Paris, Je t'aime

Paris, Je t’aime

So I went to Paris on Sunday. French people got it right, Paris is the most beautiful city on earth.

It started that morning with me heading to the train station, my ticket clutched in my hand. I was so excited I though I was going to ‘faire pipi’ in my pants. I arrived at the Gare with perfect timing…only to find out my train was 20min late. I was taking the train ‘toute suel’ and then meeting up a few stops down the line with Frannie (an exchange student living in Elbeuf), Nathalie (Frannie’s host mom), and Meg (Frannie’s host sister, from South Africa). I was supposed to get into the 3rd car from the front. I watched and counted carefully as the train pulled in and found a lovely spot for us all. Unfortunately when the train started it was headed the other direction (stupid 2 direction trains, they get me every time). I was then freaking out trying to get to the other end, to the other 3rd car from the other engine. Now, I have not spent that much time on trains like this…2 stories, 1st and 2nd class, reallllly fast, slippy floors, my bad balance. All of these factors added together saw me landing ‘plop’ onto some poor un-warned woman’s lap. I got up quickly, said my goodbyes and went back to my search. Only problem is that it is really hard to find the 3rd car from the front when you are inside. So the next train station I got out and ran frantically to the engine, and counted 3 cars down the line. Can you spot the tourist?
Enfin I found the correct car, and the right people. And the excitement only mounted.

Paris!

The weather was rather….wet and cold and windy (as you will see in the photos). But who really cares, when you are in Paris?

We took the Paris Metro, which is oh so much more exciting than the Rouen metro. Me and Frannie were ready to burst, and as soon as the metro doors opened we bolted up the stairs and down the street, and just as we rounded the corner we both froze….because there in front of us, slicing through the sky was the majestic, breath taking, ‘Holy cow I am in France’-ing, Eiffel Tower.

We spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of it, and staring in awe before we decided to actually get closer.

There are 668 steps going up the Eiffel Tower. I climbed alllll the way up….and allll the way down. (not without a significant amount of pain and sweat.)

The view from the top is heart-stopping. There is no real way to describe it. You are on top of the world, looking down on the most beautiful city. You can see the roads twisting through the city, the church steeples poking out from the city, the huge gold dome of the cathedral, the Seine slicing the city in half. It is incredible.

After climbing back down the tower we headed of to take a boat ride through the Seine. This was also rather incredible. We passes the Notre Dame Cathedral, Le Louvre, French Government buildings, everything was beautiful. There are an insane amount of bridges in Paris. It seemed like every 30seconds we were going under another.

After and hour and a bit on the water (the sky had finally cleared up), we had to head home. But not before we saw the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower, a moment I will never forget.

Une….Deux….Trois

Yes. 3.
Three months (trios mois) and I’m feeling good. I thought november was going to be a tough month, with the excitement of being away wearing off and all. But in fact, it has turned out to be the exact opposite. I have come leaps and bounds in my French and I have made deeper friendships.

Yesterday another exchange friend who lives in Elbeuf came into Rouen for the afternoon. We went into the Museum of the Gros Horlage (Big Clock), and it was rather amazing. Of course it was the one day I didn’t have my camera with me. It goes up an impossibly long flight of stairs with little interesting rooms going off it. At the very top you come to a door that leads outside, to a breathtaking view of Rouen. We were above all the other buildings, looking down on the rooftops of the town, the giant cathedral looking incredibly majestic in the fog, and about 100 other church steeples dotting the city and the surrounding hills. I understand why it used to be called the city of 100 bells. To make everything even more beautiful, the Christmas lights were up, lighting up all the little streets below, and there was a slight misty rain that made everything sparkle. It was magical.

I am headed to Paris this weekend, just for the day. And next weekend is a Rotary meeting for all the exchangers in our district, and it is right here in Rouen. The weekend after that I am off to Italy for 2 weeks for Christmas. Life is good.

(I will remember my camera for Paris, I promise)

Karma is a salope.

So in my last post I doubted Normandies weather....and today I am paying the price.

Grey skies. Rain. Wind. Wind. Wind.

