Weeks Twenty Four and Twenty Five

What a couple of weeks

Last Monday I was really sick but forced my way through it and went to school.  It turned out that it was a pretty good choice. It was a sort of immersion day. We had two periods of the day that were set-aside for us to explore our passions. We had signed up different things a couple weeks earlier. I spent my two periods at the local university learning about two majors. I observed biology in the afternoon, which wasn’t that interesting, but in the morning I learned about their language program, which sounds really cool. The kids in the program are required to take a minimum of three languages. I would love to do that in college. It would really help me to study in France for this type of thing, I’m not sure how much I would get out ten hours of English per week, but I would love to study languages.

Monday was also the 18^th birthday of my friend Vilma, the Swedish girl in my school. To celebrate we had a little party at my house. It wasn’t huge and it was pretty mellow but it was nice to do something outside of school. We had a couple of friends over and we ate some pizza and hung out, not to bad a party.

This was my last week of school before vacation. There were only five weeks between the vacations but it was nice to get a little time away anyway. I took Saturday as a day of rest and didn’t really do anything. Sunday I had to get up early and get everything ready to leave. I went to the Pyrenees with another family to do a week of skiing. It was easily one of the coolest things I’ve done so far on this exchange.

The car was a little tight, it’s made for seven and we were exactly seven, plus all the food and ski gear for a week. We made the most of the 7 hour car ride though, it wasn’t to bad. We didn’t see much of the mountains the first night because there was so much fog but that had a different effect. We had to walk up to the main station to rent our material and the cold made the fog freeze in our hair so we all had completely white hair by the end of the walk. It really made us realize we were in a totally different place.

I decided against taking lessons because I thought I could manage on my own. It was pretty rough the first day. I fell down at least one time every time we went down a slope. I think that in total I probably fell about 20-30 times. Thankfully I didn’t get hurt but it was a little rough. I think a lot of it had to do with me being scared, the first day I was really getting used to the mountains and the slopes. After the first day I started to really improve though. By the end of the week I was doing the hardest slopes without much trouble.

We skied Monday-Friday 9-5 every day and a half day on Saturday. We even ate lunch on a bench on the slopes. Needless to say I was a little sore but it was amazing and so beautiful. The apartment that we had was right on the slopes, we could literally put on our skis and go. It was an amazing experience that I’m really grateful for, although I’m not going to lie and say that it wasn’t nice to come back to the constant Internet of the house.

I’m now at home for about four days and then I’m leaving for my first Rotary bus trip. I’m really grateful for these experiences and I think that it’s times like these that I’m going to remember years from now, looking back on this incredible time in my life.

Week Twenty Three

This week marks the second time I’ve been sick on this exchange. Man this sucks.

The week was good though. Wednesday was a busy day for me. I ate lunch in town with a couple friends, we ate kebob, which is something I’ve discovered in France but love so much. I went to my French lesson after and then my dance class. Thursday was school and then my horse riding lesson. Friday I didn’t have badminton so I went to the gym and then to a family friends house. I had a very busy week and it’s times like these that really start feeling like I’m making a life in this country.

Thursday at the horse lesson I did fall off my horse. We were cantering and she fell so by default I fell as well. I didn’t get hurt. It struck me as a little funny to be taking the age old saying literally. When you fall off the horse, you have to get back up. Also turns out that in the equestrian world, if you fall you have to buy or make a cake for the rest of the class. So, I guess I will be making my fellow classmates a cake.

This weekend was really nice. It was a Rotary weekend with all the other exchange students. It was in a city called Saumur, which is a city famous for it’s horses but also for its stone and cave dwellings. It turns out that this particular area of France was really big for a specific type of Quarry. The people the lived here were primarily farmers and needed to preserve their farmland. Normally when a quarry is dug it results in a huge hole in the ground. These farmers were smarter though and designed and carried out a different method for collecting the stone beneath their land.

Basically what they did was dig about a meter wide trench in the ground and then dug down from there. They dug down straight for about a meter and then dug outwards in a shape that roughly matches that of a wine bottle. What results is a quarry that doesn’t destroy the farmers land. The farmers would also often build their houses directly into these rocks. This area is very fascinating and it was cool to see this big part of history.

While in Saumur we also went to see an abbey in a nearby city. It was very interesting and we got an entire tour. It was interesting to see the huge difference in culture and values of that era and today. For instance, in the dining hall there were three rows of tables and no windows. The nuns and residents were not allowed to say anything, as they had to be completely focused on god. The people sitting at the outer two tables sat facing the wall so they wouldn’t be tempted to talk to each other and the people sitting in the middle table had to sit sideways so they wouldn’t look at one another.

It was an interesting weekend as well because the new Australians just got here. Australia and most of the southern hemisphere is on a different school schedule and it works best for them to come during this part of the year. It was interesting to see their reactions to coming to France and discovering all the things I had discovered five months ago. It was strange because they don’t speak French so they didn’t understand anything the Rotarians said to them. I got to act as the translator for them when the Rotarians were going over the rules. It started to snow as well, which was the first time I’d seen the stuff since I got here.

