Oops I went to Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Montpelier, Monaco, Milan, Venice, Brive, and a few other lesser known cities around France annnnnnd I forgot to blog. I've just been so busy with school ending and all of these little adventures!

It was bitter sweet- the last day of school. I finished two weeks before the French people because I'm lazy and not going to pass the BAC... It was just last September when I had to say goodbye to all of my friends, and now I'm going to have to do it all over again in three weeks. And then what? Another year of high school then goodbye once more! I have met so many amazing people here, at least I know I am welcome back all over in France as well as in other countries around the world such as Brazil, Germany, and Japan. Since my mom came over the last two weeks of break and since I've been on summer break, I've been train hopping around!

I have a lot of these pictures on Facebook but for those of you who are not on my friend list-

Last day of school!
 Went out to dinner to celebrate
Lets go to Bordeaux
 whaaaaat the mom is coming too?!

 Marseille





 Montpelier










 Venice
 Brive, at the fair.... my turn to watch all the stuff while they're all are on the ride!
 Milano Duomo

 Beautiful Monaco


I hope all the photos make up for me not posting in forever!

One appendix later...

Alright mom was right, good thing she convinced me to go to the doctor over Skype or I would have let it slide until it became a big deal. I went in to the clinic Thursday, and waited patiently for 5 hours with my wonderful host mom- I felt really bad because I had convinced myself nothing was wrong and I was making her waste half her day sitting in an empty room with me. I got blood work and took a bunch of other tests, but it turns out I must have failed because I actually had appendicitis, yay... 

So I got hooked up to all the special gadgets turning me into a cyclops and got a time set for surgery. Friday morning I woke up early, talked to some friends who came to visit, and finally went into the OR. I think the whole experience was more traumatic for my parents than me. I  was lucky enough to catch it before it hurt way too bad. I had really good timing for all of this too- I didn't have school this week because my class is in Holland without me (luckily I left my place for a friend or I would have had surgery there!) and next week I'm not going to school thanks to this whole thing, then my mom comes for the two weeks of vacation that follow! A whole month off of schoolio! 

Long story short, I'm finally home and everything's dandy.  It may have even been better for me to get the surgery in France, the health care system is sooo much more humane here! 50€ per night  for a spacious hospital room! If you're on an exchange make sure to communicate with your host family if you feel something's wrong- if I had waited another day it could have been bad news! Now I have a battle scar from France (: and when I go home I'll always know I left a part of me in this country... literally

Oh hey, news paper!

Alright, I instacollaged a bunch of photos together!

 Chez moi, I live on Chemin de la fontaine des malades (fountain of sicknesses!?!) The little fountain thing is right next to my house, which is not a typical French house at all! It is waaaaay more modern, a little city house. 

Kitty- Xanon
Overweight pug- Arthur

 

 

 

 Périgueux! On the top left, I took a picture of a little garden. There are a lot of garden farms surrounding the city, and though it's not super pretty right now, it's cool to go to the marché (bottom right) after school on Wednesday to pick up some local goods! The shot on the top right was taken from a bridge lest than 5 min from my house, and if you want to know how I got that amazing birds eye view of the city- ask my parents! It's an adventure I'm not allowed to put on the internet :o 

 

 My school... is super old school. Do you see those dinosaur computers? And the chalk board? France is a bit behind

 

 Again, a picture with some of my favorite people (: this one is from the semaine international 

My mom told me I needed to post again, but I said that I have nothing interesting to share. She didn't believe me!
The thing is, I've just gotten used to all the little cool and unusual things that shocked me when I first came here. I was in a small town about an hour away from my home last week at the semaine international (international week) and boy who was about 13 asked me what the difference between life in France and life in the US (more specifically about school) and without thinking I replied "uhhh nothing really". What???  Did I completely forget what my life in the US was like already? After realizing what a lie I told this kid, I corrected myself and told him all about the things we eat, the cultural differences (bisous vs. hugs), and what a typical school day would look like. This week I'm going to take a bunch of photos of my school, my house,  and anything else that has become a part of my normal because I'm having a hard time differentiating what will interest you and what aspects are completely the same, it's all meshed together in my head now!

