The Home Is Where the Heart Is

I really am starting to feel like France is my home. I guess it has just been in the past of couple of weeks. It goes like this:
I guess I think about some home-related topic-- something that I miss about the US, and get a little feeling of nostalgia. But then all of a sudden, I realize all of the hundreds of little things that I love about France, that I never noticed before, and that I don't ever want to let go of. And then I understand that even though I might be "homesick" occasionally, it is never a dire need to go back to the US. In addition, when I start to get little feelings of longing for my old life, another odd phenomenon commences. I am getting "pre-host-country-sick." This is a very odd concept. It pretty much means that I start to think about me being back in the US in my head, and then I start missing things from France, even though I am still in France. I am almost like a child with separation anxiety. The departure is inevitable, but I know that I I'll be crying and unprepared quand-même.
I feel like now I would be perfectly content to stay here... forever... hehe. Maybe that is an exaggeration. I would like to see my family and friends again. XD But people aside, the way of life here has become so normal to me that I don't know how I will react when I go back the the States.
I guess my thought for the week has just been more about home, and how much my perception of it has varied from the beginning of my stay to now.

In other news, I read another book for my French class in French (Well, no duh it was in French). I am getting more into the written side of the language because it is soooo massively helpful with grammar and therefore affects all aspects of my use of French. Just for fun I have started reading Romeo and Juliet. It is a version with French on one page and English on the other. Oh, how that helps when trying to decode the cryptic art that is Shakespeare. I have to say, it is much more straight forward in French. Haha.
New word time!!! "une querelle," meaning a quarrel. Hooray!
Also in French class news, I have my first essay to write. Oh boy... at least I have three weeks.

Moving right along, I have to say that school goes by very fast here. Friday at four o'clock, I am on VACATION! For two whole weeks. Wow... that is amazing. Two weeks for ski break?! They really take their free time seriously here, I guess. :) Et j'en profite... We will be going skiing for one week in the Alps... I am very excited! Haven't been skiing for so long!

What was that other thing I wanted to mention...? I had some friends over Saturday! It was great and we failed at making cupcakes. But whatever. The process was fun... Urggggggggg. What was it I wanted to say?? French food is delicious? They have lots of expression to indicate that they are annoyed? I dunno. I forget. If I happen to remember, I shall post it.

I REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!! It is actually kinda a lot to say... :/ But I shall say it anyway! Yesterday, after having had many a failure in this respect, I finally asked Pia some questions of pronunciation. She is my go to girl for language troubles. Depuis je suis arrivée en France, j'ai eu du mal à prononcé le difference entre "ou" et "u," et "or" et "our." This is quite entertaining sometimes. As in me saying there are more sheep in New Zealand than people came out to sound like there are more mutants in New Zealand than people. Hmmm... Also, when I said I bought a cute sweater yesterday, it sounded like I had bought a cute chicken. Uhhh... And finally, my personal favorite, was a couple days ago, when Pia thought I said death instead of love (la mort and l'amour, respectively.) So I came to Pia with this question, and she actually was able to help me a lot. I think I am on my way to having a better French accent... hehe.

An opposite version of this is the fact that in my English class, my awesome British teacher brought up a subject that I find quite coincidental the other day... The students' pronunciation of saw, raw, jaw, four, more, war, etc. They tend to pronounce it like this:
Raw, saw, and jaw become row, sew, and Joe.
Four, more, and war are better, but kinda difficult with the use of the English "r," therefore it kinda turns out like fouw, mouw, etc.
But it is funny, because I had actually noticed this before. When I first got here and we would get on the topic of films, there would always be this question, "Have you seen the movie sew?" ... ... "Uh... no? What's it about?" "Well, it's this dude who takes people and tortures them and stuff..." ... "OHHHHH!!!!!! Sawwwww!" Many a lol escaped my throat in those first few months. But I shouldn't be one to laugh at people's accents by any means.

In fact, I found this awesome, to know that it isn't only me struggling with the various nuances of another language.

