im in peace

il fait beau! that was todays phrase that was said most frequently by either Lena or myself or another person. Because truly, it was another belle journee!

When I woke up this morning, I read did not think I was going to make it through the day. I felt worse than I did yesterday so getting out of bed felt more like a crime than something good. I put on jeans and my Dwyer hoodie...the farthest thing from stylish in the book of fashion here! But I did not care...really, I didn't. Today was the long day for school so I was just looking for comfort, not runway!

Despite how mauvaise I felt, school was great! WOOHOO! Seriously, I want to throw a little celebration for myself because I had a good day. Is that pitiful? I'm not saying I understood a lot of things but overall, j'ai passe une bonne journee! The best class was Eco because I actually talked to people (I know, its a big deal!). This guy, Tony, sat next to me and we chatted about things. He spoke to me in English and I replied back in French. It seems like most of the people in my class speak English with me and I hate! that because I'm not here to learn English. I already know that! I am here to learn French. But, c'est pas grave! Half way through our quiet conversation we noticed that la prof had stopped talking and the whole class was staring at us. Just a little bit awkward...

The best part of today (no it was not my usual nap, although that was great!!) was the lunch hour because Lena and I ate out today in the little town our school is on. What a gorgeous town...I am totally and completely in love! Next time we out, I will take pictures because really, its beautiful. We got each got a sandwich and then walked to a park close by. We sat down in the grass and ate. It was sooo sunny and warm. Lena and I talked about everything. It was my first conversation that went on for more than 3 minutes without a long pause! It was so fun! After we ate, we still had another hour so we decided to lay down and listen to my iPod and catch some rays. Best thing, ever!

After school, we came home and just relaxed! I started to read this fabulous book that Lena's English class is reading. It is called "The Other Side of the Truth" and somewhere between the time I started to read until the time I stopped, Lena had disappeared! But a surprise visitor came up to the loft..Celia! I totally forgot she was coming today so when she said, "Coucou Jordan" I thought it was Lena just being weird. After I went downstairs to talk for her and Mami and Tom for an hour, I came upstairs to read again and fell alseep.

Next thing I knew, Lena was telling me to get up for dinner at about 8:45. Had I really slept that long? I suppose so! I am still exhausted though! I think being malade and overspent has put me into exhaustion so Nath realized that when I stumbled down the stairs for dinner and said that I don't have to go to school tomorrow! I'm cool with that because now I can sleep in! Not only that but next week, I don't have school at all because Lena and her class have the Bac and TPE. No clue what that is, don't care because all I know is that there is no school!

Plus, Mercredi, it's my birthday. That right folks, I'll be dix-sept. WEIRD! But genial! Woohoo, what a great week!

Okay, gotta run! Nath and Lio just asked me if I want to "regarde la tele" so I think I'll do just that!

je sais pas

I'm not sure what to call this post. It will be short because I am sick. And very tired.

La Maison

School today was better than the last days. We started later, at 9am and finished at 4pm. Today I actually talked with people and it was so funny. After lunch a bunch of us went to the library and they did some work and I read my vocabulary book. After awhile Lena needed some help with some english words from her novel and then everyone at the table with us was asking me. I was fine with that because I felt included so it was pretty cool.

L'arc de Triomphe is the in the background...way back there!

Also, I gave them all a little lesson on how to say a few words..that shall not be named. Not on my request! So that was hilarious and for the rest of the day, every time we would all look at each other we would laugh...too funny! Tomorrow is loong day, 8am-4pm. Not looking forward to it because I know that I am going to feel like crap (pardon moi) afterwards but its okay!

After school we came home and I took a nap. It is becoming routine! I think because school is so long, I am just mentally exhausted by the end of the day. When it is time to go to bed, I am out faster than you can say "Bonjour!"

