Week Eighteen

It was a very busy and important week of my exchange. First Christmas away from home and my first visit to Paris. Both went very well.

Monday we went to Luçon to see the family and to drop off some presents ahead of time as to not spoil the whole Santa thing. We started setting up this incredible Christmas city on the pool table. I’m talking train tracks, buildings, moving displays, and miniature people. There also Christmas lights everywhere. Turns out my host-grandparents are pretty festive people.

Tuesday did not feel like the day before Christmas eve. This season didn’t feel all that much like Christmas in general. I don’t know if it’s because the climate is different or if it’s because I’m away from home, but in any case it felt strange knowing that Christmas was so close.

The day of Christmas eve we went to Luçon to see the family and celebrate Christmas with Hugues family. I was extremely happy because the package of the presents for my host parents came the morning of Christmas eve as well as a present from another exchange student and one of my friends from the United States. In retrospect I got really luck to have received all that on the day before Christmas.

At five we left for Luçon. We got there and there was a small worry, the electric train wasn’t working because some of the fake snow had gotten stuck in one of the wheels. I set myself to that task and spent a while getting it running again. I hadn’t finished but it was time to go to the mass. It was my first ever mass. It was quite the experience. The church was completely full of people, there were people standing in the back all the way to the door. I didn’t understand much but I will say this, Catholics really like to stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down.  The mass started at 6:30 and lasted an hour. This put us back at the house at about 7:45.

People started showing up promptly and soon everyone but two people had arrived. In the mean time I had put myself back to work on the train and managed to fix it with the help of one of my host cousins. It was quite the success for us. We started the night with hors d’oeuvres and champagne, which is a very typical beginning to a French meal. A little while after this the kids, 18 and under opened their presents. I was glad to see that I did have some stuff under the tree, my host family got me some little stuff. We took a break after the presents. The couple still hadn’t arrived and my host grandma had forgotten to put the meat in the oven so we waited until eleven to start eating dinner. We started at eleven and didn’t totally finish until 2:30 AM. It was quite the night.

The next morning we got up at 9:30 to go back to La Roche to prepare the food and house for a Christmas day meal with my host mom’s family. My dad sent me some presents and I had some other stuff to open so all in all it was a great Christmas. We had a very nice meal and it was nice to feel the Christmas spirit. We were all in Pajamas by 7 PM. It was an exhausting two days. The next day was our pause. We took it easy and relaxed for most of the day. In the afternoon we packed our bags for Paris.

Friday we left for Paris at 8 AM. It wasn’t too hard to get up because I was so excited. It was incredible to pull into the city, knowing where I was, and seeing the Eiffel tower on the horizon. Paris is a truly incredible place. It’s so much different than any other big city I’ve ever been too. It feels so old and every single building is beautiful.

We stayed in a sort of residence hotel. What I mean is that the room had a kitchen and was a little better stocked than your average hotel room. It was sort of on the edge of town but it was really near a metro stop so it was easy to get into downtown. We were there for four days. It was crazy to see all these things that I’ve seen pictures of in real life. Some of the things we saw while there were, The Eiffel Tower (night and day), The Louvre, Notre Dame de Paris, Pont des Arts, Pont Neuf, Mont Martre, Centre Pompidou, the Champs Elysées, and the Opéra Garnier.

It was an incredible experience and it is truly an incredible place. I can’t wait to go back and see it again.

The day of Christmas marked four months in this country.  I am so happy to be here and so glad that I am seeing the things I am and doing the things I am. This will truly be something that I remember for the rest of my life.