SO. I arrived in France almost a week ago. I've met my host family, made new friends, gone to the beach, ridden bikes all over an island...virtually done every stereotypical thing there is to do in France.
And all I've learned so far is: Le Francais ees berry deefeecult.
Seriousement.
I arrived in Paris, at the Charles de Gaulle airport (which, btw, is not as a fabulous of an airport as Hong Kong. You want a good airport? Hong Kong. All I'ma say,) and met my friend Esther for coffee in one of the poorer arrondissements. Afterwards, I borded a train towards Nantes, and had a very interesting 3 1/2 hrs. with the Cambodian boy next to me. We mostly discussed money and his pinstriped suit. It was l'adorable.
When I arrived in Nantes with the 5 billion other IES students, we were taken to our Institut, which is located in a 19th century building, and is gorgeous. Our families picked us up, one by one--something very similar to toddlers picking out their first puppy at the pound--and we were whisked away to these random people's houses, where undoubtedly, a very awkward conversation ensued.
My family, Veronique, Jeffrey (pronounced 'Jeff-wah') and their children Claire and Jacques are beautiful, own an aborable little house, and are apparently very well read. Veronique is a psychologist, Jeffwah deals with finances, Claire just turned 17 and Jacques is a nicer version of my own 14-yr.old brother. We talked about Asia, religion, politics, Equus, and the role of psychology in France. And let me tell you: my French hasn't been as good this entire trip as it was that night. If ever there was a night to be on, that was it. That was probably my peak; I'm sure it's all downhill from here.
The next day, IES took all the students immediately on an orientation trip to see Bretagne (Brittany.) We stayed in a very expensive hotel in Vannes, were served incredible meals every day, and were driven on buses all over the countryside (meaning Ruth was tres, tres carsick.) We visited Ile-aux-Moines, and rented bikes to ride all over the island. We saw Rochefort-en-Terre, and drank wine and looked at all the roses. And we even went to a Festival de Huitres, or Fesitval de Oysters (50 cent fresh oysters cooked with pesto? Oh. Yes.)
Over the course of these 3.5 days, I made good friends with a girl named Leah, from Kentucky, a boy named Cody, from Ohio, and two other girls, Kadidia (AKA K.Diddi, from Manhatten) and Kelsey (from god-knows-where.) Leah and I were roomates and the four of us spent a lot of time riding bikes, eating, drinking, walking into town--hell, Cody and Leah even stood guard while I peed on the wall surrounding Vannes! I'm really grateful to have made these friends so quickly, though I'm not quite sure how much of them I will see in the weeks to come.
Well. We will just see.
And all I've learned so far is: Le Francais ees berry deefeecult.
Seriousement.
I arrived in Paris, at the Charles de Gaulle airport (which, btw, is not as a fabulous of an airport as Hong Kong. You want a good airport? Hong Kong. All I'ma say,) and met my friend Esther for coffee in one of the poorer arrondissements. Afterwards, I borded a train towards Nantes, and had a very interesting 3 1/2 hrs. with the Cambodian boy next to me. We mostly discussed money and his pinstriped suit. It was l'adorable.
When I arrived in Nantes with the 5 billion other IES students, we were taken to our Institut, which is located in a 19th century building, and is gorgeous. Our families picked us up, one by one--something very similar to toddlers picking out their first puppy at the pound--and we were whisked away to these random people's houses, where undoubtedly, a very awkward conversation ensued.
My family, Veronique, Jeffrey (pronounced 'Jeff-wah') and their children Claire and Jacques are beautiful, own an aborable little house, and are apparently very well read. Veronique is a psychologist, Jeffwah deals with finances, Claire just turned 17 and Jacques is a nicer version of my own 14-yr.old brother. We talked about Asia, religion, politics, Equus, and the role of psychology in France. And let me tell you: my French hasn't been as good this entire trip as it was that night. If ever there was a night to be on, that was it. That was probably my peak; I'm sure it's all downhill from here.
The next day, IES took all the students immediately on an orientation trip to see Bretagne (Brittany.) We stayed in a very expensive hotel in Vannes, were served incredible meals every day, and were driven on buses all over the countryside (meaning Ruth was tres, tres carsick.) We visited Ile-aux-Moines, and rented bikes to ride all over the island. We saw Rochefort-en-Terre, and drank wine and looked at all the roses. And we even went to a Festival de Huitres, or Fesitval de Oysters (50 cent fresh oysters cooked with pesto? Oh. Yes.)
Over the course of these 3.5 days, I made good friends with a girl named Leah, from Kentucky, a boy named Cody, from Ohio, and two other girls, Kadidia (AKA K.Diddi, from Manhatten) and Kelsey (from god-knows-where.) Leah and I were roomates and the four of us spent a lot of time riding bikes, eating, drinking, walking into town--hell, Cody and Leah even stood guard while I peed on the wall surrounding Vannes! I'm really grateful to have made these friends so quickly, though I'm not quite sure how much of them I will see in the weeks to come.
Well. We will just see.
"Like"
ReplyDelete