Moulin Rouge

I'm sick today. When I'm sick, I like to be in bed. If you know me well, you know that I ADORE my bed. Since  I am without my own bed, I feel worse than usual. Plus, I like to be with my mom when I am sick. And I am without her, too. Ly (Lena's chat...one of three!) will suffice this time around!

le Luberon

I'm going now because I need sleep. And I'm going to go ask Nathalie if she has any cold medicine. We'll see if I can do this...HAHA! Je suis malade :(

Next post will be better, I promise!

oh mon dieu!

…WHAT A PAST COUPLE OF DAYS IT HAS BEEN! I have just now found the time to actually hop on and update. Actually that is a lie because last night I wrote this and TWO times it just erased as I was writing. Thank God Blogspot has autosave, right? Well, too bad it auto-saved just as it erased. So after the second time I decided to call it quits and go to bed. Here I am now, smarter than yesterday, and I wrote this on Microsoft Word. I saved it every minute, no lie, and copied and pasted. Voila!

Thursday/Friday

5:15 did in fact roll around and I did in fact get that pang of sadness as I said “See ya later!” to my family. It was hard but not that hard! I cried when Hope and Harley cried…it was sucky to say bye to them for some reason. Go figure since we are always fighting! So, we all had one last kiss and then I walked off into the unknown. Well, not really because it was only security but beyond that was the unknown! Got through security with no problems and found a few friends to chat with until it was time to go. At 6:25 they called us to board and at 7:15 I said, “PEACE OUT CANADA!” and off to France I went!

The flight was….long. I was sitting next to three grade 8’s (not my choice) and it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea but that’s okay. I decided that I would pass time by watching a movie so I went through the selection and found Time Traveler’s Wife and picked that. I have tried watching this movie FOUR times and every time I fell asleep so I thought now might be a good time to finish! Once the movie was finished, the Gravol had kicked in and I was sleepy so I went to bed. Except for the fact that I had a terrible sleep because the girl next to me decided that I made a better pillow…great.

Finally at 8:42 on Friday morning we arrived in Paris!! Got through customs with no problems; phew! And then waited around for my bags. After about 30 minutes my luggage finally came around and it was time for me to go meet Lena! As I was standing with the group, an exchange student went through the “Sortie” and I caught a glimpse of Lena! I ran through the doors with my cart full of suitcases and practically attacked her! The Parisians probably thought I was some lunatic on the loose! I have never been so relieved and happy! Met her mom and dad, Nathalie and Lionel and then we headed towards the Metro.

We got to Marie’s, Lena’s sister, apartment and then her family took me for a little tour of Paris. I saw Notre Dame, la Siene, took a boat tour along la Siene which allowed me to see le Tour Eiffel, Marie’s university, and walked some other places. By 6:00 I was not only running on 3 hours of sleep but I was jetlagged beyond belief!

Conclusion: Bed time!

Saturday

I woke up Saturday morning feeling refreshed and ready to hit the town so after a small breakfast off we went. Nathalie, Marie, Celia, Lena and I started out for another tour. Lionel had some things to do so we were going to meet up with him later on. It was a day full of things! We saw Montmarte, le Moulin Rouge, le Louvre, Centre Pompidou, and then just walked around. Paris is SO beautiful..tres beau! I loved it there. At around 6:15 we headed back to Marie’s because we had a train to catch at 8:00. What an adventure it was to get to the train station! We got on the bus, got off the bus, went to get on another except it wasn’t coming for another 17 minutes so we ran to nearest metro station, got on the metro and then finally got to the TGV station. By the way, we all had huge suitcases! I had two and Lena’s family had two. We got on the train and were headed towards Avignon! At about 11:00 we arrived in Avignon and Papi, Lena’s grandpa, picked us up and drove us to Robion. Once we got home we were all tired from a day full of activities so bed time it was!

Sunday

On Sunday we basically just had a rest day. We had all been travelling so we need some time to re-couperate and vacances was finished so on Monday school would start again. Lena had beaucoup des devoirs and Nathalie and Lionel needed to get ready as well. I finally met Tom, Lena’s younger brother! After that I unpacked and got all settled in and then got acquainted with the house. Also, I got to know the family a little bit better and by the time night time rolled around, I was tired! It was a good day to just kind of settle in and get used to everything.