Being around the Australians really made me realize how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown. I’m proud of myself and the progress I’ve made.

Weeks Twenty-one and Twenty-two

Two weeks have passes and they have been pretty full.

Tuesday my French teacher got onto me for not working enough on a group project and insisted that I start working harder. I tried to take her advice and wrote an analysis of a piece of theater that we had been working on. I ended up getting a 14.5/20 on it, which is not half bad. I was proud of myself anyway. Last Tuesday, we also took a test over big authors, literary works, and genres of 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th century French literature. I was starting from a knowledge base of nothing so it was a little hard to learn everything I needed. I got a 13/20 on the quiz though which was better than a couple of the kids in the class so I was happy with myself again. I guess working does sort of pay off.

Wednesday I had an evaluation of my Step aerobics routine in gym. I am aware how ridiculous that sentence sounds. It was just as ridiculous as it sounds. For the last few weeks we’ve been learning about step aerobics and the last three weeks we had to put together routines in groups. It didn’t go as well as it could have but it was okay. It was a strand unit but fun too. For the next quarter of the year we’ll be swimming.

Last Thursday I started taking a horseback-riding lesson at a club. It was really the first time that I really learned how to ride in any sort of structured environment. I mean I’ve gone to horse camps and been on horse before but this was the first time I really learned how to do it. It was great! This Thursday I jumped the horse for the first time. It was sort of scary but also pretty great. I really like this class.

Saturday Öykü came to La Roche and we went and saw the movie Les Souvenirs. It was pretty good. I really like watching movies in French, I understand 99% of the text and I really like to work on my French while watching. Saturday night we went to a Mexican night hosted by the Luçon Rotary club. It was fun and only a little strange. It was nice to get out of the house and spend the night somewhere else, even if it was at my host grandparents’ house.

Tuesday, January 20^th, my niece Eloise was born. It is probably the biggest thing that happened in my old life in Columbus since I left. I really wish I could have been there to see her after she was born and I wish I could be there now to see her and hold her. She is beautiful and I wish I could hold her myself.

Exchange is weird because you get the impression when you leave that everything will be the same when you back. That’s not necessarily true though. The earth still turns and things still go on. You end up missing a lot, but at the same time you are experiencing so much of your own stuff and you are learning so much. It’s a weird feeling, to be split between two places. You want to go home but at the same time you never want to leave. I think that part of you never leaves your host country and it will always have a place in your heart.

Week Twenty

This has by far been the craziest week of my exchange. For those who don’t know, very few I’m sure, there was a terrorist attack in Paris. Two men went into an independent satirical newspaper and left after killing 12 people. They did this because the newspaper had printed some derogatory caricatures of Muhammad. The French people took this as an attack on their freedom of speech and press. The country has exploded in an incredible way. There have been in an insane amount of protests and gatherings across the country and the world.

The beginning of my week was mellow and ordinary. Monday and Tuesday I had classes like normal and the nights were mellow. School is back in session though. Monday was my first back. This started what will be the shortest school session of my exchange. This session is only five weeks long. This is because France is split into three zones and to make the vacation spots less crowded. The first two vacations are taken at the same time in all three zones but the last two are split up between the three zones. My zone is the first to take their vacation this year.

Wednesday seemed like a normal day. I had school and then my French lesson then my dance class. On the way home my host mom explained to me what had happened that morning. She had already been to one gathering of the city to protest what had happened. I didn’t really have any idea of what it would become at that point. It was just something bad and sad that had happened. I didn’t realize all the implications it would have on France.

Thursday the attack was all anyone was talking about. While in the library working my group members and I heard a lot of noise coming from outside on the road, everyone in the room crowded over to the windows and we saw a protest going down the street. It was a student protest and there were over 300 students participating. It was the real deal, they were all really into it and there were police escorts and everything. Friday there was another gathering in downtown. This one consisted of over 2,000 people. I didn’t go to this gathering but it still struck me as incredible that so many people had gotten together.

On Friday, I also went back to my first host family’s house to say and pick up some stuff that I had left. It was weird to be back in what had been my house. It’s strange how quickly things have changed but it I think that that house will always feel at least a little bit like home. I was nice to see my old parents and sisters. It’s been strange to be away from them for so long and not see them everyday. I hadn’t really realized how much they have touched my life.

Sunday marked a monumental day in the French history.

There were marches throughout France. I went to the march hosted in my city. I was stunned by the amount of people that had showed up for the event. We got there early and received stickers with “Je suis Charlie” written on them. This has become the slogan of this movement. This is because the newspaper attacked is called Charlie Hebdo. This is the slogan of the movement because people want to show that they are united and support this newspaper.

In my little city of 50,000 people, an estimated 25,000 people came out and walked. That is half of the population of my city. It was an incredible thing to experience. There were an estimated 1.5 million people in Paris. This is something that I believe will mark this period of time for a long while.