I am sorry Normandie, I will never doubt your weather abilities again. I promise.

I just realized that I forgot to put up my pictures from Deauville (which was rather awesome). It was a large Rotary conference, and all the kids in our district came, but we spent the day walking around the town. It is soooo beautiful! Une tres belle ville.  It was my very first time seeing the English Channel, I was pretty excited.

isnt normandie supposed to be cold and wet?

So once again, I have proven that I cannot keep a regular blog. Sorry about that!

It will be 3 months this week. That means I am more than ¼ of the way through…..I don’t know how I feel about that. Is there anyway I could just, you know, stay here? Forever?

I was able to chose between spending Christmas here in France, or Christmas in Italy, what a rough life eh? So I will be going to Italy for just over 2 weeks during the Christmas holidays 

Not much is new here, I have settled into my daily routine quite nicely. I have cut down on the lemon tarts (and my jeans are thanking me). I sometimes have trouble with remembering the English word for something, and my spelling has become terrible (in English and French). I no longer have the need to buy a croissant every time I see one, which is really good.

The weather here has been amazing so far, every one is saying how it is exceptional, it is never like this. Blue skies all around. I am starting to miss the rain though, it seems odd to be near the end of November, and not have had a rainy day yet (the rain here doesn’t count as real rain, and it only lasts a few hours).

I am happier than a bird with a french fry. I am more than content. I am living and loving. I am growing (both metaphorically and realistically). I love my life.

je mange, je marche, et je dors

So I think that I have successfully proven my inability to keep a regular blog…. I don’t know how other people do it. Sorry about that.

Not much new has happened since the last entry…. Same old, same old. Today was another metro strike… Yippee. Tomorrow I am headed off to Deauville for an exchange meeting. I cant wait to see everyone again 

The weather here is getting a bit colder, raining more, but for the most part it is not bad. People in france don’t seem to be fans of warm houses….i often find myself huddled under a blanket on the couch wearing leggings with jeans over top, and maybe sweatpants on top of that, and 2 sweaters. A few nights ago I was wearing 4 pairs of socks on one foot (the other wasn’t as cold). I am not a ‘vrai canadian.’

School is going well, I am compreding mieux (hows that for some franglais?). Today my class went to the cinema to see a film. It was rather weird, but at least I understood it.

I have found another ‘place of refuge’ and that is a little café right near my school. When you buy a hot chocolate they give you a little chocolate to go with it, it’s a pretty sweet deal. Its really cozy inside, all wood with a little upstairs with comfy chairs. Its quite nice when its raining. Me, Bridget, Nathalie, and Maija al hang out there sometimes during our overly long lunches when it is trop froid to walk.

So all in all, 11 weeks gone, and I have become better at rugby, better at french, and better at ordering pain au chocolates. I have learned how to make a Cake a la noix de coco et au chocolat, and I think I am a better person for it, albiet a slightly heavier person, but a better one. All is well in my little corner of the world.

Ten, Dix, 10, X, 2 hands, no matter how you slice it its a fair bit o time.

10 weeks. That takes up all my fingers, I will have to start using my toes next week, and after that I will need to get creative.

So once again, I am sorry that I have neglected the writing…. I have been very busy with it being school vacations and all.

This vacation was really awesome. It started at noon on Saturday the 24th , and I go back tomorrow, Thursday the 5th. I went to the big fair here, it comes once a year and is the second biggest in France, its called Foire St. Romain, and it is epic. Some other friends from Rotary that live in nearby towns’ came into Rouen and we all went together. It was amazing.

Then on Friday all the kids in our district went to Parc Asterix for the day. We rode the 8 looper roller coaster, over water. It was the most scary and exhilarating thing I have ever done. We went on it twice, but I could have gone on it forever. We also went into a haunted house, but we went into the kiddy one by accident, and spent about an hour having ‘zombies’ walk around us. The real haunted house was so scary that you had to be 16 to go in, so we were a little disappointed about that. But all in all the rides were fantastic, and it was great to see everyone again.