Monday

I woke up expecting to be alone because Nathalie, Lionel, Tom and Lena all had school. Surprise! Lena was home! Yay! She was home because she had mal a dos and a sore throat. It was raining again on Monday so we just watched a movie and lazed around. I got ready for school which the next day and she finished up homework. We had another great family dinner and then after it was off to bed for an early morning!

Tuesday

I started school. WOW! School is so different. I was not expecting that at all. I can’t even explain in words how I felt because I was so overwhelmed and surprised. First of all, its LONG. Like, really long. Second of all, it is a legit fashion show. I’m not talking about people dressing nice. I’m saying that is like New York Fashion Week has permanently come to L’isle sur la Sourge. I was not prepared for that all either! Also, the learning and teaching style is on the complete opposite spectrum of Canada and the U.S. The teacher lectures and the students write what the teacher says. Now, imagine ME trying to write what the teacher is saying! Yeah. Right. It was a hard day. By the time 4:00 came around, I was so ready to be on the bus home. We got home and Lena and I decided to take a walk into the town so she could show me everything. I FELL IN LOVE. It’s such a quaint little town; so beautiful. Of course, its right in front of the Luberon so the scenery is gorgeous. After taking a stroll around town we got the amazing idea of hiking the Luberon. HAHAHA. Two minutes into the hike I was breathing so heavy that you would have thought I smoked 5 packs of cigarettes a day! Got up to a certain point and took pictures that turned out stunning and then hiked back down. Nathalie picked us up and homebound we were!

Today

School again except today it was only 8am-11am! WOOHOO! We had English class today and I was shocked! The teacher is not only hilarious but the class is SO hard! I couldn’t believe it. It was cool to see how people actually learn my language because I was able to compare how I learn theirs with the way they learn ours. After school Nathalie picked Lena and I up and we went grocery shopping. That was fun because Lena and I sort of joked around and I got to see something new. Afterwards, we went home and ate a fabulous lunch and then I napped because I was pooped! Nathalie woke me up from my nap because we were going to Avignon for Lena to see the doctor. While Lena was having her back cracked, Nathlie showed me Avignon. Oh my Heavens! What a gorgeous city. I didn’t actually go in but she showed me a beautiful view from a park. Nathalie is so sweet and it was nice to just get the chance to talk to her. Even though there is a bit of a language barrier between us, we still were able to get by. We picked Lena up and went to Mami’s. That is Lionel’s mom. She is tres drole, I just love her! She fed us and we watched some tube…she reminds me of my Nanay and Mamaw all mixed up. Talk about a mix but really! After we said Au revoir to her we came home and here I am!

Some Thoughts

France is amazing. It is everything I have ever dreamed of and more. I am so content here, I never want to leave. There have been some tough moments for me but I am learning a lot, even in just 6 days! I have completely fallen in love with the way of life here. It is so, so different though. Here, things are a lot more simple. Its quiet and small. Even the roads! They’re about as wide as your pointer finger! The way everything looks is so refreshing. Everything, just everything has been great!

My family is seriously la meuilleure. I could not have asked to be matched with a better partner and family. Nathalie is sweet and funny. Last night I was at the kitchen table and she came over with a map of Paris. She had marked all of the things we saw and the roads we walked on. Then she handed me 4 months of calenders that were marked with plans for trips and things we are going do. She explained everything to me..it was so nice! Lionel is funny, in a way he reminds me of my dad! He jokes around a lot, too. He’s also really cool! Celia and Marie are just so nice! I had a great time seeing Paris with them and its going to be awesome to spend more time with them when we see them again! (Marie lives in Paris and Celia in Lyon). Tom is very quiet, I haven’t talked to him much but he seems really nice. And they have three cats who I just adore!

