✈ A Year in France

2012-02-21T22:36:00.000+01:00

Just some pictures

Went to Orleans last weekend to see my friend Maddi, it was Sunday so literally everything was closed and we just wandered around but it was nice to talk to her

Boredom in Paris. My friend Lauren and I decided to go visit a cemetery

Hah, found the Adams Family

Cimitiere Montparnasse

Saint-Sulpice

Luxembourg Gardens

Luxembourg museum

Waiting for my train home in the McDonalds, that's my train station across the street

L o n d o n!

2012-02-17T14:26:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone! Good news, the long-awaited LONDON post. The itinerary for this 49-student class trip is in an earlier post if you want to see what we did specifically each day.

The trip started with us leaving at 6am from Etampes. I had packed my bags the night before, just a little suitcase with a small backpack to keep me busy for the semi-long bus trip. I settled into the very back of the bus with my friends and we were off.

A few hours later, we arrived at the Eurotunnel (click here to read more about the Eurotunnel company), where the bus drove into a giant train (after getting all our passports checked). Once the train left, we were allowed to get out of the bus and walk around the train - it was practically only us inside the train, so imagine a herd of teenagers that had spent hours in a bus running the length of said giant train like a stampede. Well, that's what happened! The train ride only lasted 25 minutes, surprisingly, and when we saw daylight again, the sun was shining on us in England. The bus drove out of the train, and we took the highway direction: Canterbury!

The first stop was to go to Canterbury's giant Catherdral.

The Catherdral.

Where worship takes place.

Altar.

And informative little mini-museum, in a big room to the right of the main hall pictured above.

Stained glass windows.

Look at how detailed it is!!

The high, detailed ceilings.

View of the hall from the altar.

This is a view of the courtyard outside. Looks very Harry Potter-esque, right? I'm pretty sure they filmed here because this looks exactly like a courtyard at Hogwarts...

After the visit to the Cathedral, we had two hours of free time to wander around Canterbury and shop, go to a cafe, whatever we wanted. My little group of friends and I basically just wandered around, shopping, we went to a cafe.. It was lovely

Canterbury's main street.

Side street.

After our free time, we met back up with the teachers, and headed on to the next and final activity for the day: The Supermarket. At first I thought this was kind of odd but the point of the activity was to compare French and English supermarkets. We went to Sainsbury's, a supermarket chain, and in groups, we had to find things like French brands that were found in England, or a product that couldn't be found in France. It was interesting too because everything was in pounds, pints, and ounces - the French kids were REALLY confused but I'm no better with the metric system so I wasn't much help.

After the Supermarket activity (now imagine a big group of students running around a supermarket - whatever you're imagining it was probably just like that), we got back in the bus and headed in direction: London.

We got to Croydon, a southern suburb of London, in the evening. We met our host families and everyone went their separate ways until the next morning. I was in a group with two other boys from my English class, and our family was a husband and wife from Sri Lanka. They were REALLY sweet (although it was really only the mom who talked to us), served us a huge dinner, and showed us our rooms.

The next morning the families drove all the students back to the bus and we were off in the morning traffic flow to London proper! Our first stop was the Shakespeare Globe Theater (click here to learn more about the theater), which is actually a remake of the older version which burnt down (twice).

Sorry for the person in the way. View of the exterior.

The River Thames and the view of London from across the river. It's actually an incredibly modern city.. I wasn't expecting that.

There is always someone in my pictures! Ignore the girl to the right.

We took a guided tour to the inside of the theater. To the right is the stage, to the left is the floors where people would sit, and where we're all standing is where to poorer people would stand and watch the show.

The stage. A very interesting thing I learned about the stage from the guide: if a character was coming from heaven or had heavenly significance, he would enter/exit from the top via a wooden seat that descends with ropes. If the character was bad, or died and was sentenced to hell, he would enter/exit via a trap door in the middle of the stage. It was important for the trapdoor and ropes on the seat to be seen by the audience though - if it appeared real and the actor looked like he was flying, they would have been accused of witchcraft!

The ceiling of the stage. The box behind is where the richest people would sit (even though you can barely see the stage from there - if you came to the theater, I guess it was more to be seen then to see the show!)

After the theater, we walked across a pedestrian bridge to take us to the Museum of London. From the bridge, we caught of glimpse of London's famous Tower Bridge!

The museum of London was an interesting part of our itinerary but I didn't take any pictures while inside. The museum tells it's visitors all about the history of the city - how it started as a small Roman city called Londinium, grew to be the head of an empire, burned down twice, survived medieval diseases and much more!

After the museum, we got back in the bus for a small tour of the city. Here are pictures from unguided tour:

The London Eye!

After the tour, we got off the bus to take a walk to Oxford Street (click here to read more about Oxford Street), which is basically a giant street for shopping. Giant as in the biggest in Europe. I broke off from the group and went inside a quirky building full of independent art exhibitions. One was really cool: it was a giant wooden machine with plastic balls rolling around the structure. If you pulled a giant lever at the front of the display, one ball would route itself to you, drop into a net, and you could pick it up. Inside were fortunes!

"Welcome to the Pleasant new you."

The big red buses!

At the end of free time, the meeting point was Picadilly's Circus, the equivalent of Times Square I think.

