England, a very backwards country

This past week, I went to England with the high school.

I know, the American exchange student in France goes to England, but it was my only opportunity to go!
I could not miss out on a chance to see London, or to be surrounded with people with awesome accents :)

Oxford Castle

We left in the early afternoon Sunday March 13th, we took a coach bus so it took about twelve hours to get to the Eurotunnel.  We arrived in Oxford around 8am, and we were all half asleep.  That day was a very long day, walking around and trying to pay attention to tour guides in English when you only got two hours of sleep the night before is very hard.  Either way I enjoyed it very much and the Christ Church College was very beautiful.

Christ Church College

We also got a short tour of Oxford castle which was very interesting and filled with legends and history about the past prisoners that were housed there.

Ring any bells?

That night we met our host families and went to sleep very early.  The next day was an early wake up for another long day, this time at Winchester and Windsor.  In the morning we visited the Winchester College, a very prestigious all boys private school.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the school grounds, neither of the buildings nor of the boys.
All of the girls on the tour were sad about this last fact, and we were not able to visit the classrooms and the only boys we saw were those who were outside.

Windsor Castle

That afternoon we went to Windsor to visit the castle.  The Windsor Castle is enormous, and it houses a lot of history of England.  We got an audio tour of the castle, I took English and didn't feel weird, because we were in England and half of our group took it in English.

Bridge of Sighs, St. John's College

Wednesday we went to Cambridge to visit the town and the many colleges that are housed there.  We got a tour of St. John's College but also got to see Trinity College and King's College.  We got a short tour in a punting boat, a man pushed us with a long rod.  The boat ride was very relaxing and the guide was very interested by my American accent, he also had a fun time making fun of it.

Picadilly Circus

Finally we got to London on Thursday, I am so happy that I was able to visit the capital because I have never been in England and do not know when I will return.  We walked around the city and saw all of the big sites, the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Pariliament,  Picadilly Circus and Covent Garden.  Covent Garden kind of reminded me of Fanueil Hall in Boston.

London Eye

I had realized that the English do a lot of things backwards, or inversely of the European Union.  They drive on the left side of the road, which was hard to get used to, they use a different currency (£ pounds), they also use miles and pounds instead of kilometers and kilograms. I know that half of those things that I listed correspond to the United States also, but it is normal for us, we are not part of Europe.  It is just kind of confusing why the UK does not adopt the Metric system. Any suggestions?

Big Ben and Houses of Parliament

Despite all of that and the not so beautiful weather, I had a great time and do not regret going.

Buckingham Palace

I hope that I can come back some day to really visit all of the sites, instead of just seeing them from a distance.

Vacances de Février with lots of ski!

This long vacation has now come to an end.

This was a really great vacation with a lot of nice memories and a whole new world of ski!

I absolutely love skiing, I progressed very quickly and I am actually good at it.  It is a nice sport, you don't have to go fast to have fun.
I took ski lessons all of the first week and practiced my skills, then the second week I went skiing with the rest of the family.  I had a really great time and I am so happy that I got the chance to meet and get along nicely with the extended family.  It really meant a lot to me when they all told me what progress I have made and that they enjoyed spending the week with me.

Another amazing vacation is over... yet I am still not going back to school!
I am leaving for England in an hour and I can't wait to speak English again.  Haha, I will most likely prefer speaking French, I actually have to think when I speak English now. There are some sayings that I use all of the time in French, but have no idea how to say in English.  In fact I feel much more comfortable speaking French now.  I have also been dreaming and thinking in French for a while now, it is kind of weird, but nice.

I am very happy that I got the chance to learn how to ski, because now I can drag my parents to the slopes with me when I come home! 

A little tid bit : It is very important to prepare meals in advance when you have more than 10 people coming to live in your house for two weeks.

It is also important to have very big pans so that you can cook for everyone at once and not have to do two servings.  Either way, it is nice to have people over and to share memories with them.  Hopefully I will be able to come back next year and do some more skiing with the family.  I can't believe that I will not see the extended family again this year.