Like I mentioned, its totally different here. It has been an adjustment! The food is excellent! The meals are huge, it seems! I thought our meals were big but they are just FAT! HA! French people eat lots and lots of cheese and bread! That is not a myth and I can prove that first hand! The lunches at the school are huge…it is a full out meal! So great! And dinner is late compared to Canada because we eat around 8:45 or 9:00 every night. Also, the bathrooms are completely different. The first time I took a shower, I was a bit confused. It’s not really a shower. It’s a tub and then theres a shower head but no curtain and the shower head is handheld. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do but I have found a method of getting clean so it works out! I have become adjusted quite well.

I know I’ve said this one million times but j’adore France! I can already tell that it will be hard to leave and that is still 3 months from now! I’m not homesick and I don’t really miss anything. I mean I miss my family and friends but I don’t really think about it. I know if I do think about it that I will probably become sad or something so I stay busy and happy! The language is not as hard as I imagined it would be. Trust me, I was thinking that I would get here and just be terrible. The hardest part is the vocabulary because I don’t know every word! I find myself speaking and then in the middle going, “Comment dit on ____________?” but Lena helps me and her family is super patient with me and very understanding. I am so thankful for that. At least they don’t think I am a complete idiot and if they do, they don’t say it! So if her family ever reads this then I want to say , “Merci beaucoup pour tout!”

It’s been a fabulous adventure so far and there are many more to come! I’m tired so I’m going to stop writing now. I’ll try to write everyday now, seriously!

je suis ici

Bonjour!

I am here in France. I can't write much because I have things to do but everything is fine. The flight was good, but LONG. I am happy to be with Léna and her family now. I'm really jetlagged so it was a hard day.

I will write more and post pictures when I arrive in Robion!! For now,I have to go!

A bientot! :)

au revoir canada!

For now, I bid farewell to Canada. For a short time, I will say bye to my life here, to my friends, and to my lovely family. I will miss all of it and them dearly. But now is a time of excitement. It is a time of growing and becoming an adult, learning to live without my parents,  and a time to learn to take nothing for granted.

I am excited. I am overjoyed. But mostly, I am humbled. Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me this opportunity, I know that I will be forever grateful. I love you!! Shelly, if you read this( I know you will), I love you girl! We will talk all the time....remember, you're in France!! ;) To my other friends and family, you are all apart of this, just as much as I am. Thank you for your prayers and support!

I'm out, time to get ready! Next time I update, I will be across the pond in a beautiful country! WOW!!

Au Revoir et a tres bientot Canada!
(Good bye and see you soon Canada!)

last minute

So. Here I am. On my parent's bed. Enjoying American Idol and relaxing. Except I am not exactly relaxing because anxiety and panic have set in. Long story short...I am overwhelmed and over emotional!

Today I said goodbye. Official goodbyes. To my friends, to my teachers, to my school, to my bestfriend. I absolutely hate it! Although I know it is not goodbye forever, it is still sucky. Saying bye to Shelly was so hard. I hated every minute leading up to it because I knew that come tomorrow, I wouldn't be seeing her or talking to her or confiding in her every second of the day. That to me was just..WEIRD. Living three months without my best friend seems absolutely impossible to me. I can't even really fathom it! Living three months without my parents and brothers and sister? That seems even more impossible (but this is for tomorrow). So anyway, we said our farewells and goodlucks and I'll-talk-to-you-on-skype-facebook-msn-and-email's and away she went. I shut the door and suddenly an empty pit was in my stomach.

If you rewind this back about 20 minutes you'll see Shelly and Abbie(forgot to mention she was there as well!!) and I sitting on my bed. You'll see Shelly and Abbie coming up with a wonderfully, glorious idea that they proposed to me and that I so graciously accepted! The idea was this- Shelly (an amazing drawer) would draw me a picture of herself and Abbie on a piece of 8' x 11' paper. She would give me this piece of paper to take with me EVERYWHERE in France-at all times. Thus, leading to the idea that they are always with me! I LOVED IT. This also leads to them being at the Eiffel Tower, the Mediterranean Sea, Barcelona(yes, that is right...they are taking me to Barcelona!!!), Lyon, Paris and all of my many other travels I will be doing. It was a simply genious idea that is not just an idea now but a full out plan. Yes, she has drawn the picture and yes, I will be taking her and Abbie to France with me (a dream literally come true!!)

