Wednesday, October 6, 2010

AFS Weekend

My first AFS weekend was this weekend, and it was so much fun!

It was so nice to be able to talk and connect with people who are experiencing the same thing as I am. Also, we spoke French only when necessary, during the group activities and the group meetings, but the rest of the time we spoke English.  It was a little bit weird at first, because after talking for fifteen minutes, I realized that that was the most fluently paced English that I had spoken in a month!

 One of the activities we did was musical chairs, but the only source of music that we had was Marshall's ukulele and Emily's voice.  There was a group of students from the Student Ambassadors program at the castle with us, below is not the castle that we stayed in, but the castle at the top of the hill that we were on and visited Sunday afternoon.

The Student Ambassadors were going to New Zealand, Marshall's homeland, and the United States for two weeks later in the year.  They talked to us a little bit about our experiences in France and then played games with us.


We spent most of Saturday and Sunday in Isère with AFS, but there was not a lot of time acutally spent doing AFS activities. We had a two hour activity period with samll groups both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, but the rest of the time we had to ourselves and the other AFSers. 
 Above are the three Americans, Ashley-Marie on the far left is from Austin, Emily is from Connecticut and me, well I am from beloved Massachusetts.

When Ashley and I took a couple of minutes to check out the property, I looked down and saw a bunch of dandelions.  I know I was stupid, but I seriously thought there were only dandelions in the US and Canada, I am not kidding.  So when I saw them all on the grass leading up to the parking lot I had to have a picture with them!

Nikita-German, Marshall-Kiwi, and me-you all should know.

Another one of the activities that AFS had us do was to draw a little flag of our home country and on the other side write our name and then place it on the map of Rhône-Alps.  There were so many people clustered in Lyon and St-Etienne, but then there was only me and a girl from Paraguay in the North East near Geneva!


Once we got to the top of the mountain that we stayed at over the weekend, this was the view and there was a map at the top of what cities were where and what you could see.  The castle was all closed off though so we could only look and enjoy the view.  It was also so windy at the top, we all felt like we were going to get knocked over!  It was fun to be with people from around the world and share our experiences that are so similar, yet so different. 

In this last picutre, there is Marina-all the way at the top- from Brazil, Nina-to the right- from Australia, and Jacob-on the bottom- from Denmark.  The mix of people was really amazing, and it was so fun to hang out with them and learn about what their lives were like at home, and to hear the different languages.  Jacob's accent in English is so great, and when he rapped in Danish we could not stop laughing!

This week is/has been/is going to be my hardest week so far, because I have so many exams! I got my math test from last week back and I got a 16/20.  I am very happy with the grade, but I have to remember that they don't use the quadratic formula here and that I have to use a comma instead of a period!  I have already made that mistake so many times!

I am off to study for the many more exams I have this week and to read some more of L'Etranger by Albert Camus for French class.
Until next time!
A Bientot!

6 comments:

  1. I have five words to say...the experience of a lifetime! Now not only will you have friends in France but all over the world. Package coming your way this week! Miss you and love you! Mom & Dad

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  2. Hey Victoria- thanks so much for taking us all along on this wonderful journey!! Your words and pix make me feel like I am there with you! I look forward to reading about all your adventures- and good luck on your exams- you will do great! Don't feel dumb about the dandelions- I did not know that they existed elsewhere....not even Canada! I remember asking for (and craving) cranberry juice the first day I was in Australia-and feeling really stupid when the waiter had no clue what I was talking about!!!! See- that's part of why we travel- to learn about other cultures- and to value the simple pleasures when we come home!!!
    For some reason- when I did a comment last time- it came up under your mom's id-- not sure why- and what I did wrong-- but 'tis me- Diane-- wishing you well and oh so very excited for you!
    Amazing meeting all the people from so many countries!!! Diane Wiswall omg- it did it again- comes up under Fabre's google account- why can't I get into mine?? lol lol I guess I secretly want to be like your mom!!!!!

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  3. You guys are going to read The Stranger? We just finished reading that in 20th Century World Novels! I guess no matter where you are, curriculums are generally the same. Anyways, it's an interesting book. I think you'll like it :)

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  4. Guess who Its me. PSU lost How are the french fries.

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  5. wait no way! we're going to read L'Etranger this year with Mme. Nelson! wooooo im glad you're having fun girl!

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  6. Really good idea the flags on the map.

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