The next day was my host mom’s dad’s 98th birthday party, needless to say, it was a grand fete. There were about 15 relatives that came from all over France. We all went out for dinner at a nice restaurant, and after everyone slept over at chez nous (our house). We had a lunch party the next day that lasted until 5. Then people started to pack up and leave. I slept very well that night.

For the rest of the days I have just been with my family and with friends. It has been a perfect holiday. I am ready to go back to school tomorrow, can’t wait to see everyone again.

Here are some pics from Parc Asterix!

2 months.

It has been two months now in this new, wonderful, crazy, challenging, beautiful life. Two months, that is 61 days, almost 1/5 of my exchange, it’s 1/6 of a year, and the amount of time it takes for a baby to learn to lift its head.

About a week ago I lifted my head. I looked around, up and down the cobble stone streets, the Seine in the distance, a slight breeze, a nearly cloudless sky, a woman riding a bike with 2 baguettes in the basket, a man walking his dog. I could hear the wooosh of the metro passing a few streets over, and I could see the top of a cathedral that is hundreds of years old, the contrast between the new and the old made me smile. That’s Europe. That’s my new life.

Two months in, and the sight of an ancient cathedral no longer sends me reaching for my camera. Now I look at the tourists, and smile to myself. I no longer thinks its weird to open the fridge and see at least 5 different cheeses. The French milk that I at first hated, is now my favourite drink.

School here is a different world entirely. Class begins with a lovely jingle, not the normal grating bell I’m used to. The students begin writing in beautiful cursive with their re-loadable fountain pens on ruler straight lines, while I sit with a dictionary and a book of scribbled notes. At the end of class everyone dons their 200Euro jackets and heads outside for a smoking break. This includes the teachers.

Although school here is a different world entirely, high school is high school whether it’s a cote de la cathedral, or surrounded by fields. Being an exchange students kind of excuses me from the social chain, we are items of interest with no social status. And that is just fine with me.

In these two months I have settled in, wiggled around and found my niche. I walk down the streets and feel like I am home, I don’t feel like the foreigner on the metro anymore, and I can order a subway sandwich in French. I can find my way from one end of town to another, I know where to buy the cheapest chocolate, and where to find the best Tarte aux citron. I can make rattaoullie (but I can’t spell it) and I can make crepes like there is no tomorrow. I have learned how to cut bread, and how to cut cheese (not in the farting sense). I have changed. It’s nothing drastic, not one specific thing, its like growing, you don’t realize it when your doing it until one day your pants are too short. I have picked up French mannerisms and ways of thinking. The sense of humor which once seemed bizarre to me, I now find extremely funny. I have realized that people aren’t “cold” in France, there is no “lack of warmth” here. They simply communicate differently.

I have lifted my head, and I like what I see. I am living my life to the fullest, and I am loving it.

Thanks you to all that made this a possibility.

sorry its been so long....

Hey everyone, sorry its been so long, I have been really busy/tired.

Soooo where were we? Mont Saint Michel? Oui, je pense.

We left chez moi at 8 and got there at about 11:45 ('we' consists of Me, Carmelle the australian girl, Carmelle's host brother, and a Rotarian)

Us students got to sleep in bungalows, which was pretty sweet :) I was in one with Carmelle. we had tons of fun. There was about 150 exchange students, from all corners of the world. Carmelle has been in France april, because she is Australian (they come in the spring), and so she has already gone on the bus trip and met a lot of the people, and she introduced me to everyone. We all hung out for a while then took a picnic lunch to eat while we walked in the sand.

Turns out the walk in the sand was for 4 hours.....thats a really long time to walk barefoot in cold wet sinking sand..... There was the occasional knee deep river that needed crossing. It was a rather cold, windy, wet, long walk... but in retrospect it was fun. It was great to talk to everyone.

When we got back to our bungalows we had (long) hot showers to try and defrost ourselves a bit. Then we had dinner, a large buffet. And after all the kids from each country got up in groups (or by themselves if there was no one else) and sang their national anthems. It was really neat.

Once that was over the lights went off and the music went on, and we danced until the wee hours of the morning. The music was from all different countries. It was awesome.