A bientôt!
Carly

It's about time for another one of these... :D

So, I guess in the past couple of weeks I haven't done many spectacular things... but I am really ok with that. I am realizing how well I have adapted to being here... to understanding the culture better and the language. To making new friends and stepping outside of my comfort zone sometimes. To everything pretty much... And it makes me feel happy. I can't even start to explain the amount of change I have gone through in this past five months. It is insane! And right now, I think I only really notice half of it. I feel like being back in the States will make me realize the rest.

Anyhow. Although I am really happy right now, there is one thing in the back of my mind. Time. Still. The semester kids went home last week. I miss them already. :( But not only was it a sad parting, also it was an epiphany moment. If they are going home... that means I have gotten through half of my exchange. Hold it... I AM HALF WAY THROUGH MY EXCHANGE??!!!? That is pretty much what I have been thinking for the past week. I know I already touched on this subject, but just... yeah. It hasn't left my head.

In terms of events in the last two weeks, well, I have two notable stories! The first was this past Sunday, the 30th (Also the day the semester kids left... :( ). I went to a hockey game! And better yet, it wasn't just any hockey game, but the final for the French Hockey Cup. Yay! It was Angers v. Rouen, and since Manon lives in Rouen, of course I had to root for them (Although I feel like there was an AFSer placed in Angers...)!! :D It was such a fun experience. I guess sports are an international language, because almost everything was the same as in the US. The kiss cam, the little chants and half-time (one-thirds time, actually) randomness. I had a great time. Only complaint, the cheerleaders kinda ... sucked. Hehe. I have to say that our cheerleaders at LGHS are better than these ones. XD But anywho, it was awesome.

The other thing of interest is that yesterday I went to Versailles (again!). But this time it was extra special... "Why" you may ask? Well, because my awesome Aunt Judi and Uncle Chip from Utah happened to be in town. And I got to see them!!! I am pretty sure it was the only relative visit I'll get while I am here, so I took advantage of it. We decided to see the gardens because it wasn't horribly cold (like the days before), so we ended up seeing the Petit Trianon (Marie Antoinette's part of the palace), and exploring the area around there, which happened to be so huge we got lost a couple of times... But even though we were quite directionally challenged and had a matter of mix-ups, it was a wonderful afternoon that I will always remember! After the endeavor, the three of us went into a cute little café and I got a chocolat chaud. We talked some more, and then had to say goodbye. Altogether an awesome day.

I guess that concludes all of the interesting things that have happened in the gap between blog posts, but I have something else kind of random I want to say. I can hate an aspect of the French culture one minute, and then the next minute Love it with all my heart for the same reasons... It is an odd concept. But I guess I am having to realize that a culture is a culture, and that what makes these cultures great is that each country and even each little area within a country has its own little mannerisms, expressions, ways of life, food, dialect, and so much more, and it makes every place so unique. For the most part I end up loving the French and their façons de vivre, because it has become my new world. Going back will be hard...

-Carly

Time...

So, I know it has been a while since my last post, sorry about that. But I guess time has just slipped away a little...

Which got me thinking. My perception of time seems to be really f***ed up right now (Sorry for the language :) ). I mean, on one hand, I try to live in the moment. And on this smaller scale, time seems to go by fairly slowly on a daily basis, but then all of a sudden, a week has gone by! And then a month! And a half-exchange!! And it bogles my mind every time I realize this. I'm sure anybody who is reading this is feeling the same way too. I guess this is the time of year in which things start to slow down a little, and we can finally try to organize our thoughts and take into account all that we have experienced in the past several months. I know in my case, I am shocked when I notice how much I have grown and come to love my life here. How much I have matured, but at the same time, how my hunger to learn and understand more of this country and its culture and language hasn't really changed at all since the beginning of my time here.

I guess I can partly attribute this to this past weekend. Do you remember in October, when I wrote about the AFS weekend? It was a blast; getting to see everybody else, hear about their experiences, and understand my progress really helped me out that first month. But in comparison to this weekend, this one was fantasmicalistic! Every one of us AFSers is friends, I would like to say. And everything was so much more integrated and personal this weekend. And although there were a couple people that I love who weren't there, it was great anyway. It was really a good time for us all to realize how great we are feeling at this point in our exchanges.

