Anglais

Typical English homework

Nothing could possibly make you second guess your American high school French education as much as English class in France. Whether or not it's your teacher calling a photographer a photo grapher or pronouncing "status" "stuh- tus" it really makes you wonder what you have been learning in French class.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do like my English class here. I pretty much just smile the entire time. And of course it's super fun to correct the teacher. "Umm excuse me but that makes absolutely no sense!" And you're not even being annoying, you're being helpful!
My favorite moments in English class have consisted of:

• When my teacher said that it was hip to call the year 2007, twenty-seven, or 2009, twenty-nine.
• Having to read extracts from Confessions of a Shopaholic for our "Advertising and Consuming" section.
• Learning about Black Friday and how "it's common for people to kill others for deals."
• Having to explain Wal-Mart to my class.

Of course there are many more but that is all that comes off the top of my head.

An English test

I have also learned how complicated English is. There are so many rules that I have never even heard of, but somehow I just know them. Like did you know that the rule for when you add an "er" to the end of a word versus a "more" in front of the word depends on the syllables? For instance you say "nicer" because "nice" has one syllable, but you say "more amazing" because "amazing" has three syllables. I was talking to one of my host sisters about how annoying and confusing it is in French that all objects have a gender. She told me that it wasn't that hard. One gender just sounds right and the other sounds wrong. She said "un voiture" just sounds wrong, it's "une voiture!" To which I responded, "yes, sure that works for you but they both sound fine to me!" 

Other than having a fun time, English class here has really helped me improve my French and better understand how the mind picks up new languages. It's truly amazing how differently my mind processes the English being spoken by our teacher, fellow students, and recorded tapes then how native French speakers process it. They hear "mucher" where I hear "mature," they understand "choice" when I say "chores." Like have you ever thought that sheet, shit, short, and shirt all sound kind of the same? Or symmetry and cemetery?
But, I must say that overall, my favorite thing in English class is hearing all my classmates speak English. It makes me feel so much better about my French!

Thats all for today! I only have one more week here, so be expecting all my last minute blog posts soon!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
First of all I would just like to say how thankful I am to be in France and I am incredibly grateful to have had this opportunity. Now, since Thanksgiving doesn't exist in France, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about the food here in France.

Typical breakfast spread

Lets start with the top of the day. Breakfast. No eggs, no bacon, no pancakes or waffles or fruit. Not even crêpes. No, breakfast is for sugar, and more importantly, chocolate. Now, don't get me wrong, there is more than one thing you can have for breakfast.
Here are some of your options:

• Chocolate (this is not a joke)
• Brioche (basically sweet bread with clumps of sugar on it)
• Brioche and nutella
• Pudding
• Cookies
• Cake
• Cereal

But this is not your average box of cheerios. This cereal consists of little cornflake packets filled with chocolate. Now, of course, there are different flavors of this cereal. You can choose from:

• nutella
• white chocolate
• milk chocolate
• dark chocolate
• dark chocolate shell filled with white chocolate

Needless to say, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.

Now, moving on to lunch.

I'll start with school lunches. Each day (except for Wedneday, 1/2 day) you eat lunch at school. You have one day a week at the café. My day is Tuesday, when I have a large amazing sandwich, fries, and usually an apple. At the other cafeteria, the food is different every day. It ranges from pretty good to absolutely disgusting mystery meat. My host mom is an amazing cook, so when I am eating lunch at home it is usually something incredible. 

Pudding

After school, I am usually starving. The French, or at least my host family, only eats at meal times so they are not really used to the snacking thing. My options are usually chocolate or pudding. There is this one kind of pudding that is literally caramel with whipped cream. AMAZING! 

And now for dinner!

Again, as a result of my host mom's fantastic cooking skills, dinner is usually very good. The food is different than what I'm used to, but still magnificent. I actually counted, and I have only eaten 6 dinners without meat since I've been here. I mention this because in my life before France, I have only eaten 6 meals WITH meat! My family is very nice and makes pasta for me sometimes, but it's just not the same!

