Italy with my host family

Two days ago marked my 7 months in France, which means I only have about 5 months left, I cannot believe how fast it is going. It seems like so long ago I got on the plane to saying goodbye to Australia, but at the same time, doesn't feel like I have already been in France for 7 months. It is almost the end of summer here in Europe, and so far, I have had an awesome summer. After I spent about 2 weeks in the south of France my host mum, and some other family friends (there were 2 kids my age) picked me up and we headed towards Italy. It was a long, hot drive from France to Toscane Italy, which seemed even longer when the air conditioner was broken in 35 degree heat. But the freeway we took was the most amazing road I have ever seen. We went past the coast of France and Italy, passing through Nice, Monte Carlo ect. There were so many mountains and houses right on the coast of the water. After a nine hour car trip we had arrived in Toscane. We stayed in a huge, old house in the country, in Toscane. I was in Italy for two weeks, half of the time we were in Italy we spent travelling around (Rome, Toscane, Perugia, Florence, Siena and other little towns). My favourite town was most likely Florence, the streets were so cool, lively, the houses were all orange and there was a lot to do. The other half of the time we spent relaxing by the pool (which we had at the house), reading, studying a bit of french, watching a bit of the olympics (understanding nothing because it was all in Italian), eating amazing Italian food and lying in the sun. I had a great time away in Italy, I got a lot closer with my host family, improved my french after not speaking any english at all for 2 weeks, and learnt a bit of italian too! We took a different route home, heading through Switzerland and Germany then into France. We were excited to finally get away from the heat we were experiencing in the car (still with no air-con) as we were passing through the Swiss Alps. Little did we know, there was a heat wave in most of Europe at the time, we took the heat with us. It was still 33 degree Switzerland! We stopped over near Strasbourg on the France/German border for the night and then returned to Lille the next day, where it was 38 degrees (the hottest it ever gets in Lille). The heat wave only lasted about 3 days, but it was kind of funny seeing everyone freak out and make such a big deal out it, because it isn't very common in the north of france to have such high temperatures. 

Summer Holidays - South of France

I was lucky enough to go to the South of France with a friend at the end of July, I stayed at their grandparents house in Nîmes. Their parents also had an apartment right on the beach of Grau du Roi, we went to the beach every day because it was so hot. It was usually around 35 during the day and 22 at night time. I loved the beach, it felt so good to see the beach again. There were heaps of markets on around the place, and a lot of people on the beach. The main difference I noticed between the beach in Australia and France, was the amount of clothing that they were, none. French people don't really like to wear clothes on the beach, it was funny at the start but after a while I got used to it.  The family I stayed with were so nice, they took me to see a lot of the South, and taught me a lot of differences between the south and the north (where I am from) of France. For examples the language is actually a lot different, they pronounce pretty much all of there letters, which for me sounded really funny, because in the south they speak with the Paris accent, and we don't pronounce the last few letters in words. They fed me a lot of amazing food, they had a fresh garden in the backyard, so each day we would eat fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden, and me and my friend would walk down to the Boulangerie to get fresh bread. My favourite place in the south was most likely the pont du gard (the gard bridge), which is a huge bridge which runs over a river, water runs through the top of the bridge and carries it from one side of the hill to the other. We could jump off the bridge into the deep waters below, swim around and there were even people kayaking. After ten days it was time to move onto another voyage (life is hard). I took the train to another town in the south, where I met my host mum and we started driving, direction Italy!! I will post about Italy in another blog. 

6 Months in France

Today officially marks the 6 month line for me in France, and I cannot believe how fast it is going! I am already half way! I am having an amazing time here, everything is going great! (apart from the fact that my camera I got for France got stolen a few weeks ago, so that is why the photos aren't very good, they are just taken with my phone).

It is currently summer holidays so I am not at school, the weather has been pretty average lately, cold and raining a lot but this weekend it has got a lot better and the next week it will be 28 almost every day! 

Today I got back from Paris with my host family (they are an amazing family!), Paris is a two hour drive south, from my house in Lille. We went to the Tim Burton exhibition, which was really cool, my favourite part was the Edward scissor hands section. We then spent the rest of the day walking around Paris, and finished the night off with dinner near our hotel. It was funny because at the end of the day I was the out one out of the family who was sun burnt, and everyone was laughing at me because I was the Australian, the one who is meant to have sun every day. The next morning we got up early to go on a boat tour on the river, we went in the car toward the Eiffel Tower, (bad idea, very bad idea! What we didn't know was that the tour de france was in Paris that day... We were stuck in traffic for over 2 hours, and we only moved a few hundred meters!) Anyway, we ended up seeing a bit of the tour, which was great! We then went on the boat tour and now I am back home in Lille! 