After everyone regrouped, we got back in the bus to go to Croydon for the final night with our host families.

The next day, same routine with the families and we all met back at the bus. The first stop: The London Imperial War Museum (read more here), a museum all about the wars The United Kingdom has been through. It does not in any way celebrate war though: the overall message is that we need to learn from past wars to avoid more violent conflicts in the future.

Exterior of the museum.

The park across, after the visit during lunch time.

After the museum visit, we took off on foot to the second visit of the day - another museum called the Tate Britain (read about it here), a large Art Museum full of different artworks by Enlgish artists. Here are some pictures from the walk:

The bigger tower of the Parliament building.

The river Thames.

Parliament! BIG BEN in the background!

In front of the museum, a classic black London taxi.

The inside hall of the museum, just after the entrance.

The dome.

And here are some of my favorite paintings and artworks from the museum:

by John Constable

This is a long line of different rooms connected by ornate arches. This picture of the little guy looking all the way down is priceless!

Okay, this is crazy. There was a donation box in the front hall and inside, we found a bill for a MILLION pounds!

Back outside, I found a nice phone booth to get my picture taken in.

Pushing the buttons in said phone booth

After the museum visit, we started again on a walk to Picadilly's Circus, the starting point for another free time period, in London - this time we had 6 hours!

From that walk: the parliament building.

BIG BEN.

These are pictures from my free time. With my friends we walked everywhere! We went shopping, went to a starbucks, just relaxed and explored and had a great time. I loved these little streets.

And that's the end of the pictures. After free time, 7 o' clock, we all got back on the bus to head home to Etampes. Yes, a night of sleep on the bus after a trip? Not too possible. We went back through the Eurotunnel, made the drive back from Northern France to southern Paris and got home in the early hours of the morning. Like I said, not much sleep. I went right home and slept until two.

All in all it was an amazing trip. I had a great time with my friends and saw some things that I've always dreamed of seeing. Like I've said with countless cities before - I fell in love with London. Plus, the people were so nice and it felt good to use my English again (trust me, after months of walking into businesses and getting funny looks, it is so NICE to walk into a cafe and order without any problems).

I hope you guys enjoyed! If you have any questions, leave a comment. Thanks for reading!

Kenny

It's Snowing

2012-02-11T23:00:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone!

I know I'm keeping you all anxiously waiting and on the edge of your seats for a riveting post (ha) about my school trip to London. No but really, I'm going to try to make it good, and very detailed! There's a lot of pictures too. Because of the trip, the last week of school has been full of work (I've had school from 8am to 5pm...) and I haven't worked up the courage to tackle it yet. I promise I will soon!

Tomorrow is Sunday, and while normally I'd be doing nothing and would write you a lovely blog post, I'm taking a train to Orleans to see an American friend I met at the beginning of my time here in France but haven't seen since. I'm really excited!

And in other news, it's snowing here. It's freezing, literally freezing, outside. I've bought these fat mittens to keep my hands warm and thank goodness I did. Did I say that it's freezing?

The view from my tiny bedroom window of the roof across the street.

The view of Etampes from the second story window (have I written before that the house has 3 floors? I need to do a post about the house too...).

à bientôt les amis. Love you all, and look forward to that post soon ☺

Kenny

School Trip to London

2012-01-31T18:03:00.000+01:00

I have some really exciting news that I may or may not have mentioned in a previous post - tomorrow morning, I'm going on a class trip to London! I am so excited. Ridiculously excited. I have always wanted to go to London and it will be extremely fun with my friends in my class.

It's kind of funny because, in groups of 2 or 3, we're staying with host families that live in London. It's like a foreign exchange within a foreign exchange.

Here's the itinerary for the trip:

Wednesday Feb. 1st

-Leave at 6am

-Arrive at the Eurotunnel at 11:20am

-Arrive in Canterbury after passing through the Eurotunnel at 1pm. Free time in the town.

-Visit the cathedral at 2:30pm.

-Shopping at the supermarket, 4pm (don't know why we are doing this)

-Meet host families at 7pm. Dinner with host families, sleep.

Thursday Feb. 2nd. Day in London.

-10:30 am, visit the Shakespeare Globe Theater (I am so excited for this!!!!!! I love shakespeare!!)

-2pm, visit the London Museum.

-Tour of the city (without guide) in the bus, driving by St. Paul's Cathedral, London Tower, Tower Bridge, view of St. Katherine's Docks.

-Return to host families 7pm.

Friday Feb. 3rd Day in London.

-Visit the Imperial War Museum, 10am.

-Free time at Piccadilly Circus and Covent Garden, 2:30pm, after a visit to Tate Britain.

-Return to Eurotunnel at 10:30 pm, depart for France at 11:30 pm. (Night in the bus)

Saturday Feb. 4th.

-Return to Etampes at 7am.

I'll be sure to take a TON of photos and share all about the trip when I get back! Now I should probably sleep. I have to wake up at 4am tomorrow (woohoo)!

Holiday Break Part 2: Back home in Etampes + Christmas

2012-01-13T21:48:00.001+01:00

Welcome back! Here's part two of my French winter break.

