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!
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!