So, in a nutshell, that is what I have been eating since I've been here. I promise I'll write soon! Be prepared for a recount on my trip to Paris, an exam I took, and all about my english class at school!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Saint-Malo et Mont Saint Michel

One week ago today my host family took me to Mont Saint Michel! Now if you don't know what Mont Saint Michel is, here: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/mont-st-michel.

Mont Saint Michel

Done reading? Okay!
So, last Saturday morning we got up early and took the two hour drive to the parking lot for Mont Saint Michel. After, we took the half hour walk to the actual thing. The parking used to be right by the monument but on a quest to make the mount more "natural" they decided to put the lot a half hour away. 

View from the terrace

The Mont Saint Michel is so beautiful! There is a little winding road all the way up to the grand monument with many little tourist shops and restaurants along the way. After we made it to the giant medieval abbey we bought our tickets and climbed the hundreds and hundreds of steps to the "terrasse." As I was looking at the amazing view, I was swarmed by a group of about 30 Japanese tourists who wondered if I could take their picture. Of course, I said "sure". They then explained to me what they wanted the picture to be of, in a mixture of English with the occasional French word thrown in (they clearly didn't realize that I was American), and handed me about fifteen cameras. Okay fine, three, but still! As I was struggling with holding the cameras and all of the pamphlets I had grabbed, one of my host sisters graciously offered to help me take the pictures. Several minutes later, after the proper pose had be established, we took the photos (they had us take 10, not joking, literally 10 photos with each camera). Just as we were about to hand the cameras back and be on our way they changed location and poses and asked us to take another photo (another 10 photos). Eventually we gave them back their cameras, and, assuming the rest of the group (I was also with my host mom, dad, other host sister and her boyfriend, and some family friends) had gone ahead, continued our tour through the "église."

Yum! Cake!

Many photos later, my host sister and I finished the tour and were surprised when we couldn't find the rest of our group. About an hour later everyone else came out the exit and after lots of confusion we realized that they must not have ditched us on the "terrasse" and we must have ditched them! 

Saint-Malo

Then, we went to great restaurant where I had a fantastic meal followed by a fantastic chocolate cake dessert! I bought some post cards and then got back in the car for the hour drive to Saint-Malo.
If you don't know what Saint-Malo is, here: http://wikitravel.org/en/Saint-Malo.
Now, before I tell my next story, let me set the scene. It was rainy, windy, and cold when we arrived. I mean incredibly freezing cold. Like 40˚F, maybe even 38˚F!! As we were taking a lovely walk around, looking at the beach, we saw a guy skinny dipping in the ocean. Oh my goodness, I can not believe he didn't get hypothermia and die. After seeing that little adventure we went to a cute bakery and got two slices of five tier chocolate cake for later that night. YUM! 

Crazy skinny dipper

We drove home and stopped to pick up Mexican food for dinner! Obviously not as good as California Mexican food but still amazing! 
There you have it, my fabulous weekend filled with amazing sites and amazing cakes. Stay tuned for more! À bientôt! 

Une Petite Histoire

Can I just take a moment to talk about what happened to me yesterday?
It started out as an amazing day! It was pouring rain, so instead of having to run for PE we just played handball. Which, for me, consisted simply of tossing a ball back and forth with my friend for about 20 minutes and then watching other people play handball.
Then I went to go to a meeting with the several other exchange students at my school. The meeting took place during class time. Therefore, I was simultaneously getting out of my history class! Needless to say, I was having a great time. The meeting only took about 15 minutes. After, I went to return to my class. But when I got to my classroom, my class was gone. Like door locked, lights off, empty room, gone. I had absolutely zero idea where they were.
Suddenly, I had a burst of hope! I remembered that two weeks ago we had gone to a computer room to work on our history project! Thrilled, I set off for the computer room containing my class when I remembered that I had no idea where that room was.

Annoying French shades

Let me just tell you something about France. They are really into privacy. Every house, and I mean every house, has an intense blinds system installed that make it impossible to see through the windows. The windows on the doors at school have these fancy blinds as well.
So there I was, wandering around school, posing in hundreds of weird angles and practically laying on the floor trying to get a good look inside the classrooms to see what room my class was in. This adventure lasted for about half an hour or so.
Finally, I decided to just hang out in the bathroom for a while because, by now, there were only about 10 minutes of class left. As I was walking to "les toilettes," out of a second story window I saw some members of my class. They yelled at me what room they were in. Not embarrassing in the least. I trudged up the stairs and finally found my class.
So there you have it, something to keep in mind: When you're running around in circles about to give up, sometimes you just need someone to yell at you from the second floor of a building to help you find your way.
Until next time!