So after getting back to Etampes at a very late hour, we all sat down to have a Christmas Eve dinner (we all as in me, Astrid, Esther, Christoph, Pierre, Christoph's girlfriend). It was a very French dinner, little broiled chickens (with the arms and legs and everything...) with a salad and foie gras, a very famous, traditional, and chic French holiday food. Click here to read about what foie gras is.

The next day (Christmas), it became a feast! More people came, Everyone from the night before + Christophe's parents. The meal started with a salad topped with foie gras. Then came a dish with a broiled meat, potatoes, the French version of stuffing, in a hazelnut sauce. Then came the cheese - camembert, coulommiers, roquefort, all extremely French and hard to find anywhere else. The most important and famous is the camembert, click here to read about what camembert is. It's really good! Then came the dessert - two chocolate cakes. By the end of these two meals I was really stuffed and could barely move but I was incredibly happy so it wasn't a problem.

Enough about the food - Then came the presents! My host family offered me some gifts which was really, really sweet. Christoph knows that I love photography so he got me 3 Doisneau prints, in black and white, which I think are really beautiful and I hope to frame when I get home. I also got a bag of candy, and a book of 1001 photographs of France. My host siblings got lots of gifts too and it was a really warm atmosphere.

Christmas night, Astrid, Esther, and I switched to Delphine's house. We went to Delphine's Godmother's house, and had a wonderful dinner. Their names are Mayette and Philip and they are really sweet. The dinner was essentially the same as what we had eaten that afternoon, and extremely good. Then Delphine offered me presents too - a watch, and a French comedy on DVD. I had the serious warm fuzzies that day.

Philip is also a really interesting guy; he collects vintage electric trains, and in the basement, he set up a giant network of tracks. He even created a program that allows him to control the trains (there are multiple) from his computer, which includes the speed of the locomotives, the switches on the tracks, etc. Ever since I was little I have adored trains, so we spent a lot of time playing with the trains down there. Then we went home and (because by this point I was big as an elephant because of the food, and ready to sleep) slept until 11 the next day.

A few days after, I went to a friend's house for two nights. Her name is Madeleine, another American who is from Portland, like myself! It's really coincidental that both of us got placed so close half way around the world, and that we're both from the same town. We had a great time. We went to Paris one day and took walks around the little village. I also took pictures with their cat.......:

Then for New Year's I went to a French soiree with Astrid and had a great time with my friends.

And for the rest of the vacation, there isn't much to say. I took the train to Paris to meet some friends a few times, but I also stayed in Etampes and frequented the cafe with friends from school. It was quiet and relaxing, but then, back to school!

Now, coming up in a few weeks, is the BAC blanc, a series of big tests basically. Everyone's really crunching and I'm trying to keep up, so a quiet vacation was a good way to relax before all the work.

Sorry I didn't take too many pictures.

I'll share more soon!

Kenny

Holiday Break Part 1: Czech Republic

2012-01-11T18:59:00.004+01:00

Hello everyone! I hope you've all had an amazing Christmas, and Happy New Year! I had an exciting two weeks of winter vacation this year in France, starting a week or so before Christmas and ending just after the New Year. It includes trips to Paris, a ski trip to Western Europe, and relaxing in Etampes with my host family. Since I've got a decent amount of things to share, I'll make two posts, one for each week of break.

Starting with week one! Just before the actual day when class ended and break began, I had one day where my classes ended early and another American friend (named Lauren) told me she was in Paris. We put together a quick meeting and met at a cafe nearby the National Art Museum, "Le Centre Pompidou." After a little hot chocolate, we went inside to see an expo on Edvard Munch (painter of "The Scream" - Click here to read more about Edvard Munch). The wait at this museum is long: it starts with one line to go through security and enter, one line to get your tickets (free for us international students at almost all museums!), one line to check jackets and umbrellas, and finally the line for the expo. A good hour and a half later, we finally got in, and it was worth it. The expo was really good.

One thing about the Centre Pompidou is all of the buildings piping is on the outside, going along with the "modern" theme of the building (click here to learn more about the Centre Pompidou). One really cool thing is a giant escalator that scales the whole side to take people up to the exhibits/museum and it gives really amazing views of Paris.

Inside of the escalator

View of a large church but I have no idea what it's name is. In the distance, there are some skyscrapers. This is an area just outside Paris called La Defense, a big business district.

The Eiffel Tower, and I think the large blue roof at right is the Louvre Museum.

Montparnasse Tower, the only skyscraper in Paris' city limits.

Notre Dame!

Another famous Church, the Sacre Coeur

Coming back down the escalator, it was starting to get dark and the eiffel tower was lit up.

Saturday, December 24th (when normally I have school in the morning), we all packed up in the car to head off to the Czech Republic. At 5 in the morning. It was a long car ride - 12 hours.

But we finally arrived in the Czech Republic after driving across eastern France, Germany, and stopped at the border of the Czech Republic, Austria, And Germany (kind of a 3 way intersection). It was a little town called Lipno with hardly anyone in it but it was really pretty, just on the edge of a lake.

Lipno as seem from Google Maps.

Map of all the Czech Republic.

Driving through a little village.

On the very last day of skiing, I decided to wrap my camera up in some socks and bring it up the mountain with me. I really wanted some pictures. Astrid and I sat at the top of the mountain for about an hour, just looking. It was... so stunning.

