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 :)

These last few weeks have been crazy, I'm off to a new start yet again!
Long story short- I changed host families. I'm not really going to go into detail as to why, but it just wasn't working out. That explains why I was so hesitant to post photos of everyone! It was a long dragged out process of AFS meetings and phone calls, but eventually an AFS volunteer came and picked me up and I spent a little over a week with their family. I'm lucky I live in a friendly community here in Périgueux, I was told if I couldn't find a host family here in two weeks I would have to change regions, but after spreading the news in my school I was happy to find two amazing teachers and five awesome students were eager to help me stay! Needless to say, I found a great family rather fast.
Now, I live in the city. Ten minute walk to centre ville and fifteen minutes to school. I live with an intelligent boy who is in my French and History class and his single mother. They are very nice and I already feel like I can be open with them. Though the decision to 'adopt' me for 7 months was made in just a week's time, they were very welcoming and acted as if they'd been awaiting my arrival for ages!
I'm looking forward to the rest of my stay here. Though these last few weeks have been super stressful, I feel grateful to have been able to see how four French families live their lives (Marignier welcome family, Grignols family, AFS volunteer's family, and now Périgueux family).
Pictures coming soon-- for real this time :P 

     I've had a busy first two weeks back from break! I've taken my first real (same as the Frenchies) tests in many of my classes now, and they certainly weren't easy. My geography test went well though, I got one of the highest grades in the class with a 16.5/20 (here the grading scale is different too, a 10/20 is still passing). It feels good to actually be able to do stuff in school now, but it also kind of sucks doing homework for the classes that I know I won't have my credits transfer in.
     Last weekend was a blast! On saturday I went on a field trip with those of us who want to go to Holland for a week in March. It's an all expense paid trip for students in Premier at Lycée St. Jo, but the catch is there are only 14 spots and 16 people who want to go. Until more cuts have been made, I'm not even sure if I can go but I have to participate in all the projects leading up to it until I know for sure. We went to a small town near Bergerac (about an hour from Périgueux) and learned how to make paper from cotton in a little paper shop. It was honestly kind of boring, but mostly because I couldn't understand anything the guy was saying due to his heavy country accent! After, we ate a complementary meal at Chateau les Merles. It was absolutely fantastic! It was certainly a five-star, three course meal, and it reminded me why I chose to spend a year in France in the first place! Finally, we visited a giant hydro power dam that provides power to the city of Bergerac and learned about alternative energy. It was overall a good experience.
     On Sunday, us AFSers had a surprise party for two of our friends (a Swiss and a Hungarian) who are leaving this week :(. They signed up for a trimester, and that 3 month time mark is coming up fast! It's hard to believe I've been away from home so long! I couldn't imagine leaving next week, good thing I've got 7 months left!

Afs family

Getting ready to eat our fancy meal!

Goodbye Rebekah! (Middle)

     

I live in an animal house!

Birds

 Bunny

 Birds

Birds

 One of four cats, she likes this chair in my room

Host father kissing a guinea pig, Buzz!

 Host mother with her favorite bird, she usually carries her around on her head (sorry it's blurry)

Whew! okay, well there's a start to the family photos!

Happy Halloween!
Here, Halloween isn't nearly what it is in the US. People don't decorate their houses and you aren't even supposed to dress up for the parties (which are not as common to have on this day). I just want to pig out on Reeses (non-existant here) and watch scary movies!
In other news, bonnes vacances! I get two full weeks to sleep in and relax. So far I've gone to a few social events and slept about 12 hours a day, perfecto. I'm just about ready to send a package back home, holy crap it's expensive! 40 Euro for 2kg! It better make it there safe :)
Again, sorry I don't have pictures of my host family yet, I'm working on it though! I will post a boat load of pictures.... right after I take them!

Moumoune! Elle a atrappé une souris, blech! (She caught a mouse) 

Got together with AFSers last weekend :) foreign kids! 

