Wrong Stop...

I’m gonna try to think of cooler and more creative things to post ...but for now I'll just give ya a recap

Lets see...

Wednesday: Awesome. Why is it awesome you ask?? Because I saw a movie in Draguignan with my exchange friend,Oneza. After school (dismissed at 12 on Wednesdays) Yzabel took me to the Gare (train/bus station) and helped me out by telling the conductor I was American and showing me how to give him money... I felt kind of stupid for being worried about it after I saw how simple it was. The bus ride was 10ish minutes to the station in Draguignan. Oneza and I ate some lunch at a small outdoor cafe type place. Then a kid from my school showed us where the theater was. The theater we went to was a small 5ish story building where (I think) there was a theater per floor. We decided to see ‘Fame’; we figured it would be easy to understand due to the likely cheesiness of it. We bought the tickets, the lady at the window seemed excited to have English (by English I mean she probably assumed by our bad French that we spoke English) speakers, which was awesome. We climbed a really small winding flight of stairs to get to our theater. It was a smallish room with a small screen. It was kind of awkward at first because we were too scared to talk above a whisper. Luckily for us a group of loud girls came in so we were able to talk in our regular voices. When the movie started it was clear that we were right about the cheesiness. It was possibly cheesier because of the dubbing and not being able to understand every plot detail. There were lots of (English) songs which helped. The best part was when one of the ladies sang a solo. She looked like the annoying chick from Will and Grace, but we couldn't tell for sure. When she sang, it was obvious. It was hilarious because the dubber’s voice wasn't at all like what’s-her-name's voice...probably doesn't sound too funny to you...but we couldn't stop laughing.

Thursday: Due to the economy teacher's absence I got done with school at 3 PM, which is kinda crazy to me.No subs.... My host brother gave me a ride to Les Arcs. I forgot my keys to the house so I had to call him after he dropped me off. He came back and unlocked the house, I felt kind of bad about it, but he was really nice and said it was no problem.

Friday/Saturday: not too much out of the ordinary

Sunday: After lunch, Claude, Yzabel, Cannelle and I went to a beautiful lake. We played petanque, a pretty awesome game that involves throwing heavy 'boules" at a smaller ping pong sized ball. Whoever gets the closest wins. I was awful at first, me and Yzabel were a team and I felt bad for making Yzabel lose! Then 'Mamie' (Claude's mother) and Charlie (her boyfriend) arrived and joined the game. By the end I was actually helping our team (Charlie, Yzabel, and I) win. Pretty fun end to the weekend.

Monday: I took a geography test on the countries of Europe, pretty sure I aced it! I was taking the dumbed-down version, the rest for the class had to say which countries were in the EU/Applying/ ect... but still.

Tuesday: Biggest thing was, during ‘Sport’ the economy teacher came and told us he would be gone Wednesday, which meant we were only going to have class from 8-9 (Wednesdays are half days normally)..                                                                                                                                                                      *side note: In sport we’ve been practicing with javelins…something about throwing a long metal spear while a bunch of other teenagers are also throwing long metal spears (seriously,like 8 ft long)scares me…but now we're done*                    

Tuesday night we ate escargot! They were really good! They were similar to mussels, just more slimy... I liked them a lot!

Wednesday: Went to English class from 8 to 9, then Yzabel picked me up and we went to the house. The whole day it was raining, so I stayed inside, and chillaxed.