Pictures in the lift........... so cool

Pierre on the left, me, and Astrid

And that's all I have for pictures since I only took my camera with me one day. I loved it. I actually didn't do too badly at skiing either - it was my first time but after the first day, I did alright. Not good, but alright. I made it from the top of the mountain to the bottom and had fun so I guess I can say I skiied! :) I did fall a lot though. But it was okay, Astrid and Pierre always waited for me or helped me put my skiis back on (plus, they fell a few times too, but it's a secret!)

However, I should add that the first two days of skiing, the trails in Lipno were all closed for some reason. We drove 1 hour to go an open resort in Austria. I didn't take any pictures but it was also extremely beautiful. The rest of the days we spent in Lipno, though, until the end of the little vacation.

The trip home came right after this last day, the day before Christmas Eve. Another really early morning, then another 12 hours of driving. We did stop for lunch at a Burger King in the middle of a giant American Air Force base in Germany - but I didn't find any Americans! We got home tired, late on Christmas Eve.

The finish of my holiday break in Part 2!

Off to the Czech Republic

2011-12-16T18:36:00.004+01:00

Hello everybody!

Just a really tiny post to let you guys now that I'm going on a week-long ski trip to the Czech Republic with my host family!

I will do a long post about the trip and about the last few weeks when I get back. I'll make sure to take a ton of pictures too.

If I don't get the chance to make a post, Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great winter vacation.

October/November News

2011-11-15T17:37:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone!
First of all I am really sorry for not posting for over a month. Let me explain why.
Around the end of October, I changed host families. I now live with 4 host siblings in the center of the city of Etampes. On to the next experience, and it's already going really well. I'm very happy and excited to be here!

Next, an update on how life is going here. School is going well and I am actually understanding pretty well... my grades are still HORRIBLE but I can usually keep up with the other friends students when taking notes, and am attempting to finish and get decent grades on all the homework. I'm still failing my tests... but oh well. At first this was really hard for me to do, coming here as a 4.0 student, but now if I fail something, I know it isnt too bad. It motivates me to do better next time, and of course I'm not going to be getting amazing grades when I only have a vague sense of what my teachers are asking! Sometimes my answers are really out there haha. However my French teacher gives me really amazing grades, and all my friends laugh at me and say she's only pitying me (which is completely true) but it still makes me feel good to receive though. My inner nerd comes back out :) Also, now that I live in the city and school usually ends pretty early, I have taken to going to a cafe nearby with some other people. I love sitting there with my little cup of coffee!

Plus now that I live in the center of Etampes, a pretty big city with a train station, there is a train every 30 minutes to paris and it takes less than an hour to get there. I've become REALLY good at using the subway system in Paris too and I can zoom accross the city in under 30 minutes to meet up with friends. It's so cool! But usually I dont whip out my camera, so I unfortunately do not have any pictures or real "adventures" to share. Here is a bunch of random pictures from the last month and a half:

I recently took a short three-day trip to Brittany with my new host family to visit my host grandma! She lived in a tall farmhouse in a little village, close to the sea. This is the view of the neighborhood from the bathroom window.

A view of the neighbor's hosue and the endless countryside afterwards.

Another view of the village.

Downtown in the village in Brittany.

We also spent an afternoon running around on the beach and it was BEAUTIFUL. The little seaside village, the rolling hills, and then the beach and the sea... oh my gosh

Said rolling hills

Me on the beach

This is so funny.... My host mom, Delphine, and I found this hunk of seaweed that looked like a dead body.. So I took a picture with it hahaha

After Brittany and back to Paris, my friends and I decided to go visit the "Musee Rodin" (The Rodin Museum). Rodin, the famous sculptor. I got my picture taken with the Thinker!! I'm not sure if its the real Rodin-original but.. for the sake of the picture lets just say its the real one.

This series of 6 paintings were painted by Rodin. I was interested to find them considering almost all the paintings in the museum were NOT by Rodin, as he mostly sculpted. I really love these paintings though and my favorite is the top right.

This is a statue in the Museum and the light was just perfect. There are two people standing at right and left that wouldnt move, but the actual statue is in the middle. It is a black angel that had a VERY disturbing face but it was an interesting statue.

I thought this was famous so I took a picture of it

This is a sculpture of a door by Rodin, and I can't remember the name but it was really detailed. It's pretty famous too, I think, and it was a bit dark and macabre but very interesting to look at.

View of the museum.

The back of the museum from the far edge of the garden.

This is a ceiling in the Assemblee Nationale, a building that houses on of the govermental funtions of France. The French Government functions a bit like the U.S. but its a bit different. There's the "Assemblee Nationale" which edits and votes on laws, and after, the law is sent to the "Senat" which is, as you can see, like the US Senate. They send the law back and forth until it can be sent to the president for approval. They're constantly making new laws and revising old ones. It was interesting to walk through the building and see all the official functions and whatnot. Plus I saw a bunch of people in suits walking around wearing tags that said "Financial Commitee" which is pretty official haha

The big room where the debates take place. At right, at the big desk, is the Assemblee President and in all the red seats are the delegates. In fact, The Assemblee Nationale is a lot like the House of Representatives because each region has a certain number of delegates based on population.

