ANZAC Day

 So yesterday was ANZAC day in France, I celebrated by going to a memorial in Belgium. I stayed at a friends house the night before and then we got picked up by a Rotarian at 4 am. It was my first time going to Belgium, so it was pretty cool. We were in the Dutch region of Belgium, but pretty much everyone there spoke English because most of them were Australians. The first dawn service started at 5:30 and went for about an hour. It was really good, there were heaps of people gathered at one of the cemeteries where many unnamed Australians and New Zealanders were buried. It was so so so cold, but I managed. After the first dawn service we took a bus back to get breakfast with the whole group (people from all over Australia and New Zealand). We met Brendan Nelson, who is now the Australian ambassador for Belgium, he was really nice. After breakfast we had another dawn service at Flanders Fields, which was also really good, but also really cold. We then headed back for France and had lunch along the way. When we got home I had a few friends over and one of my friends bought Anzac biscuits with them and they were amazing!

La langue française

I thought I would do a blog about how my French is coming a long.. 
I made a lot of progress in my French after the winter holidays (about my sixth week in France), I came back from holidays and everyone at school was telling me my French had improved a lot. Since then it has gotten better too, I can now hold a normal conversation with people and understand pretty much everything. I can now watch television in French and understand what they are saying too, which is really cool and makes everything a lot easier. I still have a lot to learn, especially with my pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary in general. Some days I wake up with great French, and others it is terrible, it is really weird. Sometimes I feel like my French is good then other times I feel like I have gotten no where. French can be really hard and confusing, and sometimes it feels like I will never completely understand everything but it is getting a lot easier now. Here is an example of how the French language is different to English.
 A little French lesson for you...
"S'il vous plaît" means "Please"

(Like we do in English Do + not= Don't)
Si + il  = S'il 
Si: if
il: he, it (in this case "it", normally used as he)

"Vous plaît":
In french Direct object and Verb are the inverse to english.
Ex:  
English: I love you  
French : Je t'aime (I you love) (see how it's switched?) 
** if french was the same way as english it would be: Je Aime te or J'aime toi

SO!
Vous=Formal way of saying you for an adult or plural for a group of people. (tu = you, for friends and family)
Plait= From the verb phrase "Faire Plaisir": to please, conjugated for "il"

Vous plaît: Pleases you 

S'il Vous Plaît: If it pleases you. = Please

Haircut gone wrong

Today I didn't have school because my class had exams which I don't have to do, so I thought I would finally go get my first haircut in France (I had been holding it off for so long because I was scared). When I got there I explained to the lady what I wanted, short on the sides, but still a little long on top and fringe (but I wanted it to blend in, not so you could see the different lengths, but I didn't know how to say blend in French). So I showed her a photo of how I wanted it, which was how I had it in Australia. It started off fine, and looked okay from the front. Then she started to style it, and blow dried it all my hair pushed back and then gelled it. When I got out of the hair dressers, some French guy yelled out "cool hair cut man!" (in French). I took a photo of the back of my hair and noticed that it was like a bowl had been stuck on my head and she had cut around it. It looks so bad, it is actually really funny, it looks horrible but I can't help but laugh. Also, because my hair hasn't seen sun in a long time, it looks really red.

New Family!

Yesterday was my first family change, I was a bit nervous at the start to be getting a new family but feel so welcomed here. I live with my host mum (she's a doctor) and my brother who is 24 (studying History) in a 4 story house right near Lille, it only takes me 4 minutes to get to the centre of the city. There is a made who is here 3 days a week, Oh and I have three cats! My house is so cool, on the bottom level there is a little indoor pool, and a spa! The house has been renovated recently, so it is pretty modern. My host mum and brother are so nice, yesterday my host mum took me food shopping and bought me heaps of food and got me a key cut for the house. Last night family friend came over and we had dinner at the house. Today was Easter (they don't really celebrate it much because there aren't any little kids) but we walked into Old Lille and went to a market, we bought cheese, bread, and chicken and potatoes for lunch then came home and ate lunch! After lunch we went to La Piscine Musée (the pool museum), with family friends and my brothers girlfriend. It was really cool, it used to be a pool, but they turned it into a museum, and there was a Picasso exhibition there. Tonight I am going out for dinner with my host brother and his girlfriend to a Creperie (it is really cool because we walk everywhere, because I live so close to the city). In August the family is taking me to Italy for 2 weeks! I am really excited, it is going to be so much fun. This week is short because Monday there is no school and Tuesday and Wednesday I only have to go to school for a few hours because everyone has exams, then I just have one more week of school and I am on holidays! The second week of holidays I am going to London/Dublin for 10 days! I am having a great time in France, it has started to go so fast! I am looking forward to so much, (especially summer).

Click on Photos to make them bigger

 Flowers in my backyard

 View of my house from the backyard

 My backyard!

 The Kitchen

 Living Room

 Looking up the stairs

 Pool/Spa

 My room!

