Tasty and Foreign

I love this picture.

This picture is a bit unrelated. I just really liked it :) I hope it got your attention. Exchange students are the best. We belong in Nestea bottles. Anyways...

I was surprised at how great today was. I usually wake up with a pessimistic mindset on this day because Tuesdays are usually not great days for me. It's just a general fact: Tuesdays aren't fun. I have to get up at 7:00 and stay in school until 5:30 :P It's a long day, but today for the most part was wonderful. I was a grump this morning because for one I only got seven hours of sleep and also because it was cloudy today. The beautiful weather is gone. The vacation is over. The rain has come. So why was today so great? It was mostly the afternoon that was great. But let's talk about the morning. I started with Economics. I learned that... that... that... that I really need to get more sleep each night... and also that salaries are really important. Afterwards I had English (meh) and then a nice break where I met some new people. I meet new people everyday, see them in the hall everyday, say hi to them everyday, talk to them everyday, and yet for the life of me can not remember their names. Physics passed by like usual. We messed around with some mirrors and color squares, drew some pretty graphs things, took some notes, talked and talked and talked, etc. The most interesting thing for me was when I saw a ladybug on our table. For ten minutes I watched it crawl around over my fingers, trying to fly away. It was having difficulties but finally it flew off into lights in the ceiling. Cute lil' thing. When my lovely A.D.D third-grade attention span came back to science, the only thing I could understand was that French people have an uncanny need to use all their colorful pens to simply take notes. Being a fan of coloring, I have no problem with that.


I ate lunch at home today with Marie-Armelle. We had mushrooms in some type of sauce. I'm seriously like the biggest yogurt addict there ever was. I eat like five a day... No, I'm not lying actually. Since I have a cold, I should probably stay away from dairy but that's not going to happen. The afternoon afterwards was really really good. I started with Accompagnement Personal (sorry for the bad spelling) with my English teacher. It's like therapy for everyone, but not therapy in the sense that everyone is upset. It's just an hour where the teacher helps everyone with problems they might be having with the workload, homework, or tests. We talked about work methods, tests, test strategies, etc. I colored my schedule and it looks pretty now. So productive, I know.

Then TPE!! I didn't think TPE would be so great since it's a class meant for this big project that the students have to present at the end of the year for the BAC (the huge end of the year test meant for colleges and all– it's like the SAT's). But it was actually really good. The first hour we had to sit through the librarian go off on some schpeel about something important that I didn't register. Then there was a break between the second hour of TPE where we had history in the library so we could use the computers. It was the first time that we didn't just take notes on a lecture. Thank goodness. And the second hour of TPE was amazing because I could actually use my mind for something other than trying to figure out: "What's the French for..." I actually worked intellectually for something other than language converting! I contributed ideas like I would in America! I used my brain! (Yeah I realized that I said the same thing in a million different ways back there, but you get the point I hope). Everyone had to work in groups of two so I got kind of freaked out since I couldn't contribute much to my partner, but luckily I got to work in a group of three. Florence and Marion. They are super nice and we decided to tackle the topic "Realities and Representations." It's a super vague topic that we have to pose a question about and then create some type of visual presentation. I'm actually sort of excited because all three of us want to do something involving art and since Florence's mom is an artist, she can give us supplies. It works out really well and everyone is willing to listen to everyone's ideas– even mine, which took awhile to come out in logical sentences but when they did, it was all good. It was sooo nice to really think, you have no idea. Well, yeah, I think all the time yeah (on overload) but this time I really thought in terms of literature and history– basically how I do in class back in the USA. I felt smart for the first time outside of English class. And for the last thirty minutes or so Florence and Marion posed me questions about America. They were the usual: Are there really cheerleaders (pom pom girls)? Do all the kids really take yellow buses home from school? Is it true that in one town there is more than one fast food restaurant? Have I met all the cute American actors? I never get tired of answering their questions. It's so cool to see their reactions at my daily life. It's really not that fascinating, but for the French I guess girls with pom poms and yellow buses are unheard-of-fantasies. Well, I don't know about the buses but as for the cheerleaders... strangely, yes.

So the afternoon was great and I got a great surprise when I got home from school. My care packages from home! It was so great. The little four-year-old girl that I babysit back home sent me a bunch of little presents that me a bit nostalgic I admit... I also got a bunch of candy goodies, vitamins, random presents, hand sanitizer, and my slippers for the winter. So... if anyone else is in the mood to send me a care package you totally can. Really, you totally can. I think it would be much appreciated :)

I went to music school later like usual and almost fell asleep halfway through. The Tuesday class is too easy (with a drummer that doesn't know how to keep count) and the Saturday class is too hard. So I'm stuck doing both for now. Try. Try Again. Try Again. Breathe. Keep trying. This exchange stuff requires a lot of trying and the word "Yes"at almost everything. However, like the weather Marie-Armelle had changed a bit too. She was a little more tense than usual with me and a little short. She didn't smile much and got frustrated when I didn't understand certain things that she said. It didn't feel very "family-like" at all, but hopefully things will change again.

Oh and one more important thing. Some shout-outs for my French readers :) This week... Céline Damelincourt et Justine Delporte!!! You both told me you read my blogs... so now you're both famous on this world-renown blog ;) Céline: J'ai adoré manger en ville! C'était superrrr avec toi !!! Aussi, j'ai regardé Glee. Tu, ma Gleek, as raison. Je l'ai aimé beaucoup <3 Justine: Merci pour le cookie encore. J'ai hâte pour samedi ! So these shout-outs are a little ridiculous and a bit unnecessary, but I personally love shout-outs so I'm just spreadin' the trend if you get my drift.

It's midnight and I'm energy loaded on all the goodies that I got in my care package. I'll attempt to fall asleep. Good night wherever you all are in the world. A bientôt et bisous.