Saying Goodbye!

I have found it really difficult this last week saying good bye to everyone. I can't believe I am leaving tomorrow morning for Paris for more things with the organization then returning home to the states late Sunday night. It just doesn't feel real since I am still here. Then last week I had to say good bye to half of my class who went to Denmark for their English class. The other half stayed with me and we all started to get along really well at the the end of my exchange. We did get a class picture of the class that was still here this last week and I got a picture with everyone I am close to. I found it especially hard saying goodbye to half of my host familly that I see pretty much every day of the week since we all became close. I know it will have to be wierd for them too not having another daughter in the house after school almost everyday. Then evern worse tomorrow morning when I go to the train station to take the TGV to Paris I know I will probably cry since I have some other AFS students, friends from school, and my familly coming to see me off. Oh well I will come back to see everyone one day=) or they can come to the states one day and we can all meet up. I love all these people they are so nice to me and I have to say that the exchange students from all the different countries are my favorite people. You can talk to them about everything and you all become best friends after an hour, and the best part is that they always know what you are going through. One good thing is that now when I want to travel places I know people in other countries that I can visit and I have about five or six new penpals=).

Looking back on my exchange I think one of my favorite things that I decided to do was when I had free time in the city or wherever I would go and explore a new place or just walk and see where it led me at least once a week. Doing so I found some old buildings with lots of history, old castle ruins, and some cool little shops. I found it interesting because it led me see things that weren't completely touristic and that not everyone who comes to France will see or find. The other things I will have to say that I am happy I did was always finding times to get together with people and trying lots of different foods. I didn't like everything I ate here, but I am happy I tried it and would have been disappointed later if I didn't.

Finally since it's my last post I just want to thank everyone who has been supporting me here with this semester abroad.  I want to thank the Capper family(I am sorry if I accidentily mispelled the name!) for helping me get to be here, and my familly imparticularly. It was such a great experiance even if I didn't love every minute of it and there were some pretty boring times. I will miss it here, but I will definatly not forget my memories of things that happened or my friends! So thanks again! Merci beaucoup!=)

-Lydia M. Johnson=)

Almost Finished

Dear American friends, (In the words of my host mother who is always telling me to start by saying that.)

I can't believe I am here with my family for only two more weeks. I am honestly running out of interesting things to talk about...that means I will have to search. On the other hand I will tell everyone right now that I will probably only have time to write one more time before I go home. I have to finish my project for AFS Lorraine and my other school projects as well as start packing and all that fun stuff that comes with having to go home...I am not to thrilled about it. Oh well it can't be helped because at the same time I am ready to come see all of my friends and family and especially to start again with my normal non-french highschool. It's not that I don't like the highschool here it's just that I prefer my normal one. The dys are counting down and lets just say that the time went by really fast. It feels like not too long ago that I arrived and was to nervous to talk at school and everything like that.(though I will say that that feeling only lasted a week or so).

Anyway it's that time of year here that I will say that I hate shopping because here in France pretty much store has sales that everyone calls the "Soldes" It's even more annoying in the big city, but on the bright side almost everything is half off.=) And with school since we have to buy our textbooks and the books we use to analyze in our French literature class it makes buying books a lot cheaper. Personally, I feel like I am in college with that because it's like buying your textbooks and the schedule is similar to how a college schedule runs. Then there are also student dorms at my school for the students who live in towns farther away. The students come on Monday and return to their normal families on the weekend, so it's not exactly the same but similar. Another thing I find wierd at school is that we have two different types of homework, we have normal homework and DM's. The normal homework is the normal exercises and everything, but I learned that it's never graded and the teacher never checks to see if it's done. Then the DM is the same type of exercises except it seems like all of the students try their best to make the paper they write it on as neat as possible and the teacher actually comes around and grades it during the following week.

