Today I've been in France for one month! I feel like I've been here for a long time but a MONTH! A whole month has passed by, and it passes quickly. I'm much happier in school now because it's not all so confusing and new. I actually know what to expect, which is nice. Tomorrow I have a biology test... yikes! But I'm not too worried.
Yesterday, for my lovely Wednesday afternoon, I met up with Cara and Clare. We walked around our town for a while and took a few pictures.... then we met up with Paul at the gymnasium/sports complex. This town has so much to offer. The gymnasium is so nice, and Paul, Cara, Clare, and I signed up for rock climbing Wednesday afternoons. Next Wednesday will be our first. There are four or five climbing walls in the gym so it's a pretty nice size place. I think this weekend we're planning on going to Toulon to do some shopping (the bus is only 2 euros!), and the following weekend we're going on an outing with Rotary (I think a winery!). The next weekend, if this all goes as planned, I think we're going sailing with the sailing club here. Paul and Cara are both obsessed with sailing, and apparently I'm missing out so I figure we need to have a go.
Tonight after dinner, my host mom surprised me with a Tarte Tropezienne avec les framboises (raspberries). She put a candle on it and everything to celebrate my one month in France day! We both had some (my host dad doesn't really like desserts, isn't that odd?!). C'etait tres, tres bon! My host parents are so great!
Here's something interesting that I realized today... at school Paul and I both had an hour free period after lunch, and a girl in his class came and sat with us for the latter half of the break. The French think that most American high school girls are what they call "pom-pom girls." While Paul's friend asked me if I was a "pom-pom girl" I realized that Cara and I had gotten this question a lot. I think the French teenagers watch the stereotypical American high-school set films and think that the social classes of jock/cheerleader, punk, nerd, etc. are clearly outlined like that in all American high schools. Quite funny!
Another observation I made today on my way back from sport was that there are two places at my high school here where I am engulfed in a cloud of smoke. The first is outside the gate during the 15 minutes breaks at school. I had to walk through a thick fog of cigarette smoke on my way to sport today. There really are smoke breaks for the teenagers; a far-fetched concept for those of us who won't even see teachers smoke on school campus. I steer clear of that area during breaks, but it's inevitable if I'm going to gym. The second is in the girl's locker room after gym. I think spray deodorant is given out free in these French towns because EVERY girl in the locker room starts spraying it on right when her foot hit the tile floor. I embarrassingly pull out my solid deodorant while trying not to choke on the cloud of antiperspirant.
Well those are my random little tidbits of today. Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!
Hey Leslie! I'm so sorry I that I haven't visited your blog yet! It sounds like you are having a great time! Samford is a blast! And guess what... I applied to take Spanish 202 during Jan Term in Costa Rica! I think it is going to be a very similar experience to what you are doing (just on a much smaller scale because it only lasts about 3 weeks). I hope to hear from you soon. You better come home eventually because I miss you! Have fun!
ReplyDeleteLast year when I was in Germany for a month the other UM students and I went to a class to talk to some kids that were taking "American Studies". That, in itself, was a strange concept to me. But during the class, we all rotated between different groups of students. One of the groups I talked to said something surprising. "You're not fat!", they said with surprise, "We thought all Americans were supposed to be fat. Don't you guys eat McDonald's all the time?"
ReplyDeleteI assured them that we didn't, that I couldn't even remember the last time I went to McDonald's, and that all Americans were not fat.
The rumors that go around about us are very extreme. Though I bet any country could say that.