So tonight, there is not much to say. Mostly just that I am very overwhelmed. I am not even sure that the whole thing has set in yet! I also feel a lot of anger towards suit cases, packing those suit cases, weight limits on the suit cases packed, and airlines that place the weight limit on the suit cases that are packed. Yes, I despise off all that because, collectively, it has cause me much grief tonight!

Today was a little bit sad. Don't get me wrong, I am more excited than can ever be described but I still feel a little pang of sadness in my stomach. I know that when tomorrow, at around 5:15, rolls around I will feel an even bigger pang of sadness when I bid farewell to my family. I'm not thinking about that right now though. I shall think about how wonderful and amazing and beautiful my life and France will be :)

Last minute.

TOMORROW*

meet Lena

Today was my last official day at school. It was a bit sad. I had to say bye to some friends that were going on an outdoor ed trip and I cried. Of course I felt like an idiot because I know, I know...its only three months but it was still sad. That's the worst part of the exchange-the constant goodbyes. Tomorrow I will go to school for the first two periods but only to help distribute ashes at the masses and then I am leaving. Thats when I'll say bye to my bestfriend (she can't come to the airport) and my other close friends that aren't on the trip. I think that will be the hardest "bye for now" besides my family! It was also sad to leave classes because I know when I return that all of the classes will be tight and then I'll just sort of be there. I also know that when I return I will be welcomed back so I am not worried.

On a lighter note....MEET LENA! :) Lenouille, as we like to call her, is my exchange partner. But more than that she is my sister, my closest friend, my other half and just the cutest little thing you'll ever meet!

When she arrived in Canada, her English was SO poor! I felt so terrible for her. We both had our dictionaries out, trying to communicate. It was AWKWARD. Like really, really awkward. We didn't have much to talk about because we had comminucated so very often before she came so we knew everything about each other! So there we were, driving down the 401, silent and awkward. My mom was sitting in the front seat and moving her hand to me like ,"talk! talk! talk!" but I just had no earthly idea what to say! But rewind that for a second!

I remember leaving the house to go get her and thinking, "OH DEAR LORD, PLEASE LET THIS GO WELL!" When we got there, my dearest mother bawling her eyes out (I love you mom!) and my dad and brother and sister all excited, we waited. And when the exchange lady came to tell me she was coming out next I remember having to take a deep breath. Then when she walked out we were SO EXCITED to see each other. I think she was just relieved...we both were! We had both waited and anticipated this for so long and finally the whole thing was official!

As time went on, it became less and less awkward. We are so similar in so many ways yet so different. I think thats the thing that makes us so close. I think the times that brought us closest were spending those last summer nights, at one and two in the morning, sitting on our bed, painting our nails, listening to music, just chatting. About nothing and everything...boys, family, school, friends, death(Tatay had just passed away..4 days after she got to Canada), summer. We must have changed our nail colors at least 8 times in 6 days! But it was the simple things, the little things that made us become bestfriends. But the one major event that made us close was Tatay's passing. It was so emotional, even for her! When I cried, she held my hand. She was such a trooper! She went to to every viewing, the church, the burial. She even cried. It was all just really overwhelming for her.

I feel very lucky beyond belief to have a french family like Lena's. I am happier more than I can describe to know that I will be welcomed into a family. Last night I was in bed, late at night, and I started thinking about living in France. I can think about it during the day because I can quickly divert my mind to something else. At night, not so much. My mind just spins and spins and then keeps going some more. Panic quickly set in and the anxiety was overwhelming. So at 12:26 am, Jess called me after I sent her a text. I set my facebook status to something about hating the feeling of panic late at night. This morning I woke up to a wall post on facebook from Lena's dad. It was SO sweet. He basically told me not to be in panic mode, to be in pleasure mode! He said not to worry one little bit because he and Nathalie would welcome me the best way the can and that I am a part of their family. I felt so much better just from reading that!

