JE SUIS EN FRANCE!!!!!

Bonjour!!! Je suis en France maintenant! For those who don't speak French: hello! I am in France now!! Today is Wednesday, January 7th and it is about 9:30 here. I've just finished dinner and am tired of working on homework so I thought I'd take a little break. A lot has happened in the past few days so I'd like to fill you in on a bit.

I won't bore you with all the details of my trip and all my encounters because I could sit here for days typing all the things I have done here in the past three days and all the things I have seen. First of all, I wish I could describe the different smells. Every morning I wake up and have breakfast with my host father. Breakfast is normally cereal, croissant and jelly, fruit, tarts, or other fresh pastries that may be in the house. This morning, my host father went to work before I was up for breakfast so I served myself breakfast. When I opened the fridge, I was overwhelmed with new smells. I assume the smells of different meats and cheeses. In just three days I have eaten things I never thought I would eat, things I couldn't even tell you what they were. Last night, I ate a vegetable that has no English equivalent in the dictionary. It definitely wasn't my favorite but coming from a picky eater, I have truly surprised myself.

I love my host family. I live in an adorable house and my family is so welcoming. My host father talks with me about many things and he helps me with my pronunciation and french grammar. It is truly helpful. Last night, I had dinner with just him. He told me that he thought the French were getting lazy. For example, it snowed the other night, and there was no school yesterday. He said when he was in school, they were expected to walk in the snow. It reminded me of how my father talks. Things really aren't all that different here after all.

As far as school goes, I am in level four intermediate. It is the level in which I wanted to place. The professors here are not like the professors in the United States. Grading is much harder and professors are very critical in class. I experienced this in class today. You have to have thick skin to survive in an environment at the Institute.

I have made many different types of friends here. I even met another girl named Blakely!! She is in my small class of 15! I have friends from Columbia, Mexico, Spain, Venezuela (lots of Spanish!), Britain, Austrailia, the United States of course, Korea, and France too. My host nephew (he is a student in Tours and lives at the house) is so nice to me and I talk with him very often. He likes to practice his English with me and he lets me practice French with him. Making friends here can be difficult because no one speaks the same language and it seems easier ot make friends with someone from your native country but I am trying hard not to do this. I have made a close friendship with a girl who lives around the corner from me who goes to Miami. We speak French with each other however.

There is snow here right now. It is very strange for Tours to have snow! It's the first time in over 10 years my host father tells me! I will post a picture of the town hall with snow. I took it on Monday night when I went out to a cafe called Cafe des Langue (cafe of lanugages) where students go to meet other international students.

That's all for now. This weekend I will travel to the castle called L'Azay le Rideau. Questions? Comments? Let me know! I'll answer!

Hope all is well in the states!

It was hard to write this without switching to French...I think that's a good sign!