As I am getting settled in to a regular routine, I don't have much to report! School is getting harder because the teachers can see that we (us four exchange students) are progressing in French, so I have an oral report on a denunciation text on Friday, ughhh. The good news is that I have a two week break coming up right after that! Next Saturday I plan to go to Bordeaux to visit my German friend who is also with AFS. It should be a boat load of fun because there is a fair going on downtown, I will let you all know how it goes in my next post. Since nothing out of the ordinary has been going on, I'll break down what my new ordinary is.

Everyday, I wake up at 5:30. This is terrible, I am NOT a morning person. I have to leave the house at 6:30 to catch the bus, and the bus ride is an hour long. Though school officially starts at 8 o'clock, for some reason my first class typically starts at 9. I really don't like how I have to wake up 3 and a half hours before I even start class, but c'est la vie. I'm in France!

On monday, I have approfondissement (English speaking practice class...which is my favorite because it's in English and the teacher is awesome), maths (haha, I havent actually gone to math yet, but I want to soon), Anglais (this teacher doesn't really speak English!), Espangol (I don't do anything for this class, I don't get credit for it and it's way above my Spanish speaking abilities), then one hour for lunchin' in the cantine blech, sciences (physique/chimie one week and biology the next), Francais (this teacher is also the drama teacher, soo she's very dramatic to say the least), and last TPE (I honestly am not sure what this class is about, some sort of French speech thing?). Then yay, I'm done at 5! But wait, the bus doesn't come until 6 and I don't get home until 7! My school days are long.

Tuesdays I commence at 9, but while I wait, I have to sit in a room for kids who don't have class called Permanence. Then I have approfondissement, litterature Francais, approfondissement (weird gap, I know), one and a half hours for lunch, two hours of Histoire (most boring class ever, I try to follow along but usually just end up daydreaming), and Anglais then I'm done at 4:30, but as normal must wait for the bus until 6, so I usually sit in Café Miss Deliss or Café El Fuego with friends.

Wednesdays are great, I start at 9 with Aide-Perso Histoire (I think this class helps the students study for the BAC, their version of SAT/ACT testing for Universities), then two hours of sport and then school's out! I could take the bus home at noon, but I usually stay, eat lunch in the city,  and go to that AFS French class from 2-4.

On the other hand, Thursdays suck! I start at 8 every other week ( we have week A's and week B's) with lit-Anglais, then go to 2 hours of Francais, after Espangol, then I have 2 and a half hours for lunch which seems nice but there's not much to do, then two hours of Histoire, and every other week I also have ECJS (civil justice studies, I'm making a presentation on the US gov) and on those weeks I don't get out until 5:30! oof.

On Friday, I start at nine since I don't go to maths. I go to French Litterature, English Litterature, Anglais, 1.5 hrs for lunch, Francais, and every other week aide-perso Francais. I get out at either 2:30 or 3:30 on Fridays :)

The weekends here are usually pretty chill, sometimes we go to social events on Saturdays with the whole family, but we never do anything Sundays. I get a chance to catch up on that sleep I don't get all week, we don't eat until after 9 so I can't even go to bed early! I wrote up a storm this time since I have yet to take any new interesting pictures, but maybe next week I'll post some pictures of all the furry animals and my host family! 

Salut! It has officially been over a month since I arrived in France!
I try to post every weekend, but I couldn't this weekend because I was at an AFS chapter meeting:)! 17(ish) of us afsers from around the world spent the night at a boarding school in a near by city. We had a fantastic time talking and eating and staying up wayyy too late. Last week on Wednesday, I went to a French class in Perigueux for the afs students who go to school in the city. It was fun getting to know the other foreigners who go to schools nearby, and the class was helpful. Afs does a pretty good job of keeping us exchange students together and giving us activities to do.
Today I took a science test..... Yeah. It didn't go so well. The teacher let me use my dictionary but that didn't really help! Most of the scientific terms weren't even in there! I think I answered five questions out of thirty, but I'm not too worried about it. I still have nine months to figure things out :D

My class! 1ere L 

Now that I've actually lived and gone to school in two completly different places here in France, I have been able to compare and contrast the different lifestyles of the country and the mountains. There are a bunch of obvious things like the variations in the architecture and the specialty foods that are eaten, but when looking at the big picture pretty much everything feels the same! I still eat stinky cheese at 9 p.m and go to a cafe practically every day. Just what I imagined a year ago when I was wasn't even sure if I could have this wonderful opportunity! One of the unfortunate things about France is how incredibly expensive it is to live here. I keep forgetting that the euro is worth more than the dollar.... Yesterday I spent my whole months budget on clothes.... Whoopsies!