Now I have to ask myself what other random thing can I think of to talk about that's somewhat different or interesting. So I guess I found yself realizing this past week or two that every city no matter how little it is in France has a town crest. You can sometimes find it on a little gold circle in the street, and you can almost always find it on the town hall building or the most well-known public building. I asked one time why each city has one and I am a bit disappointed to say that sadly everyone I asked had no idea. I found it interesting and I tried imagining what it could be used for and still have yet to come up with an idea except for that it could be some sort of decoration. When I find out, which I plan on doing before I come back, I will try to tell you why. On that note since I honestly can't think of anything to say, Happy New Year again and hope to see everyone soon.=)

Holidays

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I hope this year is better then the last!(That might be difficult seeing as I spent four months of it in another country) Oh well=) Things here in France have been moving non-stop with the holidays. I spent most of them with my host family and their other family members. It's been fun. For Christmas I learned that at least in my host family here most of the traditions are almost exactly the same. A larger then normal dinner even though the foods change slightly, and spending time talking with everyone.

Then the next couple days after Christmas my family and I went back to Paris to go visit all the monuments and famous places possible. I am proud to say that I have seen way more museums and old buildings then I can handle in three days which is suprisingly difficult. I did get the chance to see what Paris looks like with all the holiday lights and decorations our, and let me just say it's so beautiful. It also seemed to be a special year for some buildings. It was the 850th year of the Cathederal Notre Dame de Paris, so there were special decorations up around there and a temporary stage that let the visitors look at the details on the building more closely. Then for the Lafayette Galeries, they were celebrating their hundreth year I think. They had decorations as well and a huge christmas tree under the glass dome made with huge disks of Sworvaski crystal and other random things that made it really pretty as well. Then of course all of the other streets and everything had the normal decorations up. I also learned that there are some interesing places that people can take tours of in Paris. Just to give an example if someone wanted they could take a tour of the sewers and things like that. Why someone would want to I am not sure but okay. Then after we left Paris we went to Versailles and I agree it is beautiful and I was suprised at how the gardens looked because it is technically winter. They were still green and the fountains and everything were running so it was nice. I did find it a little odd to see people taking their morning jog in the gardens, but it makes sense since to me I looked at it as if they were treating it as a public park.

Finally as for the New Years, We had guests over at the house yesterday. My family and them spent maybe four or so hours eating dinner. I was supriingly not bored. Then right before midnight we set off fireworks and I learned that when the clock hits minight it's in the French culture to "bise" everyone(the kiss on both cheeks) for the New Year. One of the guests asked me if we did something like that right for midnight too, and sadly I honestly couldn't think of anything that is the same for everyone. Maybe it's just so normal that I didn't think of it differently or we don't have one. I am not really sure. Other then that I have one more week before I start school again. It's wierd to think that I have about three weeks of school left till this is all over. On that note Happy New Year again and i'm still hoping everyone's well.

Bonjour!

It's almost the holidays and I personally am excited to get a break from school. It's weird because I see on facebook that peopla are studying for semester tests and I admit that we don't have them here. The French school system runs in tri-mesters so I am also glad for that at the moment too.=) Another thing that comes with the season is the special foods eaten around the holiday. There are a couple interesting ones like foie gras which actually sounds really disgusting. So basically its something to do with the liver of a duck that people personally over feed and I heard that it's illegal in the states because of how they treat the ducks, but I am not sure if it being illegal is true or not. Just incase I want to try it well either way I will because I haven't before. Also around the holidays escargots(snails) seem to be popular, and I got the chance to try them at a marche de noel. I can't believe I'm saying this but they were actually really good. Usually they are seved with lots of butter and garlic and I could hardly taste the meat, but it was good. I think one time is enough though because I can't get past the idea of eating snails. It took three of us exchange students to get together and count to three and all try it at the same time to even eat the first one. Then another thing is boudin(that might be mispelled) or blood sausage which I haven't gotten around to trying yet either and I am not sure if I'll have the chance or not because everyone in my host family hates it. As for desserts there's the bouche de noel or a type of roll cake that I love and pain d'epices which I find is really similar to gingerbread though everyone insists that it's completely different. So I have a couple more things to try while I'm here.