Their seats and where they vote and write and stuff

View of the President's desk

Another ceiling... all the ceilings were really pretty

Well that's it for now. I'll try not to fall off the face of the planet again, and keep posting on my blog regularly. Not too much news or pictures but I hope it was interesting anyways :) I hope you're all doing well and I'll write soon!

A shift in thought

2011-09-20T18:32:00.000+02:00

For a few weeks now, I have sat in class like a deaf mute: either listening hard to the professor (and probably giving a really creepy stare), or totally spacing out because all I heard was a jumble. However, I think my brain is shifting it's thought process because for the past few days, in classes I used to think were impossible ... I have been listening. I really didn't realize it, but I wasn't giving the insanely creepy stare at my teachers anymore! I was sitting there, hearing words, and jotting down things with the rest of the class. This realization has hit me a few times in class now and it is a very exciting thing. I am by no means saying that I understand French now because half the time, I am still sitting there completely lost, but I feel a definite improvement!

With this new-found confidence in my French, along with a somewhat random schedule of classes, I have been able to go out and explore the city of Ètampes after school two times now, if there is not a bus for me. For those of you who don't know, Ètampes is the nearest city and where I bus to school every morning.

My first excursion in Ètampes was kind of confusing because I didn't know the layout of the city and didn't know where to go. I found a boulangerie, basically a bread shop, where I bought a sandwich. I then walked to a little river flowing through Etampes (pictures of it are in the previous post) and layed down for a bit. After that, I did something everyone says is bizarre: I went to the train station for an hour and watched the trains! I love trains. The don't slow down to pass through the train station, and it was amazing to see them go by. I don't care if that's weird!! I will go again, it was fun so whatever

My second excursion today was supposed to be a quick walk to a shop, for the purpose of buying a planner. I lost my previous planner, with all my due dates written in it, and I've been a little lost with my assignments ever since, but it was a good way to get out and see Ètampes. I went to two different stores in search of one, but found nothing. I had a lovely walk, though. After Monique picked me up, we drove to a village and DID find an agenda (along with a few pastries... I can't help myself)

As far as real toursity excursions go, my latest adventure was in Yevre-le-Chatel, a really old and incredibly beautiful village south of Mèrèville. It has a very well-restored ***Middle Age*** castle, along with two really old churches. Pictures!

Inside of the castle. So beautiful ... It was amazing to walk in the same place where people have walked hundreds and hundreds of years ago and lived totally different lives. Impossible in the U.S.

A better view of what the castle looks like, and what's in the middle.

Me sitting in a "throne" I found.

Castle entrance gate thing... Not entirely sure but it is beautiful. Taken standing in the castle.

The village!

Village. The building on the left was so beautiful, I took a ton of pictures of it :)

Good view of the village. So pretty ughghg

One of the churches through an old arch.

The other church, which was INCREDIBLY old and beautiful. The arches inside are still standing.

One thing I discovered over the past few weeks is that I really love the old doors... I have always loved the sound of old doors clicking shut, and touching the doorknobs and the wood. Long story short I took a ton of pictures of people's doors... I am a bit crazy.

Loved this door and the window.

Beautiful old arch, counts as a door

Me touching a really cool door (I couldn't help myself)

Me being normal for a moment

-----on the way home----

Countryside

The tip of a HUGGGEEEE church in a town called Pithiviers. It was so tall... A beautiful gothic church.

That's all for now! I will share more ~~doors~~ pictures soon!

Pictures !

2011-09-14T16:23:00.000+02:00

First of all, on a personal note, I'm doing very well. I have a couple friends in school now to eat with and chat with, etc. They're so helpful and nice, and I feel like my French is really starting to grow, so I can attempt my homework assignments now. It was a good feeling to finish a page of French LIterature analysis (even if my grammar was really bad and people laughed at it!). :)

Now, I finally got the pictures off my camera to show you all! It's a bunch of random pictures from Paris and Mèrèville (my town) so I'll make sure to write captions.

Something in Paris

A street in Paris. I love it :)

Arc de Triomphe!

The obligatory Eiffel Tower picture. :)

Exhausted me and the eiffel tower.

The park and buildings beyond the tower. I love this picture :)

Some park in Paris

I love the boats on the Seine river...

Something

Very Paris picture!!

The Louvre, which is free for students and I really want to go sometime. I've heard that it's impossible to see the Louvre in one day though.

Notre Dame! With some autumn orange

Seine River.

Another street, I love them!!

Mèrèville

Cat, sleeping in the window!! I am also not completely catless in Mèrèville because the nieghbors have two cats that come over in the mornings to hunt mice. I meow at them hehe

A tree-covered street in Mèrèville that I like.

This is in Ètampes, this little canal weaves through the city. Monique told me it goes all the way to Mèrèville :)

Another picture of the canal (it is REALLY old)

Street picture, in Ètampes. :)

A fountain in the center square of Ètampes.

Street.

It was POURING rain as I drove in to Paris, but if you look through the haze, you can make out the Eiffel Tower :)

Intersection in Paris.

A garden in Paris. I walked through this old stone tunnel from the main street, and there was this grand and old place. :)

The inside of a church in Paris. Old!!