School, oh school. I go to lycée saint Joseph, a private catholic school! Me? catholic school?? But you wouldn't guess it if you didn't know, there aren't any nuns or crosses and such. I think it's a great school... If you're an exchange student. The first day I got there, an English boy who has lived in France most of his life told me that I was in for hours of homework every night! I had a panic attack, I'm used to homework, but not in French! When I arrived at my first class, I was glad to find three other exchange students in my tiny class of 12. One from brazil, one from Argentina, and another American. One of the first things I asked about was the homework, they laughed and said "we don't get any" :) just for now. I think I'm going to have a good school year here, and I'll do the homework later!

!the view out my science class window

Perigueux! I love this city

I have moved to a new family near Perigueux! So far, I think I like it here :) it is very old and beautiful. On Tuesday I will be starting school in France for the second time, which is kind of a bummer. I had to leave all my new friends behind and I'm getting bumped up from seconde to premier! That means more homework in French.

Saying goodbye to Marignier friends! 

A view out the window in my new home

The view out my window

Hello everyone :)
I have been in France for over a week now, but have not had much time on the computer. So far, it's great! The food is amazing, even the airplane food seemed gourmet. My high school is very large, but only has about 1000 kids in it. There are three seperate buildings and five stories! Needless to say, I get a good workout during the 10 hour school day. Many of the girls in my class love to ask me all about NYC and LA, I'm still working on telling them there's much more to the US than those two cities.

 a nearby church

 switzerland! in paris!

Just got some pictures of my welcome family and where I will be staying! Looks awesome :)

Just five days before leaving, I finally got a welcome family :). I will be staying with them for about two months in a beautiful mountain town called Marignier until a more permanent residence is established. It's only 35 minutes outside of Geneva, Switzerland. I am so excited!!! ahhhh! I was worried I would get delayed and miss the group bus tour of Paris. Thanks again to those of you who helped me get this far, France is just around the corner!

     I have officially been accepted by AFS France and will depart in late August for 10 months in France! Just when you think the paperwork is over, I found out I have to fill out another application and fly out to Los Angeles to do an in-person interview for my student visa. Even though the departure date is just around the corner, I may not find out where I will be staying and who I'll be living with for another month or two. I hope to end up near the water for a change from landlocked, mountainous Colorado, but I don't really get a say, and will be happy with wherever I land--whether it be in the mountains, the suburbs, or the big city of Paris.

      How am I supposed to pack almost a year's worth of stuff in only one suitcase and two carry-ons? I know one thing for sure, I'm bringing my computer and four pairs of shoes. Other than that, I'll have to make a lot of tough decisions. 

     Aside from traveling to get my visa, I hope to get a summer job and spend as much time as possible with my friends and family who I'm abandoning and trading in for Europeans! 

     Thanks to those of you who have already supported me so far. Without your help I would not be anywhere close to going. I am still about $2,000 away from making my fundraising goal and being able to pay for this exciting trip abroad. All of this money is due by the end of June, and if each person who reads this only chips in $20, I can make it happen for sure! So please chip in whatever you're comfortable with, and check back for more updates, I will be posting more often when I get to France (including lots of pictures).

Merci beaucoup,

Eden

Me(left) and my friend Callie who I'm ditching for the Europeans.

Click the orange chip in button in the blue box at the bottom of the page!
(Refunds available if I do not go. All donations go directly to AFS, not to my pocket!)