I have three more days in Lille and then I am off to the South of France, where it is really hot and there is the beach! I can't wait to get back to the beach. I will spend 10 days there and then I will go to Italy for about 2 weeks with my host family. Then I will change families at the end of August! I have already had dinner with my next host family and they seem awesome too! I am sad to leave this family but excited to move to the next one too. On the 28th of August all of the new exchange students will be arriving, so my counsellor is taking me to meet the at Paris airport. 

Also, I have my return date! I leave France the 12th of January and get back to Melbourne on the 14th. Which gives me two weeks to catch up with friends and family, enjoy summer holidays and prepare for year 12! 

Parc Asterix

Last Wednesday/Thursday was officially our last rotary event together! On Wednesday night we went to Lens (between Lille and Paris) to spend the night at our Rotary Presidents house. We had a BBQ outside and had an award ceremony for all of the students who were leaving this summer. After a few tears, we went upstairs and had the entire top level to ourselves (34 of us). One of the kids made a powerpoint presentation for us all to watch, it was really good. A few other people sang which made everyone cry, then we finished it off with speeches. I'm going to miss my oldies so much, they helped me out so much in my exchange, helped me with my French and got my through the fist half of my year! Now I have to be the big exchange student and help out all the newbies who will be arriving in August. Anyway, we got up in the morning and took a bus towards Paris to go to Parc Asterix! It was an awesome sunny day, and there were heaps of people there. A friend and I ran straight to the biggest roller coaster because apparently the line gets really big. The rest of the day we just ran around going on all the rides and laughing. (I chose a really bad salad over fries for lunch and everyone was bagging me). I made a little video of the day below: I hope you enjoy it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhu4EMd0w5A

Dunkirk Rotary Weekend

Last weekend I was out last Rotary weekend together with everyone! All of the "oldies" (everyone who arrived in France last August) are leaving soon. We had to get up really early Saturday morning to catch the tram to Roubaix to be there at 8AM. I was on time, and we sat in a room for 4 hours waiting for nothing, it wasn't too bad though because there were about 50 exchange students in one room just talking for hours. We then did a Rotary Conference, someone from my district did a speech which was amazing, she made half the audience cry. I just had to hold up the Australian flag and smile. After that we got on a bus to Belgium! After a short bus trip we arrived in the Flemish (Dutch) region of Belgium. We went to a little indoor water park, it was so fun. There were heaps of water slides and pools and spas. After we had dried off and had a bit to eat we headed off back to the north of France to a ville on the beach called Dunkirk. We slept on the floor in a school, (whenever we have a rotary weekend they hire out schools and we sleep on the gym floors). That night a few people did a few songs and stuff which was cool, we then went to the beach for a bit. The next day we went back to the beach to do some "Pêche de crevettes" (shrimp fishing). It was the first time I had ever been shrimp fishing. We put old clothes and gumboots on and took our buckets and nets down to the beach. I was the first one to catch some shrimp, but after that I didn't go so well. I caught heaps of little fish but they were useless to eat. We then put all of the big shrimps in a bowl and went back up to the beach house thing and boiled them for lunch (there was other food there too). It was then time to say goodbye to everyone! It wasn't too bad because we were going to see everyone again on Wednesday which was the last rotary meet up. (I will blog about it). Anyway, I have now finished with school and am officially on summer holidays! I cannot believe how fast time is going by, it's crazy. 

Made Dinner for my Host Family

Last night I made dinner for my host family, my host brothers girlfriend is a vegetarian and so is my friend, so I made a vegetarian Lasagne and a Pavlova for desert! It turned out okay, but I forgot to put the Spinach in the lasagne, so I put it on top and it kind of burnt... But it was good on the inside! The Pavlova worked out good, but nothing like my Nanna makes it in Australia. This weekend I have got a Rotary Conference in my City with another District in Lille, and then I will go to the beach on Sunday with my Rotary District. Then on Thursday we will go to Parc Asterix (a huge theme park in Paris), it will be really sad because it is the last rotary activity where we will be all together before everyone starts leaving. All of the exchange students from the northern hemisphere leave around June/July, but then there will be new ones here in August!

 

What is exchange?