A green little square in Paris. So quaint :) I think there is a little café there too.

A boat on the River Seine, with very Parisian buildings behind.

The back of Notre Dame!

A better picture of the front of Notre Dame. It is actually kind of small in real life... I mean, of course it's still huge, but I thought it would be even bigger. It is kind of tall and skinny. Beautiful nonetheless!

Walking along the Seine river at Pont-neuf.

Rainy Champes-Elysèes

They were selling birds, in a market in Paris!! I couldn't believe it. You could buy pigeons to, but really, why would you want one for a pet...? And if you did, you could just go catch one. But! It was really cool.

A hospital garden. That's right, this was at a hospital. Fancy!

That's all I've got as far as pictures right now, but I am and will take more. Au revoir :)

Finishing the first week

2011-09-10T15:07:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone! My first week in France is almost up - it's been commemorated with a homeade chocolate cake, and now a BLOG POST.

I think it is fair to say that this first week has been sort of an adventure. My French is really, really bad - I mean, I can communicate with people, but it isn't pretty. It's sort of like being born again, as a young child who doesn't know anything, and that is exactly how I have stumbled around for this past week.

My first day of school was Tuesday, which was really just a two-hour session to sit and get the schedule of our classes ( "our" as in the 30 or so other students in my class that I will be with every day). The classes are so confusing! They end at kind of random times each day, which is nice except for Tuesday and Friday where my last class finishes at 5:30. But all the other days, I finish pretty early in the afternoon, which is nice. In France, there is an ongoing reform of the education system, which may be why I was so confused. One thing students have to do is go to 2 or 3 different classrooms and ask "Is this my class?" and if it isn't, you go to the next room on the schedule. This wasn't the case for all my classes, but it frequently was, and let's just say that I learned a lot about getting aroung the school.

The actual classes are really hard. Hard as in, I don't really understand what's going on. I just kind of sit there, nod when appropriate, write something when everyone else does... Of course, this will pass very soon as my ears and brain get used to understanding rapid French, but I think for these first few weeks, I probably won't haave the best grades. However, like I said, I am able to communicate at a decent level - I've made friends with some of the people in my class, and one incredibly nice girl always lets me copy her notes. :-)

Aside from school, which takes up almost all of the time, I love the life here. The culture is very different, but it's very deeply-rooted and interesting. I also feel like my French is improving, just a bit. My biggest fear is getting homesick, and there is always a tiny bit of it there, but working on a new life is a pretty good distraction! And that's exactly what I am doing, creating a new life. Tons of people ask me, "How is France??" but it's a question I can't really answer since I am not living like a tourist. I say good, it's great, but life here is so different and I don't just go to Paris and take pictures every day! That is like someone asking me "So, how is your new day to day life??" I just can't answer!

I promise to get the pictures of Paris and my town posted soon!

Je suis en France !!

2011-09-05T13:07:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone! Finally, I am in France. It was such a long week of travel, orientations, and a lot of repetitive information. But finalement I am here.

Since >I >made a post about New York, I suppose I will start with the Paris orientation. First off - Paris is very different than what is in the movies, as that is only the smallest and most glamorous part of Paris. It is mostly tall apartment buildings with shops on the first floor, forming a giant network of tiny and confusing and incredibly European streets. There are not a ton of cars in Paris but the cars all over France are much, much smaller, it's so cool! Anyways - we were staying at a large hostel in one of the saforementioned tall buildings, and lets just say that I don`t think hostels are for me. I had 3 other roomates who were very kind, as all the people were, but I thought the hostel itself was just too overwhelming for me. I spent a lot of time just trying to relax with other students and admire the view of Paris.

Finally after two days, we were introduced to our host families and driven off (this is only for the students in the paris métro area, everyone else had to take the high speed TGV train) and we reached the city of Ètampes, where I will be attending school. It is a huge school, and since the small village of Mèrèville is south, I must take the bus. They don`t have school buses here, students take the public transport to their school. Anyways, after looking at my school, we continued on to Mèrèville and the house.

I really like this village ! It is a very European and very sweet little French village, definitely in the countryside as there are roosters waking me up in the morning!

Monique is great. We speak in French but our conversations are really fun and she is a very nice person. I already feel like my French is improving a lot. Sometimes when I am in the zone, I can have a really fast (a.k.a. normal) conversation!! Anyways, I can tell that Monique and I will faisons une bonne èquipe!

I have a lot of pictures of Paris, of Ètam:pes, and will take more of Mèrèville and the house today. I`ll do a post just with pictures soon. Also, please excuse any typos because the keyboards here are very different!

New York City, here I am

2011-08-31T04:37:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone! I am currently in a room in NEW YORK CITY. Tomorrow is orientation day, where all the US kids are flying in, and we will depart the day after. It is very exciting.

I can't get the internet to work here, so I am going this update from my phone... hopefully I will get it to work soon so that I can do a proper post about my flight. Basically, I woke up very early, got on a flight, navigated my way through a confusing giant airport, and chilled with some AFS people for a few hours. There are the basics!

I cannot wait to get to France, but I've just got to get through these orientations first. Really, there point is to help us get over jet lag.