I got back late last night from a little trip to Le Lioran, a little ski resort in the Massif Central! I didn't get to snowboarding because we were only there for one night and most of one day, but it was still cool anyways. I went with two other AFSers and two volunteers, we took an epic 4hr snow shoe hike up a steep mountain to an old stone house built in the 1400s that is now a restaurant. It was really pretty at the top but I couldn't get a good photo because the snow was falling hard and my hand was freezing off!

Alright, I look like a tomato because I didn't have enough room for snow clothes in my suitcase ;P you take what you can get!

Top o' the mountain

Old house

brrr

Like all students on the last night of break, I'm sitting here dreading 6:30 tomorrow morning. I had a great vacation this time around, much better than my last one which I spent most of my time in my room on my iPod touch. My new host family is a much better match for my adventurous lifestyle!

The first major event was Christmas. French Christmas is of course much like an American Christmas, you spend time with family and eat a bunch of food, the major difference here is that it is waaaay less commercialized. In my opinion this is a good thing :) the holiday season is less annoying and more emphasis is put on the real meaning of Christmas. It was kind of weird at first, the thought of spending Christmas with a bunch of people I'd only known for about 10 days. I had no idea what to get my host family as far as presents, so I decided a bunch of chocolate would be a safe choice. It worked! In return I got a bunch of stylish scarves, a casual dress, a jacket, and a couple other little things. As the night went on, I found my new host family to be really entertaining. We were up and active until like 2 a.m! Both of my host brothers and some other random guy family members danced to gagnam style in little girls dresses, hehe! And of course, since I'm in France, I suppose I have to talk about Christmas dinner. Whoever told AFS that it is impossible to find an accommodating family for a vegetarian in France is full of it, in all of the 3 families that I've lived in not a single one has made me eat meat despite my genuine offers to comply. They have all been very supportive of my life choice, so if you're planning a year abroad in France as a veg don't worry about it! Nonetheless, when I came here I decided to be open to trying new things, so on Christmas I tried an oyster. Nobody told me it was still alive until after I swallowed it whole, yuuuuuck! The thought of it burning alive in my stomach acid made me queezy. Alright, so I tried it, done and done! I'd say that was a Noel well spent.

Next up, New Years! I spent New years in Bordeaux with my two host brothers and their friends. It was a lot of fun, we went to a Mexican party. Mexican new years in France, culturetastic. Bordeaux is the major city in the region of Aquitaine, I stayed here until Jan 4th at a German friend's house. I got to see all the touristy attractions and it was nice to get out of Peri for a bit. Bordeaux is a lot like Perigueux, but 5x bigger and kind of prettier :D pictures posted below!

Museum of Aquitaine Roman display!

Photo bomb!

Photos as promised!

 My host mom (black hair) and her grand daughter

  The two older boys are my host brothers Florian and Pablo, but only Pablo lives with me. The little guys are some more grand kids.

 Family photo taken this past summer, the two blond girls are also 'sisters' but they're much older and I don't see them much

 A bit of an older photo, but voila the 4 sibs! Ignore the floating alcohol :P

 Pablo and I at the repas de la classe, this is a French school tradition. Every year the whole class (since it's not like in the US where everyone changes classes for each subject, you're always with the same people) goes out to dinner then to a bar together as a "bonding" experience. Fun night!

 I convinced him to help me make an American treat- chocolate chip peanut butter cookies!

 Google maps image of where I live.. just in case you were wondering :)


Whew! There's a quick glimpse of my sitch. Maybe I'll post more pics after Christmas. It's a difficult time of year to be away from your friends and family, I miss everybody lots!

Joyeux Noel :)