Mes Week-ends

So, as I am very behind in blogging about my adventure, I am going to combine all of my weekend day trips/ activities into one post.

Weekend One:
I would like you to do an exercise for me please. Please put on your best french accent (warm up a bit, practice, watch some pink panther, etc).

Carnac Beach

Now, please, with that amazing accent you've got going, say the word "beach."
Good, now would you please continue by saying the word "bitch."
And now you can laugh and laugh because honestly, no matter how hard they try, the French cannot pronounce the difference between these two words. And, I hate to admit it, but it is one of the funniest things ever.

World Record

For my first official weekend (official because I actually had school that week) my host sisters, a couple of our friends, and I went to Carnac Beach for a fun day in the sun. It was nice and warm out, (24˚C- like 75˚F-ish I believe) and I put on my swimsuit and got out my sunglasses. The beach wasn't too far away and once we got there it wasn't too crowded so we were able to find a nice spot on the sand. After playing in the water and relaxing on the sand we walked to the shop that holds the world record for having the most ice cream flavors IN THE WORLD. Yes, I know I said that twice.

My ice cream 

There were literally hundreds of flavors, anything from honey to grape, chocolate to melon.
I got three flavors- white chocolate, blackberry and grapefruit. Needless to say, it was amazing!

Weekend Two:
The next weekend that I will share about we went clam digging! For me, never having been before, it was quite an experience!

Our first clam!

We took the boat to an island where our adventure took place. The island was incredibly pretty and lovely! Before we started, we had a nice picnic on the beach with lots of bread, meat, and cheese!

Our clams!

Then we began. We walked around in the mud, sinking, falling, and getting disgusting while searching for the clams. It was very fun and we actually caught a lot of them! That night we ate them, and although I detest seafood, I tried one. They weren't horrible, and they were even better because we caught them ourselves!

Weekend Three:
Yes, I am aware that what I am about to tell you about is not the next consecutive weekend, but it is the next weekend that I did something exciting!

Beautiful Island!

We went to a beautiful island called L'ile de Bréhat. It is in northern Brittney and about a two hour drive from Vannes! I knew that we were going to visit the island, but nobody thought to tell me that we were spending the night! (Ok, well they said they did and I just didn't understand, but I'm not to sure about that...lol) So after I rushed to get everything packed we took the two hour drive to a town near the island where friends of my host family live. Then, with them, we drove to a dock and took a five minute ferry ride to the gorgeous island.  We ate sweet and savory crêpes at a nice little restaurant and then we walked around the island. It was a great day! We spent the night at the home of my host family's friends and in the morning walked around, and later that day drove back to Vannes! An all around great weekend!

And now I believe that you are mostly caught up on my life here in France! Keep reading for more on my wonderful adventures!

Le Lycée

My first day of school in Vannes started something like this:
My host sister: "Zaria let's check the board to see what class you're in!"
Me: "Okay, umm my name is on that list."
(my host sister checks the list)
My host sister: "Oh... you're not in my class, I don't see anyone I know on that list..." (fast french whispering to her friend that I couldn't understand)
My host sister's friend:" Zaria is alone." (in english) "Shit."

The French school system is split up much differently than the American system. At the lycée (French high school) you must choose one of three tracks: science, economics/ social science, or humanities. I was put into the extremely difficult science track. Also different from the U.S., instead of having different people in each class, you have one group of people that you go to all of your classes with. So, as you can imagine, the fact that I was to be all alone was not at all good.

When the bell rang, I walked with the rest of my class to our classroom (we move for a couple classes, but mostly the teachers come to us) and I took a seat near the back. Within the first five minutes of class the girl next to me asked me something, I (of course) did not understand, and after I explained to her my situation, I had my first friend! So in the end, luckily, I was only alone for all of three or four minutes.
Our teacher started talking and asked everyone a question I didn't understand, (everyone said "oui," so I did too) and basically my 'sink or swim' test started then and there. I was either to be the stupid American, or the cute American girl that tries, and I was determined to be the latter!