Thursday: nothing too crazy here

Friday: School was fun, because everybody was uber excited about the upcoming break. In Literature, I got an assignment to read the play Dom Jaun (in English)  and write an essay in French(of course). Unfortunately the book store wont have the book until Friday (tomorrow) .So when I get it, I'll have to read like crazy. Then school ended (schooools out forever...okay, a week and a half,but still ,woot!). Every two months of school there's is a twoish week  break, I'm pretty psyched about that!  Friday night we had raclette for dinner. Raclette is basically amazing. Each person melts there own cheese and pours it on to potatoes [pomme de terre(apples of the ground)] and various meat , very good.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Hyers(the city where Claude's mother lives). She fixed an amazing dinner(no surprise there) and we stayed the night. Sunday morning I woke up and got ready to go to the island, Porquerolles (where the exchange students,their 'families', and Rotarians , were meeting).The plan was to leave at 8:30 to make the 9 o'clock boat. At 8:20 me and Marriet (my 'grandma') were the only people up, and I finally asked her about it. She woke the rest of the family up because we,(mostly I), was worried we wouldn't make the boat. Yzabel reminded us that the time changed at 1 am...opps. I felt kinda bad, but I(like to) think that they were getting up soon anyway. Kinda embarrassing... At the real 8:30 we left for the dock. On the way we saw flamingos! No big deal to everyone else, just some flamingos hanging out in that marshy area near the road! (P.S.:It's not even summer, its October...and there were flamingos!) I didn't get to see them too close up, but it's all good. We got to the port and I met up with the other exchange students. It's cool because, even though we've only met once before, i feel like were good friends.The boat ride to the island was about 5 minutes. The island was incredibly beautiful. Click here for some general info. I'll also post some pictures. There was lots of cool stuff, like a windmill and an old fort. At then end of the day we went back to "mamie's"  place and ate dinner, then drove back to Les Arcs.

Monday/Tuesday: Hung out around the house mostly, Went shopping both days with Yzabel, Cannel, and my "cousin" who's staying here a couple of days. Monday Yzabel bought me some awesome Homer-shaped slippers!

Wednesday: Around 11 me and a rotary friend , Katelyn made plans to meet in Toulon. I took the 12:14 train and met up around 1:20. It was a slower train, but nice. It was a really fun day. Katelyn and I took the bus to the mall...slightly difficult at first. We got on the bus and waited for the mall stop...but it never came. Turns out we took the  bus that went in the completely opposite direction of the mall..oh well, we got there eventually. We hung out with Katelyn's friend, ate lunch at McDonalds in the mall, and walked around   the awesome city. It was a really fun day. I took the train home...

Funny/embarrassing/crazy story: The train left like 10 minutes late. At a stop 10 minutes after the planned arrival time i got off the train, i couldn't tell what stop  it was, because it was really dark, and my car was pretty far from the town sign. I asked a lady if we were in Les Arcs and she said no. I quickly went to the train and pressed the button to open the door. As I was pressing the button...the train began to move. It was rather movie like, me trying to open the door while the train  was starting to depart, it moving faster and faster, and me trying (more desperately) to open the door, walking along side the train...then running.... crap... I explained to the lady(who was now looking at me with a concerned face) that I got off too early and was an American exchange student. She told me that there was another  train in an hour (the last). I called my host mom and told her what had happened. She looked up the schedule and told me that the next train would be there in an hour.  If I understand correctly the platform is far from Pignans (the town), so it was kinda creepy. The building was shut up, had one light and I was the only person there.  On top of that it was starting to get foggy.  I kept thinking of scary movie scenarios . It all worked out though!  I got on the next train, and finally made it home.

The reason the timer on my camera rocks

My parents didn't seam to upset, I think they understood, which was good. We ate dinner and had crepes for dessert, which cheered me up.  Nothing like nuttella on a thin pancake burrito!

That's about it. I promise (just like I did last time) to write sooner than 2 weeks. I'm sorry, I'm quite the procrastinator.

Some more questions

How do you get to school ?

-Every morning I leave the house around 7:20 and walk (a block or so) to the bus stop where other kids who go to Le Muy from Les Arcs for school are also waiting. The bus usually arrives around 7:25 and (because there are other kids to pick up) get to the school around 7:50. Usually, I also take the bus home.

How much TV does your family watch?

-Lots of times we watch TV during and after dinner. I guess a couple hours a day, not a lot.

What do they serve in the cafeteria?

-Lots of different things. Generally a side (cold vegetables, tuna salad, slices of salami, act...) that you chose, a fruit (generally apples, pears, or plums), a dessert (sometimes yogurt, sometimes apple tarts, usually delicious), and the main course (some kind of meat or fish with hot vegetables, and pasta or french fries. The other day I had an apple, two types of cheese, a salad with baby shrimp and pineapple, breaded chicken,  ratatouille , and oatish stuff.

Do kids drink more/less than they do here?

-  No idea.I know they do., but I don’t know how much.

Check out my pictures by clicking here

Thanks for reading! Thanks for all the support, and a big thanks to my family and friends. Thanks to district 6080 and The Fayette Rotary Club, I feel so blessed to have such an amazing opportunity, I know that this will .... already has changed my life for the better.