Exchange is change. 
Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most of all constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything. 

Exchange is realizing that everything they told you beforehand is wrong, but also right in a way. 

Exchange is going from thinking you know who you are, to having no idea who you are anymore to being someone new. But not entirely new. You are still the person you were before but you jumped into that ice cold lake. You know how it feels like to be on your own. Away from home, with no one you really know. And you find out that you can actually do it.

Exchange is learning to trust. Trust people, who, at first, are only names on a piece of paper, trust that they want the best for you, that they care. Trust, that you have the strength to endure a year on your own, endure a year of being apart from everything that mattered to you before. Trust that you will have friends. Trust that everything’s going to be alright. And it is seeing this trust being justified. 

Exchange is thinking. All the time. About everything. Thinking about those strange costumes, the strange food, the strange language. About why you’re here and not back home. About how it’s going to be like once you come back home. How that girl is going to react when you see her again. About who’s hanging out where this weekend. At first who’s inviting you at all. And in the end where you’re supposed to go, when you’re invited to ten different things. About how everybody at home is doing. About how stupid this whole time-zone thing is. Not only because of home, but also because the tv ads for shows keep confusing you. 
Thinking about what’s right and what’s wrong. About how stupid or rude you just were to someone without meaning to be. About the point of all this. About the sense of life. About who you want to be, what you want to do. And about when that English essay is due, even though you’re marks don’t count. About whether you should go home after school, or hang out at someone’s place until midnight. Someone you didn’t even know a few months ago. And about what the hell that guy just said.

Exchange is people. Those incredibly strange people, who look at you like you’re an alien. Those people who are too afraid to talk to you. And those people who actually talk to you. Those people who know your name, even though you have never met them. Those people, who tell you who to stay away from. Those people who talk about you behind your back, those people who make fun of your country. All those people, who aren’t worth your giving a damn. Those people you ignore.
And those people who invite you to their homes. Who keep you sane. Who become your friends. 

Exchange is music. New music, weird music, cool music, music you will remember all your life as the soundtrack of your exchange. Music that will make you cry because all those lyrics express exactly how you feel, so far away. Music that will make you feel like you could take on the whole world. And it is music you make. With the most amazing musicians you’ve ever met. And it is site reading a thousand pages just to be part of the school band. 

Exchange is uncomfortable. It’s feeling out of place, like a fifth wheel. It’s talking to people you don’t like. It’s trying to be nice all the time. It’s bugs.. and bears. It’s cold, freezing cold. It’s homesickness, it’s awkward silence and its feeling guilty because you didn’t talk to someone at home. Or feeling guilty because you missed something because you were talking on Skype.

Exchange is great. It’s feeling the connection between you and your host parents grow. It’s hearing your little host brother asking where his big brother is. It’s knowing in which cupboard the peanut butter is. It’s meeting people from all over the world. It’s having a place to stay in almost every country of the world. It’s getting 5 new families. One of them being a huge group of the most awesome teenagers in the world.
It’s cooking food from your home country and not messing up. It’s seeing beautiful landscapes that you never knew existed.

Exchange is exchange students. The most amazing people in the whole wide world. Those people from everywhere who know exactly how you feel and those people who become your absolute best friends even though you only see most of them 3 or 4 times during your year. The people, who take almost an hour to say their final goodbyes to each other. Those people with the jackets full of pins. All over the world.

Exchange is falling in love. With this amazing, wild, beautiful country. And with your home country. 

Exchange is frustrating. Things you can’t do, things you don’t understand. Things you say, that mean the exact opposite of what you meant to say. Or even worse…

Exchange is understanding. 

Exchange is unbelievable. 

Exchange is not a year in your life. It’s a life in one year.

Exchange is nothing like you expected it to be, and everything you wanted it to be. 

Exchange is the best year of your life so far. Without a doubt. And it’s also the worst. Without a doubt. 

Exchange is something you will never forget, something that will always be a part of you. It is something no one back at home will ever truly understand.

Exchange is growing up, realizing that everybody is the same, no matter where they’re from. That there is great people and douche bags everywhere. And that it only depends on you how good or bad your day is going to be. Or the whole year.
And it is realizing that you can be on your own, that you are an independent person. Finally. And it’s trying to explain that to your parents.

Exchange is dancing in the rain for no reason, crying without a reason, laughing at the same time. It’s a turmoil of every emotion possible.

Exchange is everything. And exchange is something you can’t understand unless you’ve been through it.