Emotionally, I was a wreck this morning. It was very hard seperating from my mom (and my cat didn't even show up to say goodbye!!) But after I got on the plane, shed a few tears, I was good to go. I'm in this weird vulnerable limbo between comforts, I suppose. I left my loved ones behind, and I know I have a family to look forward to in France, but for these few days I feel, like I said, in a weird limbo. It will pass.

I will post soon! Hopefully I can get the internet to work.
Kenny~~~

Conquering the Visa

2011-08-10T07:54:00.000+02:00

(Sorry for not posting more frequently... I will try harder!)

The visa process has been (mostly) completed! Last weekend, we returned from our rapid road trip to San Francisco to visit the French consulate, and of course, there are some stories.

At about 10 am on Saturday, my mom and I threw all our bags into the car, and took off for San Francisco. We didn't really have a set destination for this day; getting across the California border was the main goal. We spent a long time in the car, just driving... we finally ended up in a small town (respectfully in the middle of nowhere) called Anderson, and got a room at the Best Western at 7 pm. Long day! The hotel was interesting, for sure. It was incredibly hot outside, the kind of heat that's so dry you mistake it for humidity. Of course, the door malfunctioned and wouldn't let us swipe our key. We waited in the hot air until the hotel manager disassembled the door and we could get back in. This happened again the next morning, and encouraged us to just leave to door open and keep moving down the road.

The next day, after a considerably short day of driving, we arrived in San Francisco around noon. Our first order of business was to find the consulate, which was not hard at all (considering the large French flag). We then set off for the hotel we would stay at, a "boutique" hotel in the trendy Haight-Ashbury neighborhood named the "Metro Hotel." We were greeted by an incredibly friendly desk manager in this revitalized old San Francisco building, who gladly gave us a list of all the fun places to see in the neighborhood. We checked out the room, which was really a converted apartment off the street, in a very San-Franciscan apartment building (meaning everything was tiny and probably not very roomy for a permanent resident, but it was perfect for the one night). After a quick lunch, I immediately grabbed my bag and my cameras and set off on Haight Street, spending a good two hours or so looking in all the shops I could find (there is a wide and certainly interesting variety on Haight). After a stop back at the room, I set off on a mission to Mission Street - which fails. I got terribly lost and asked countless locals for directions to a street I was now convinced did not exist. In the end, I turned around and crawled back to room after an incredibly long and unfortunately pointless walk. A quick dinner at a Cafe, and the day was over. Time for the visa!

The next morning, we rose early so as to get to the consulate a full hour ahead of schedule to allow for any delays (I'll admit this was good planning on my mother's part because we did get lost on the way there, and that hour was needed). The consulate was an interesting place. First, you walk into a small glass room the size of a walk-in closet, crammed with a desk, a metal detector, and a little Asian woman who tells you what color of chair you must sit in. I sat in the blue chairs, facing the visa officers, while everyone else must sit in a brown chair facing a television playing a French TV show in the opposite direction. Sitting in the wrong chair, or facing away from where that chair is pointing, will get you yelled at by a visa officer to "Face forward!" or "Please move!". No joking around. And if you're over 18, you have to get the visa on your own, no parents holding your hand.

I got called up, my mom bringing our towering stack of papers, and the visa officer asked for a few simple copies. That was it. Such a long process for my mom and her friends, and he asked for maybe 4 copies! Hnh. Then I was fingerprinted, photographed, and finally...

"May I see a copy of your birth certificate?"
"Oh. Well, I didn't copy the birth certificate. But it's in the car! We can be right back!!"

The nice guy gave us until noon to get the birth certificate out of the car, make a copy, and bring it back. Since we were so close to Union Square and Chinatown, there were plenty of hotels around - we threw a dollar at the desk manager and ran out with a copy. I sat in my blue chair, got called up, handed it to him - and poof. That was it. My visa will be arrive soon.

I felt bad, or maybe a bit let down. My mom and her friend worked very hard to get all that paperwork together, but it was such a simple process! They asked for so few copies. Part of me wished they had asked for many more, but of course I am happy it was so simple.

I drove (yep, mom handed me the keys - I am licensed, you know!) us out of downtown San Francisco, towards and across the Golden Gate Bridge, until we were well on our way back to Oregon. We didn't turn off onto the right freeway, and ended up driving back up the west coast. It was unexpected, but a lovely drive.

Now, I sit here and wait for the envelope containing a paper that will make this trip even more real. I'm sorry for not updating this blog, or emailing my host family more, or studying more French as I probably should be. Really, I'm in a daze. My friends are all reading their summer books for advanced english, getting their letters for back to school night, as I sit here feeling like I should be doing the same thing. I feel like this summer will never end, and that this whole adventure is just a dream that I'll wake up from on August 30th, ready to go back to Tigard High School. Of course, it is not! And I suppose it's time to wake up and really get down to business.

Thank you for reading,
Kenny

The Paperwork Never Ends!

2011-07-22T04:07:00.000+02:00

Bonjour everyone.

Well, you know your exchange is close when you start drowning in paperwork, I suppose! The visa process is just as long and intimidating as AFS warned, after all. My mom took charge of it, and I didn't help out with any of the forms (I honestly had no idea what to do with them), but we're eagerly awaiting to receive AFS papers about my home/school to take to the consulate. Our appointment at the French Consulate is bright and early on August 1st! So I guess until we receive those papers and do the finishing touches, it's just waiting.

