. I made peanut butter cookies for my host family, which they surprisingly really liked.

Saturday, I went to Sables d’Olonne and met up with Öykü and another exchange student named Emily. It was originally supposed to be the seven exchange students in Vendée but we were the only ones who could make it. Emily is so good at French, she has been here for eight months because she lives in Australia and they are on a different calendar than us. We ate on the beach and then walked to a rocky area in a different part of Sables. We sat and talked for a while and then I embraced my inner exchange student and got into the water even though it was really cold. I touched some jellyfish but they didn’t sting.

Saturday night I spent the night at Öykü’s house. We ate a really good meal called Raclettes. It is basically cheese and meat, which you put in a special heating thing and it melts the cheese and cooks the meat and then you eat it with potatoes; very good.

Sunday, it was nice to stay in my pajamas all day and relax. It was my last day of vacation, which was sad but I also tried to make the most of it by relaxing as much as possible. I went to see the Maze Runner with Öykü and her sister Sunday night. The movie’s title in French is Le Labyrinthe. I watched it in French and was pround of my self because I understood almost everything that was said. I actually like don’t mind watching dubbed movies, I know that some people are really bugged by it but I actually like it.

This week I remember having a dream that I went home. At first it was a relief to be back around the things I know but then I realized how big a mistake it was to leave and I got really freaked out. I’m taking that dream as a sign that I’m doing okay, I still haven’t had a dream in French, I suppose that’s down the line but I figure I’m headed in the right direction. My French is getting a lot better and my English worse; that must be a good sign, right?