The school

My revealing (when everyone discovered I was an exchange student) happened the next day, when in french class, we were told to write an essay. I went up to the teacher and blatantly told him that I had no idea what he said and that even if I did, I probably couldn't do the assignment. He was very nice and, in the end, I wrote about where I lived in the United States and why I wanted to come to France.
Now, a month later, I am still lost in class a lot of the time, but my comprehension has gotten much better and I understand what's going on at least as much as the time that I don't.
Here are the classes I'm taking:

• PE (umm ew. I have to run, like track. It is honestly the most horrible thing ever)
• History and Geography (hard, but the teacher is very nice and I understand more that I thought I would- I even wrote an in-class essay!)
•  French (I draw, mostly)
• Spanish 3 (which, having never taken Spanish in my entire life, I finally got out of today! So, no more spanish!)
• Earth Science/ Biology (nice teacher, horrible class)
• Physics/ Chemistry (horrible teacher, horrible class)
• English (my favorite class- as you could guess)
• Education Civic ( I have no idea what it is either) 

Each day, I am at school for a different amount of time as well:

• Monday: 8am to 5:40pm (with a 3 hour lunch)
• Tuesday: 9am to 3:50pm (with a 3 hour lunch)
• Wednesday: 8am/9am (every other week) to 11am (Wednesdays are half days!)
• Thursday: 8am to 5:40pm (with a 2 hour lunch)
• Friday: 10am to 2:40pm (with a 2 hour lunch)

Some of my school supplies

Lunch is also extremely different from what I'm used to! You have 2 hours, which is very different from the 50 minutes we get at my school in the United States. At lunch time, you go to the cafeteria and wait in line for about 30 minutes. Then you finally grab a tray and get your food. Picture Mean Girls but without the mean girls. The food isn't that horrible- just sometimes- and you sit and eat with your friends. I love it, you can take your time, and still have time to relax before class!

So there, in short, is my experience at school! I now have many friends (good job me!) and I am gradually understanding more and more. You will of course hear more about school as time goes on!

Stay tuned to hear about my first official weekend where I went to a beautiful beach!

Ma Deuxième Semaine

As I promised, I will continue catching you up on my adventures in France! Right where I left off, here it is:

Week Two:
After I managed to get my luggage off the train (two giant suitcases- it's harder than you'd think!) I stepped off the platform and took a deep breath. Here we go.
I was immediately greeted my one of my host sisters who ran up to meet me. What happened next I don't exactly remember, but I do know that I was incessantly smiling for the next several hours.
My host mom and twin host sisters drove me home and gave me a brief tour of the absolutely beautiful town that I now live in. Vannes has charming cobblestone sidewalks, gorgeous old buildings, and an old castle!

Beautiful Vannes!

We then arrived home and my new sisters showed me the house and my room and then helped me unpack. We ate dinner shortly after, yummy frittatas, fruit, and (of course) bread. A fabulous first meal with my new family!
Now, little did I know at the time, I would soon become addicted to the delicious bread and cheese cominabtion found so often in France. Honestly, if someone told me that I couldn't eat anything else for the rest of my life I probably wouldn't even be upset. It's just so good!
Then, after some talking and TV, we all went off to bed and I officially spent my first night in Vannes.
The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and went off to explore downtown. Vannes has a lovely downtown shopping area with a harbor and many different stores. We met up with a couple of my host sisters friends at a park near the castle (I know, right!) and had a fabulous time!
That night, I met my host dad who is, like the rest of my host family, incredibly nice.
We had almost a week before school started so over the next couple days we:

• Took their boat out on the water and they gave me a tour- it was simply amazing!
• Went swimming in their pool
• Went shopping in Rennes, a city about 1 1/2 hours away



View from the boat tour

• Went to a Chinese restaurant (well a wannabe Chinese restaurant- they also had sushi, pad thai, potato pancakes, and chicken nuggets)

The harbor

Overall it was an awesome first week in Vannes! I went to sleep Tuesday night with my hair straightened and outfit for Wednesday all picked out, ready to embark on my next challenge, the high school.