Well, I am off to finish some last minute packing!  Do not worry, I will be back Friday so you can look out for a post next weekend. 

I am about to enter the world of the English...as an American exchange student living in France.

Wish me luck!

OMG Snow!

So today was a very exciting day for me.

It is the first day since December 18th that we have gotten snow in the valley!

I woke up this morning, like any other morning and I took a look out my window and I screamed "Yessssssssss!!!!".  In fact I screamed that with more enthusiasm and a little louder, and multiple times.  When I came down to breakfast I was so excited and happy because we were finally getting snow!  Adélie didn't seem to enjoy the snow very much though, oh well.

Ok, so there wasn't exactly THAT much snow, but there was a good inch and a half on the ground this morning and when we left it was still snowing.  It stopped snowing around 10 am, when I was in English class.  I had no idea that it was possible to watch three American movies in English class that I have never heard of before. Sorry, kind of random I know but I don't understand.

We have watched...

Little Big Man (1970 with Dustin Hoffman)

Betrayed (1988 with Debra Winger and Tom Berenger)

Thank You for Smoking (2004 with Aaron Eckhart and Katie Holmes)

If any of you have ever heard of these films please let me know, because I haven't heard of any of them.

Anyway, once 17:00 rolled around this is what the ground looked like.

I was so disappointed, but I guess that is just how life is.

I also learned today that Math is a lie, how can I go the rest of my life knowing that Math is a lie?

I just can't live with that.

Is there still twenty billion inches of snow on the ground in New Enland?

Look! There were even flowers!

I want to see some pictures!!

That's all for now, I am going to end things on a good note ( haha litterally, I mean grades are called notes in France).

I got a 19.5/20 on a math test (lies).

I have a 12.5/20 average overall as a student for the 2nd trimester!!

The class average is around 11.5 or so!!

I am so proud of myself.

I have a long two weeks of vacation (called skiing) coming up, if I don't kill myself trying to ski then I will tell you how it went!

Have a great vacation and a great rest of the winter with snow!

I'm still alive but busy!!

Hello everyone,

I am extremely busy, as you all see because of the absence of posts, but I am still alive!

It is the end of the second trimester, so the teachers are throwing tests at us left and right.  I also took two BAC Blancs- a practice BAC- one for SES and one for French.  I got a 7.5/20 for the SES and the French one we still have not gotten back.

I am having a great time here in France, like normal, and have gone skiing once more!
It was very nice in fact, because I had a lesson then we took the ski lift to the top of the mountain, which was very pretty not a cloud in the sky, to descend some harder slopes.  I followed the rest of the group fine, a bit slow but it's normal for someone who has skied three times in her life!  It was the beginning of February vacation for the Parisiens, so we now have seven more people in the house!  It is not fair, they get to ski all day while I am at school.

In fact, I have realized something.

I am learning downhill skiing, but when I get home in Holliston will I be able to find ski slopes for downhill skiers?

If anyone knows good downhill ski slopes I would greatly appreciate it.  I want to ski when I get back.

At least in New England there is snow, we still haven't gotten snow.  The last time it snowed was the 18th December.  There has been some snowfall in the mountains, but not that much either way.  There were large areas of the mountain where there was absolutely no snow!

I hope all of you in New England are enjoying the most likely awesome ski season!

I am now reading a book called Candide in French class, by Voltaire.  It is a philosophical book which is very hard to understand, the logic is in fact not very logical if you know what I mean...

Anyway, I am alive, if I had not already specified, it is just that I am having such a good time that I have not found the time to write.

Thanks for reading and I hope that I will be able to write after my two weeks of not-stop ski!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot!

I am going to England!!!

It is a school trip for one week after February vacation and I am so excited!

I will be an American among the French going to England to learn English!!

I have to go set the table, I really am busy!

Ciao!

Just Thought I'd Post :)

Hello everyone!

I have decided to post... just because.

I am doing great here in France, where there is NO SNOW!