Another thing that comes with this time here is first a lot of strikes for the trains and teachers. I've heard that it's the season in winter because it's cold and no one would have a reaosn to complain in the nice wheather. I am not quite sure how the whaether changes anything for the teachers, but okay. The final thing is calenders. It seems like everyone sells calenders at the end of the year. The people who collect your trash, students, firefighters, etc.. And my host mom says that it's almost obligatory to buy a calender to be polite. Therfore we have about 6 calenders here around the house from the various people who come to your door and sell them. It's sad to think that I only have about a month and maybe a week left here. It will fly even faster with the holidays too. Until next time everyone=)

St. Nicholas

Hello Everyone=)

So Just a couple of random things that happened in this last week and a half. First, it started snowing! And alot at that, it hasn't stopped snowing for one full day since and the one day it was close it rained and hailed most of the day too...I hate winter and being in another country won't change that. On the bright side because it's winter that means we only have two and a half more weeks till Chistmas break.=) One thing I did learn about the winter holidays here is that here in the Lorraine region of France there is a special holiday near the first or second Saturday in December called the "Jour de St. Nicholas" which is about an old folklore that isn't exactly the most pleasant, so I am warning you ahead of time. So the story in brief says that during this period of famine this butcher kidnapped three children and took them to his shop where he murdered them and sold their remains off as ham(I told you it wasn't pretty). Then one day St. Nicholas came to the town and saw through the butchers plans and what had really happened and through his prayers he saved them and brought them back to life. At least it has a somewhat happy ending. Anyway during the holiday there's a parade in most major cities in the Lorraine region of France and all the children get candy and small amounts of money and other things like that. Then instead of being able to buy chocolate santas you can buy chocolate St. Nicholas's with the three children. It's not a huge huge holiday but it's very popular where I live here and you hear about it alot. Even all year round you can find statues of the saint and the three children. I should mention that yes Santa exists as well during Christmas and is called the "Pere Noel" instead. I am also notincing little differences in our tradtions as well. For example, I learned here that only in America do people hang Christmas stockings over the fire place. As always I love these little differences=)

As for other things this week, our class in SES(something with economics) the teacher asked every student what we would do if we magically gained $10,000 dollars. He went around and asked everyone and I was suprised by most of the responses. Everyone either said they would buy clothes, cigerettes, jewelry or save it for a car...except me. I just said I would save most of it for collage which I guess for them isn't a problem because in France you don't pay to go to a university if it's in the same region in France as where you currently live. How I wish that was true when I think about how long it will take me to pay it off. Another thing with collage is that the people here don't have to be accepted in to collage, they choose where they want to go and unless it's a private school they just go and enter. Personally I think it's nice that way, but then again I guess some universities would be more crowded then others and what not. As for my only other school response is that we had the "conseil de classe" this week where our 2 class delegates that we voted for maybe a month or two ago go and meet with all of our teachers to discuss grades, and evaluate and see where each student is. Then in my AP class(no not advanced placement, I am sorry to say that I don't actually know what it stands for but it's kind of like advisment for us in Ankeny) the delegates talk to the class and read through the evalutations and such. I am happy to report that all of my teacher are really proud of me and how hard I have been working=) but for those of you that know me well there shouldn't be any suprise there. Finally for school this week there is a "BAC Blanc" or a practice test for the BAC, the largest highschool test in the lives of french teenagers, for French class. I am not excited because the test is four hours long and you have to analyze and prepare a number of documents. This should be interesting.

Finally, just a quick word on what I have been doing. This past week-end I went to Metz again for a little AFS day. We toured the Museum Pompidou, the cathederal, theater and I went shopping and things with my friend Celine who also stayed the weekend. I love meeting up with all of these other people and talking about our adventures(in french and sometime english if no one knew how to say what we wanted in french). All in all it was good there=) then I have a Marche de Noel in a city in another region of France with Ceiline and Eriko which is pretty much a Christmas market and other fun activities. I am looking forward to it! I hope everyone there isn't feezing like it is here. Hope everyone is well!!!