The next morning we were all tired with very sore feet. But after a long breakfast (involving as much caffine as my body can safely hold) we were off again to Mont Saint Michel. This time it was free time on the island. We could go anywhere, do anything, just be back by noon. So a group of kids from our district ( we call ourselves The Camembert Crew, because we are really cool) went through the back door to the cathedral. It was slightly 'interdite' I think, but it was beautiful.
The streets of Mont St. Michel are so narrow and old looking, i love it. And the secret little stair cases, and tiny ally ways. I loved it. Most of the stores though (all of them other than restaurants) were over priced tourist shops though. But we had a great time.

We all met up again for a goodbye lunch, then the buses started to head off. We were the last to go (our district didn't get a bus, we had to find our own rides). It was me, Carmelle, and her host brother again. Her host brother was an exchange student last year. We all fell asleep on the ride home. haha. School the next day was not the funnest. :P

Since then I have mostly been sleeping, and slowly regaining feeling in my feet. haha.

here are some photos :)

....you want me to read...in english....?

Today in English class I had to read aloud. For those of you who know me well, you know that reading aloud is not something that I am particularly good at. I trip over words, and miss lines. I have no problem reading in my head, and absolutely no problem talking, so it is a mystery why rading aloud is difficult, but c’est comme ca.

Anywho, so I am handed the text book and told to read from line 1-50. (say whaaaaat?). Of course everyone is staring at me, because hey, she’s Canadienne, she will have no problem with it, right?

Wrong!

Hahahaha. So the teacher had to stop and correct me 3 times. The other mistakes I just hope they didn’t notice. I havn’t read an english book since the first week of September, and I have not read aloud in English since…….May? And it appears that it is a skill that needs regular practice to uphold.

I have my fingers (and my toes) crossed that the teacher will not ask me to read aloud again ( but my toes are also crossed because they are cold).

7 weeks.

7, the lucky number. Well, this certainly feels like a lucky week.

Bridget and I celebrated yesterday by making crepes for the first time here. They were delish. Afterwards since it was so beautiful out we decided to go for a bike ride (pretty French hey?). Bridget lives about 20 minutes outside of Rouen, in a little town called Petite Coronnes (not sure on the spelling). Ridding our bikes through the little downtown with the sun shinning and the crisp breeze, it was perfect. We rode to the town park, and it was so picturesque. A fountain surrounded by trees with golden red leaves, little grassy hills with fallen leaves, benches covered in leaves, it was amazing. We sat on a bench in the sun. It was just warm enough that I had to take off my jacket. It was that perfect autumn sun that makes you feel like you are glowing. I felt like we were in a children's book, with those paintings of ‘the perfect autumn day’. And to make it all even better, it was in France.

After 7 weeks I am home. I am home here. The food that I was at first not completely fond of, is now what I crave. The milk here that I wasn’t able to drink at first is now the best thing I have ever tasted. I love the culture here, the way of life. I love the grocery stores. I love the old lady sitting on the metro nibbling the top of a baguette. I love the plate of cheese in everyone’s fridge. I love the quirky aspects of day to day life. I love life. I love France.

A few days ago at school I was talking to a group of girls in my class, and one of them said that I spoke French very well for only having been here for a month. I didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

Today I have no school. Well, there is school, I am just not going. The metro is on strike again, and I have no way of getting there, so I will be kicking it at home today. I plan on cleaning (my new favorite pass time), writing, and baking an apple pie. Sounds like a perfect day to me 

On Saturday morning I am heading off to Mount Saint Michel for the weekend, with about 200 other Rotary students. I am really looking forward to it. And since the weather is so great right now, it should be awesome.

I hope everyone reading this is having as wonderful a day as I am today.

photos!

so this is Charlie, Waldo's French Cousin. He is not as good at hiding.



















these two are of a beautiful garden. I still can't believe that this is in my day to day life. I LOVE EUROPE.




















this is all the exchange students with Rotary in my districs. I am in the 2nd row from the back... center right.





and this is me in Rouen :)