I wish that some of that New England snow could come our way because if we don't get snow soon, the ski season risks to be not too active.  There was no more than 20cm of snow on the slopes where we went last weekend, there were places all over where you could see the ground.  I'll bet that you New Englanders will not be seeing the ground for a while :)

I have just realized that my experience is already half over!!
NOOOOOO!!!

It seems like just yesterday when I stepped onto the plane at Boston's Logan Airport saying goodbye to my Mom and Dad for 10 months on my way to New York and then France!  And now I have my mid-experience AFS weekend coming up next weekend!

I am about to reveal some of my feelings from the beginning of my experience and all of the progress that I have done over the past five months in France.

First of all, it is hard for me to speak English now.  I would much rather speak French and it comes much quicker to me! When I talked to my parents last weekend, they told me that I was developing an accent!!!!  English class is still not hard, but I actually have to think before speaking! I sometimes even stumble over my words!

I remember the first day of school, I walked up the hill to the high school and I had the feeling that I had a flashing neon sign over my head screaming "AMERICAN AMERICAN" and that everyone was looking at me.
Now instead of being freaked out every time I walk into the school, I stop and say hi to every person I know, or they stop me to say hi!

I have my routines now, for example- every Wednesday at noon, Adélie and I walk to the house together and make Ramen and watch The Simpsons before heading off to our saxophone lessons.  I feel like I am at home, you know where you are comfortable with your surroundings and can find something random like the scotch tape if someone asks you.  I am feeling really great about myself and the progress that I have made within the past five months, we had parent teacher conferences the other night and all of the teachers say I made great progress with the language and that I am a very good student!

I still have a lot of work, but it is getting better and I am understanding more and more.  I am off to watch Good Morning England with the family!!

Bisous!

Vicki

Ski Round II

This past weekend we went skiing again, and this time I fell down at least 10 times more than the first time.  We went to a different station, but I stayed at the bottom, the baby slopes.  I had to do that until I got the hang of the skis again.  It took me a while to get used to them, buyt after not too long, we went to a green slope, the easiest of them all.

It took me forever to finish the slope the first time, but I decided to go and try it again.  I did the slope multiple times and learned a few more tricks, how to maintain my speed, how to turn, how to stop etc.

I had a great time, the sun was shining and I had bruises all over the next day!  It is also true that half of the time I was on the ground. :)

That day was very nice and we ate classic Haute Savoie meals at the ski lodge for lunch.  It was a really beautiful day out, there was not a cloud in the sky, and true, not too much snow on the ground.  The ski season is not looking too great at the moment because the last time it snowed was before Christmas!  Half of the stations are either closed or have half of their slopes closed, and we don't know when we are going to get snow again.  Hopefully before February break!

I want to keep on skiing, even if I am on the ground most of the time.  It is so much fun and I want to improve so that I can ski whenever I want at a higher level.  I also consider it as a very active sport, the time flies by and you lose half of your thighs by the end of the season!

Toon in to more of my adventures soon and a Happy 16th Birthday to Adélie yesterday!!


Vicki

Vacances de Noel: Part 3

This post is the last of three, but it is the most... let's just say interesting.

I have moved onto a new level in my life, I have now lived like a typical French person.  Just without the mustache and beret in Paris :) I have walked through downtown with a baguette in my arm though.

So, a quick quiz.

What is the first thing you think of (food wise) when you think of France?

Think about it for a minute and then look below...

YES!! I ate escargots! In fact, I ate TWO, to really try them.  They are really not that bad, very chewy and garlicky. That was it really, I mean they weren't bad, but I have to admit that they were very pretty.

That was the day before New Year's Eve, and then I tried something else on New Year's Eve. Oysters!  I also ate two, but the first was plain, salty, with no dressing, but the second was with a vinegar, which was better.  They were hard to chew, you just had to swallow them whole.  They were fine, but I would not choose to eat them again, at least I tried them!

So this vacation was very productive, with many new places, people and foods.  I am so glad that I am in France and am given all of these amazing opportunities.

Actually, I would like to take a moment to thank my Mom and Dad for making this experience possible. I love you guys.<3

Toon in soon to my new everyday adventures!