Many people had problems with their exchange partners...for me it has been a blast. Len is my other half. I can tell her anything. She will call me and we can talk for hours on the phone. She is crazy and shy...it makes no sense! She is so funny with her french accent. I love it! She is as much a part of my family as I am. My family LOVED her. And Hope? She ADORED Lena. I sometimes think that Hope thought more of Len then she did me!!

I am the luckiest person alive to have an amazing friend and sister. I am also the luckiest person alive to have a family in Canada and the US as well as France. Basically, I am just the luckiest girl in the whole world.

So this is Lena! French and shy, crazy and stylish. Picky beyond imagination and so simple. She's me with a few different qualities. She is my frenchie :)

TWO DAYS*

procrastination no more

I'm a procrastinator. Anyone who knows me, knows that I procrastinate more than anyone else. I wait until the last minute for EVERYTHING. School, work, travelling. So, as per usual, I procrastinated for packing. Hey, not as bad as I usually do though!!

Today Shelly came over and we packed. We laughed. We ate. We rolled clothes and placed them strategically in my suitcases. We chatted about...things. About life. It was a good day :) A day filled with lots of fun and lots of hard work.

I had a loooooong packing list. I'm talking three pages...but front and back of those three pages. Little things were on that list (bobby pins..can't forget those!!) and big things (clothes, obviously!) and everything got packed. Another thing about me is that I pack my LIFE. When I say that though, I really mean it. Two nights and three days worth of things leads to a regular suitcase filled. Two weeks? GOOD LUCK! So I am very proud to say that I packed smart! ;) Now, lets just hope that they aren't over 50 pounds!

I am beginning to become very, very excited! Although, at night  I can't really think about it because I won't be able to fall asleep. My mind spins and all I can do is think about what I will say to Lena's family, what I will do in school, what it will be like to not see my family. Mostly I just think about how different my life there will be as opposed to here! I am beyond ecstatic!!!

Last night I talked to one of Lena's sisters, Celia. We practiced what Nathlie (Lena's mom) would ask me and what I reply back to her with. One of the questions was "Est-ce que tu es fatiguee?" (are you tired?) and I told her I would say, " Non, je suis trop excitee pour vous recontrer si je ne suis pas tres fatiguee!" (No, I am really excited to meet you so I am not very tired". Celia simply replied with, "LOL". I knew this couldn't be good so I asked what I said wrong. She responded back by saying, "You know, in France we don't say 'excite' the way English speaking people do. For us it is like sexual connotations. To me, its not weird because I speak English but for the French who don't.....this is weird" I was mortified! Moral of the story? I have noted this and will remember NOT to say excited the way we do so that I do not further embarrass myself!

(Please excuse the quality of these pictures...Harley took them! Also, we look not-so-hot because....well because who cares what you look like when you pack! As well, ignore my messy room and my messy closet! It is all simply just a work in progress!)

THREE DAYS*

Bienvenue

BONJOUR!

Welcome to my journey! I'm glad you've decided to hop aboard. As you probably know, I'm going to be living and studying in FRANCE for three months. Hence, the reason why I have started this blog.

For the duration of my stay in France, I intend and hope to update my blog daily and provide you with a glimpse of what my life will be like! As well, I will post photos to my posts and let you into my life. I only hope that this blog will blossom into a life long memory.

I am happy to share with you my life and my travels! I will be leaving Canada on Thursday, February 18(FOUR DAYS!!!) and headed directly to Paris. From Paris I'll go to the beautiful Provence. A small town called Robion will be my new home :) This is sure to be an eye opening and amazing experience that I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of.

Before I leave, I will of course, share with you a bit of the past about Lena. Lena is my exchange partner and she lived with my from August to November of 2009. That is for the near future!

Check back often and as always, you can be in touch with me through email or skype!

ps. as time goes on, I will posting my blogs in FRENCH and ENGLISH.