So yeah...

I guess I will move on from this topic. In other news, the French is going very well! I finished my first book in French, cause all the other ones for school I kinda only read halfway. It is called "On ne Badine pas avec l'Amour," by Alfred de Musset. It was actually pretty good... :) I am excited to read more.

What else...? Well, there is a village that is probably about 60m squared that is on the bus route to my house in Pressagny, and it is called "Les Fours à Chaux," which means the hot ovens. Yes. And my village is Presagny the Proud. I am pretty sure Pressagny doesn't really mean anything special. *Correction!! Chaux isn't the plural of "hot" as I thought it was... It is actually, according to google translate, whitewash and/or lime... Like a material to make your stove out of...?! Ok, why not. The whitewash ovens. Just as good, I'd say.*

I think I shall end this post here... All in all, I guess I am loving life right now, and I am super excited for all of the experiences to come!

Oh right! I am staying in Seconde.

INEXPLICABLE HAPPINESS

This blog post shall be non-sequitur. PREPARE YOURSELVES.

So, I am just really really really happy lately. First of all, this week I have achieved a lot lot lot. I am testing Premiere, I have strengthened some relationships and started a few new ones, I have made some good decisions, I have met another exchange student at my school (FINALLY), and wow, I really can't describe. This is the happiest I have been since the beginning of my exchange. :O A state of tranquility and content and AWESOME. Aghhhhh wow. Happiness. Cool down, Carly, you can do it.

Ok, well, today was my first day of the test of Premiere. And I have to say, it went amazingly! The first period I was really awkward, but after the break in between the two hours, a guy walked up to me and said, "Hi, I am an exchange student from Mexico." :O:O:O:O:O YAY. He speaks English pretty much fluently, too, so he is basically trilingual. :| Whoa. Throughout the day I had a good time just kind of getting to know them all better, but that isn't all! In my advanced English class, I walked in to see the American assistant (have I talked about her before?) standing there. And apparently every Tuesday I get to see her for at least 20 minutes. :) Yay! And we are going to get together at a cafe tomorrow to talk about everything in general.

I ate lunch with Pia and her awesome friends XD and that was great, too. And now I am at home kind of just wallowing in the awesomeness that is my life... Bear with me please. I think I will snap out of this oddness quite soon. Hooray!

But really, that is all I can think about for now... Excuse me while I go die inside from the awesome.

As I am sitting here in Pia's room with nothing productive to do (Scratch that, could be reading my French literature book that we have a test on next Tuesday...), I have decided that the best use of my time would be to write a blog entry. Hooray!
Well, actually a lot has happened since my last post. For starters, we celebrated the jour de l'an. I was with Pia and Manon, and we went to a fun party in Rouen, where Manon goes to university. After that we were all very tired...! But school doesn't stop for our fatigue, alas.
But it has been an exciting week, even though I have been SUPER TIRED. Monday was monday, and tuesday was tuesday, but today was particularly interesting. So, I talked to you all earlier about the fact that I might change to be in Premiere for a host of reasons, and today I stopped at the "woman who I was told to go go to"'s office to talk to her about it. I have to say it was a success; I understood everything she said and vice-versa, and I went all alone to top it off! (Small feeling of independence) And she pulled out my card report card to see if I would be fit to go up, and said all she has to do is ask my professors and she will get back to me by Monday about whether or not I can try it out. So basically, I am going to try it out for a week or so I think, and then I will decide whether I really should or not.
Only problem-- I will have classes on Saturday! :O
I would be in Premiere ES Anglais Renforcé. Hooray! Let's see how everything goes.

So wish me luck :)

I am meeting my half-way mark, and I am starting to get a little bit of Carpe Diem in my soul! I don't have my whole life here, I might as well make the most of it!!!

And the lady I talked to today gave me some good wisdom, "Janvier, c'est vraiment dure. Mais bon courage!" I thought this was really nice. I think she understands Vitamin-D levels at the peak of winter. Although they say February is worse here...

And Now I am here in Pia's room helping her with English homework. Hooray, and bonne nuit tout le monde!

-Carly