My own hot chocolate/coffee machine next to my bed 

 View from my window

 One of the cats (lost an eye)

 Bathroom

 The white house is where I'm staying, my room on the 3rd level

 Market

Pool Museum

JRJ á Annecy

Yesterday I returned home from a Rotary bus trip to Annecy, and it was the best five days I have had so far in France. It was amazing. The bus trip happens every 4 years (I think), so I was really lucky to go! It was with all of the Rotary Exchange Students in France (over 430 of us). I left at 6 30 am on Thursday morning, on the way we went through Belgium and then stopped off in Luxembourg. Luxembourg was really cool, it is a tiny country between France, Belgium and Germany, they speak French, German and there own language. After a bit of a walk in Luxembourg we headed off for Strasbourg! Which was right on the German border (but still in France). Strasbourg was soo cool, the buildings were really colourful and German looking, and there was a really nice river there too. That night we went to the Strasbourg districts Rotary club and had dinner with them, it was heaps of fun, I got to see all my friends and we watched a traditional German/French dance thing. The next day we headed off for Annecy! We went through Switzerland which was awesome, Switzerland is so awesome and green and there are mountains everywhere! We got stuck in a bit of traffic and were a bit late for Annecy but once we got there it was fine. All the other districts were already there, we were the last ones. It was so exciting seeing all my friends from Australia that I met on the plain and that I went to Barcelona with. The first night in Annecy we ate dinner then had a disco thing which was fun. The next day we got up early and had an awesome breakfast at the hotel, we went to a rotary conference thing (I fell asleep) then we had a little picnic lunch which was cool. We then took a boat into the main City of Annecy and took a giant group photo with the Mayor. We spent some time in Annecy then took the boat back to the conference place and did a talent show. Every district had to present something, my district made up a song in heaps of different languages, it was pretty cool. Some districts shows were so good. After dinner they had a DJ and we partied 'til 2 and then went back to our Hotel's (didn't sleep at all that night). The next morning we had to go on a fish hunt (I got excited and thought we were actually fishing). All we had to do was walk around and look for 8 different fish on a piece of paper, hidden around the place. It turns out there were only 7 fish and the whole thing was a joke because it was April Fools. After that we went back into Annecy for a bit then started heading for home. We stopped off in a small town for the night and got up early the next morning to visit a photography museum. I don't know how to explain how or why this trip was so good, as it sounds really boring in this blog, but it was so so so amazing. I met some of the coolest, nicest, funniest people ever, and I will never forget how much fun I had. I didn't sleep much at all and am so sick now I am home (so is everyone) but it was all worth it so much. France is a beautiful country (especially the Annecy area). I was so lucky with the weather, I even got sunburnt twice!

oh and I made it into the paper! 

 Luxembourg

 Strasbourg

 Picnic in Annecy

 Lake Annecy

French Culture

I think I have spent enough time in France now to notice the main differences between the Australian and French culture, beside the big differences such as the language I have put together a list of things I have noticed French people do, or what I often see happen around me.

-There are pharmacies EVERYWHERE

-Calling clubs 'discos' and feeling childish 

-People park their cars anywhere, and everywhere

-Driving on the other side of the road

-The cars are tiny

-Everyone rides motorbikes / scooters (you can ride a motoscooter at 14) 

-Drinking milk from bowls not cups (sometimes coffee too)

-French fries being called just fries (frites)

-French yoghurt being being called yoghurt (yaourt)

-Being able to drive 130 on freeways (that's the limit, but everyone still drives over)

-Everyone driving really fast, and everyone is really good at driving

-Bus drivers smoking on the bus

-Everyone smoking at school

-No one ever hugs, everyone gives two kisses

-Everyone saying the word putain (like whore) 

-Having to pay to go to the toilet

-Getting frustrated because there is no French word for get, got, does, do, awkward and many more!

-Getting asked for money or drugs in the streets but I just act as if I don't understand what they are saying

-No salt and vinegar chips anywhere!

-No peanut butter, lots and lots of nutella

-Crepes! Best food ever

-Eating the best, freshest bread with every meal

-So much cheese

-Cooked lunches

-Late dinners, usually at about 9 oclock

-Small breakfasts, (they thinks bacon and eggs is so weird for breakfast)

-Spreading jam with spoons

-Nobody is fat

-Same sex toilets (even at school)

-No switches on electrical outlets

-Everyone rides bikes everywhere (without a helmet) 

-Nobody says anything when you sneeze

-It smells different, everywhere 

-Watching english television with a French person speaking over the top (so annoying) 

-French radio is awesome (but I miss triple J)

-French music

-Nobody my age has a job

-Going out for coffee

-Catching public transport everywhere and anywhere without it being a hassle 

-People everywhere on the streets

-Walking everywhere

-Seeing people walk around with bread sticks 

-Bakeries everywhere

-Huge cathedrals in every city

-No drink taps at school, or anywhere 

-Not having class when a teacher is away (no emergency teachers)

-Blackboards at school

-Old fashioned projectors

-Everyone writes with cursive handwriting 

-Tiny roads 

-Houses being joined together 

-Nobody has pools 

-French maths is the hardest thing ever (or just French school in general is hard)

Les Alpes

So yesterday I returned from a week in The French Alps, called La Plagne. It was a good week and I improved a lot on my snowboarding. It was kind of annoying being a snowboarder amongst 5 skiers, but I managed. Everybody in France are freak skiers, and hardly anybody snowboards. The mountains were amazing, so big and so beautiful. Everywhere I looked was just unreal, it was just mountain after mountain. I was pretty lucky with the weather there, it was mostly sunny and I had to put suncream on most days (50+ suncream that you can't get in Australia). One of the days it was snowing so much, and I couldn't see anything and got lost for a little bit but I called out to my host family and found them after a while. This week was the first week I started to feel homesick, and it was a lot worse than I thought. I spent too much time by myself and thinking about Australia, which made it worse. I have had a few ups and downs but am sorting them out with my counsellor (who is awesome) and I think everything is going to be ok. Holidays are over and I am back at school tomorrow, I'm actually excited to see everyone and to get busy again.