English,Names and Updates

So I have been in France for about three months and still some things never cease to amaze me. First, I have no idea why I was thinking about this today,but I realised that for some reason people here never find it wierd to use some random words in english. For example, instead of saying the french word for stop most people will literally say, "Stop" in english. And the road signs here are still stop signs and not "arreter" (to stop) signs. When I tried asking my host mom about it she said she wasn't exactly sure why things are like this but they are. Oh well not all signs are like that the exit signs say "sortie"(exit) and things like that. I just found it interesting though i am not exactly sure why I was thinking about it today and not two months ago.

Then at school today I was also thinking about why the teachers here don't bother to learn all of their students names. We have been in school for more then one trimester (we don't go by semesters here) and still most of the teachers look at the list of names and seating charts almost every time they call on a students name. Or at least it's for the students who don't go an cause trouble or drill holes in their desk all the time(no seriously some kids here do that). Also while I am thinking about it the students here don't seem as motivated about school. I thought with the BAC(the huge test at the end of high school for those of you who don't know much about the french school system) everyone would be studying harder, and I have heard that my class seems to be the only one where that isn't true, but I am not so sure. Most of the time instead of raising their hand to ask a question a student will just say "Madame" or whatever title fits. I personally find it a little annoying because it makes things more difficult to understand the teacher, but oh well.

Then if I haven't said so before. I hate my two hours of sports here. I have been running outside in 0 degree weather, and one of the times it was raining and the teacher said, "You have to adapt to the weather because I am not changing my plan just because it's raining or cold." On the bright side,  I think by the time I return to the states I will hardly ever be cold or complain about going outside in PE.

Finally, this past weekend I went to a concert in Strasbourg for a female vocalist named Veronic Dicare, who is a Canadian imatater. So we heard songs normally sung by many well known French, American,and Canadian singers. Personally I liked it and she was actually very good at imatating and half the time I could have said it was like the real thing. The other half I normally had never heard the song before so I wouldn't be able to say or not. And then lastly Happy Thanksgiving this week everyone! I hope your vacation is good(I am still stuck going to school)! I will attempt to create some sort of Thanksgiving meal for my family here so I am hoping that it turns out decent at the least.

Last week of Break

Okay just a really quick update since I have to go to school again tomarrow after our two week break. This past week I spent with another AFS host family who were all really nice. They took me to Trier(Treve) Germany the first day so we could explore the history, and I got to see the old cathederals and buildings there which was awsome. I also thought it was wierd and I don't know if I've said it before, but immediatly when you drive through the boarder you are pretty much over whelmed with german(which personally I don't understand at all). But it was really cool, and luckily for me and my family they speak english really well, so I got a little break from french.=) Then the next day we went to Metz(prounounced mess) which is the capital of the Lorraine region of France. we just took a little tour of the city and talked about the history and when we got to the cathedral it was HUGE! And the french seemed really proud that one of the Popes came to visit it at one point. But it was a  beautiful builing that was constructed from the start of the 14th century and up to the early 19th century. What also suprised me about it was that they clean it all year round because by the time they clean the whole thing they have to start over again. Then we went to Thionville and out to a movie called the Plan Parfait (Perfect Plan) that featured a well known french comedian Dany Boon, and for my fellow classmates, yes the same person we saw in one of our french films last year. And I am proud to say that I understood most of it=). Then finally we spent the last day in Luxembourg in the city of Luxembourg. It was great. I don't have much to say about the city itself, but we saw the Grand Dukes palace and went shopping in three or four different districts/neighborhoods. All in all a good week and I start bright and early tomarrow with two hours of running outside in the cold for P.E. because apparently it's normal to run in winter here and not when it's nice outside. Oh well=)