Afs has been sending me non-visa-related forms as well, though, and we have to make more appointments with doctors and double check everything regarding travel... I'm sure all this paperwork will be worth it! :)

I've been talking to my host mom and sister over Facebook IM and Gmail IM (Hi Monique!!) and it's really fun going back and forth between English and French. I can't wait to meet them, they're so nice! It turns out Alizee (who is in India currently) won't be meeting me in France after all, she goes to the U.S. after her time in India, which is a huge downer :( But I'm sure we'll meet in the future!

In news that isn't France-related, I'm going to take my driving test on July 28th, so wish me luck! I should probably start studying... :) I'm just really excited to get my license, even if it is only for a month. I won't be allowed to drive in France, but with all the cool trains and buses, something tells me I won't miss it.

I'll post again soon! :) Thanks for Reading,
Kenny ☼

How To Post a Comment

2011-07-17T08:43:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone!
I've had a lot of people tell me they are a bit confused about how to add a comment on a post. Here is a quick explanation.

Step 1:
Find the post you want to comment on, and at the bottom of that post, click on the number of comments it already has. Something like "1 comment" or "0 comments"

Step 2:
Type your comment in the box.

Step 3:
Do not click post comment. Click on the drop down box above it. You must have a Google account to comment, so click on "Google account." Now, click post comment.

Step 4:
This will take you to a new page. Don't worry, your comment isn't gone! Sign in to your google account just like you would sign into your Google email account. Use your Google email address and password. And click sign in.

Your comment will now be posted. :)

Also, I changed the look of my blog. I hope it's more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read :)

2 More Months!

2011-07-02T20:07:00.000+02:00

This is just a quick post to let you guys know that yesterday was the TWO MONTH MARK before my exchange. Whoo!! Only two more months until I am off to New York, then Zurich, then Paris. I'm really excited but very relaxed about the whole thing as well.

I've sort of been in a summer funk and not working hard on much of anything. I need to start studying my French again and send more emails to my host mom. But it's hard because I'm spending a ton of time with my friends and I'm enjoying my time left here so much! It's hard for me to grasp that there's only two months left here before leaving.

Anyways, just a quick update. I'll post again when I have some more interesting information!

Kenny

My first post! ☼

2011-06-26T04:27:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone!

First of all, I can't believe that there's only two months until I leave on my exchange to Mereville, France! After counting how many days I have left, instead of making me more nervous, it has actually just made me more excited. I really can't wait to go anymore. But before I get into what's going on right now, I suppose I should backtrack and tell my little AFS story.

Way back in the beginning of Sophomore year at Tigard High, I heard about a program called Rotary. I had no idea what it was for, really, but I went to the meeting and learned all about the wonders of foreign exchange. I knew instantly that it was what I wanted to do with my time in high school. After doing some interviews, I didn't get it. But I was dead set on going, and stumbled upon AFS. As soon as I read the mission statement, I knew AFS was perfect for me and my goals. I plowed through the pre-application, application, and interview, and before I knew it, I was accepted by AFS France.

Just two or three months later, I received the information on my host family, much earlier than other exchangees. My family consisted of a single mother and her daughter in university. They lived outside of Etampes, just 20 minutes south of Paris. You can imagine my excitement at the family (which is really perfect considering I live with a single mother anyways) and also the location! I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing ☼ Now for the last few months, I have been communicating and learning about these wonderful people!

Soon after I learned of my host family, I attended a pre-departure orientation for AFS students in the area. It was fun - I met lots of interesting people and realized how much I liked the type of people that are exchange students. They're all so lovely :)

Back to now, I'm in the final stages of preparation for my exchange. I'm receiving letters and emails weekly about travel, and just received bright yellow AFS luggage tags/instructions upon arrival in the mail, which is exciting! My itinerary is arriving at JKF airport in New York City on August 30th, in the afternoon. AFS doesn't start gathering us until the 31st, so I have a whole day to myself, because I decided to fly without my mom. I'm definitely nervous about that, but it will be fun. Then, all of us AFSers spend a night together in NYC before flying to Zurich, Switzerland the next day. 5 hours after landing there, we'll be on our way to Paris for two days and a night. Finally, after all the orientations and touring, we'll be off to our host families (luckily, mine isn't far from Paris at all! ☼)

Also, some AFS coordinators made a facebook page for everyone going abroad with AFS in 2011, and also a page for people just going to France. It has been ridiculously fun/interesting talking to all these exchangees from around the world, and knowing that I'm not alone in my (few) anxieties/excitements. I'm also polishing up on my French and getting ready to say goodbye to all my buddies here in the USA!

Like I said earlier, all this final preparation and planning and counting down should be making me nervous or sad, but it isn't. I'm only growing more and more excited. Sure, there are lots of things and people that I will miss greatly, but I know that nobody would want me being homesick or missing them the whole time - I don't want that either - so I'm going to dive into this culture head-first and have the time of my life: this is the attitude that will keep me wide-eyed throughout my whole journey in France ☼

A bientôt,
Ken