All right so things are both hectic and really boring at the same time... They alternate. As does my mood. It's like I'm on a giant roller coaster that goes up and down every day and the smallest thing can make me switch. It's starting to get annoying. But no matter.
What have I been doing in between my posts you ask? Well a lot. I'm going to pick out some random days where I did fun things.
One day I went to a castle--Haut Keonigsbourg--with my host family. Don't ask me where it is since I seem to be lacking in access to maps. It was really fun though. A castle just like any other, but it was extremely well-preserved. My host family explained to me that you have to pay to enter so that way they can afford to restore it. It was really really beautiful. From there we went into the woods and ate sandwiches. Sandwiches here are very good; they're made with French baguette, which I love. The one thing I dislike is the fact that the butter in my host family is fake butter.
We took a walk into the woods one day. We were somewhere out in the country of Alsace (I would assume). We were with my host family and my host family's friends. We walked through the fields of corn and everything. It was even better because it was before the corn stalks turned yellow and started dying. Since it's reached harvesting time now so they aren't as pretty now as before. Eventually we reached the top of the hill and there was a huge cross made out of wood there.
We sat on the side of the hill there and ate sandwiches. Again. I've really started to like sandwiches. I took some pictures of the scenery there. It was especially pretty since it was sunny outside. And despite the prickly grass, I managed to take a tiny nap in the sun. It was probably the best decision since I couldn't hear let alone understand what everyone else is saying. My language skills hadn't quite reached the point where I could talk about every subject. Of course, they still haven't reached that point but that's ok.
On another day my host family took to me Haguenau. It's pretty much just a tiny village similar to the one in which I'm living. Not quite as big as Strasbourg but still cute. It was also a nice day with the sun out so I got an ice cream. Grapefruit flavored, which made me think of my sister :). It was just the beginning of fall then and the trees were starting to change color. There was a really nice merry-go-round there too. There were some shops around there too but we didn't go into any. We went on a Sunday (I'm pretty sure) so all the shops were closed. That's one annoying thing is that the shops are all closed on Sundays.
So I'm now going to talk about the thing everyone asks me. The language. It's been particularly weird for me since I spoke French before coming here. I would say that I was fluent if it weren't for the fact that I still can't read or write in French very well. But that tends to be the biggest problem. Since I can speak and understand fairly fluently, people think that I can write and read as well as that... But it's not true. I can speak and understand like a child. No wonder I can only read children's books and write like a child. Children are also not expected to take tests on economics... It's annoying because I'm not a normal exchange student. In several ways. Since I speak the language, I'm expected to do everything in class. Because I speak the language, I wasn't taken in (like other exchange students). Because I speak the language, it's like I just transferred schools... And being the new kid is no fun.
Basically I'm getting tired of understanding the language. And school. I've been on vacation up until now but I've got to go back to school tomorrow and that won't be very fun. But the weekends are good so I'm savoring that. Spending time with other exchange students here also rocks. :)
Now that I've mentioned that I was on vacation I feel I should talk about my vacation. So here's what I did:
The first few days I spent mostly with either my host family or other exchange students. One day my host family and I went for a walk in the corn fields (which have started to look less pretty now that they're dying and being chopped down). And we went and visited some horse races. It was free for me and my host sister and she really likes horses so we saw them just for a minute. Another day I went into Strasbourg with the other exchange students and we wandered around, ate grapes, and got shouted at by a drunk homeless guy. We went to a tiny fair thing too and did the BB gun booth thing. And a different day with the exchange students we went to town again and went ice skating. I also tried eating kangaroo for the first time! It was actually really nothing special, sad to say. It tasted like beef. Overcooked beef, at that. But oh well. I also met up with two exchange students in Colmar, a city by here. We took a tour of the city. It's smaller than Strasbourg but it was still pretty. They have a "Petit Venice" which is kind of like "La Petite France" but in Colmar.
And apart from spending time with the exchange students this vacation, I also went to the Alps with my host family. Looking back on it, I feel I probably should have asked my real family before going, but I know they would have said yes anyway (right, mom). It was just from late thursday night until monday morning. We went around and visited some things around there. And it was the French Alps, I'm pretty sure. Nobody actually told me where it was or how we were getting there (basically what countries we would be going through to get there) but I managed to figure out based on my cell phone reception... But that's ok :)
Unfortunately there was no snow so we couldn't ski or anything but we saw the ski village. We also walked around a really nice lake there that was full of ducks and swans (there are really a lot of swans here). One of the other days we went shopping. I didn't find anything but it's still fun to look. And my host sister found some really cute boots.
Our days there tended to be short and calm--as described above. And then the night we watched movies or played poker. It was especially nice since we watched movies on DVD for pretty much the first time. That meant we could choose the language of the sound and subtitles. Most of the time when we watch movies they're downloaded, so even if it was originally an American film, I can't always understand it.
So I should probably talk about the delicious food I had now. The highlights were the tartiflette and fondue. Oh goodness French cheese is delicious. The tartiflette wasn't even homemade and it was incredible. And the fondue was basically melted cheese that we dipped pieces of bread into. It was amazing. I do love French food.
And I just realized that I forgot to talk about my Rotary weekend with the other exchange students. It was the October 16 and 17. We spent the Saturday in Strasbourg visiting. We went to the cathedral and went on a boat ride on the river that cuts through all of the city. We had those headphones on and, of course, put the language on English/Pirate. That was entertaining. From there we went to a youth hostel to spend the night. At the youth hostel we hung out, ate dinner... And eventually a karaoke game thing started up. It was exchange students up against rotex (former exchange students who are back in France). But eventually I went outside to get some of the other students and ended up staying there with them. It was raining and we ended up dancing outside in the rain. Then we ended up shouting at some British guys staying on the floor above us. Then we ran upstairs and joined them until their teacher came out and yelled at them. This was followed by a couple games of air hockey, meeting some other British people--girls this time--and long conversations until 3 in the morning.
The next day we got on the bus and started traveling. We went to a pottery place where we got to see how they make dishes and everything. I spent the whole time translating for everyone. Since the parents of the family I spent my first weekend with were there, they insisted that my French was good and so I could translate. It was hard at first especially with the vocabulary, but it only got easier. At the end we got to pick out what we wanted from the defaults. They were all just plain white porcelain but it was still cool. And since I translated, I got to pick out a special dish. But the dish I got is a surprise :). My parents will just have to wait and see when I get home. And the heavy things I brought back to my host family, I told my host family they could keep. I know that they're big and heavy and would weigh down my suitcase.
From there we went to a village and drove around. A lady described to us the history of the town. It was cool because it's been around for a really long time. It was also one of the only towns there not destroyed in WWII. There, we ate sandwiches for lunch.
After that we went to an underground bunker and had a tour of that. We had a tour guide but I have to admit I didn't listen very much. It was much more interesting just looking around. We took some fun pictures there, though.
From the bunker, we went to a chocolate place. I was picturing a chocolate factory but it was more of a chocolate store. We tested all sorts of different types of chocolates. I have to say they were absolutely DELICIOUS. I also translated again. Except that guy wasn't used to having someone translate for him so he didn't take regular pauses, which made it hard to translate well. Not to mention I don't have an extensive vocabulary, let alone a very good chocolate-term vocabulary. And I didn't get to take home a special box of chocolates for translating :(.
And from there we headed back to Strasbourg. Some people left right after the chocolate factory since they lived nearby but everyone else went to Strasbourg to catch different trains home. On the bus ride to Strasbourg, the girls from India did henna for us. It was really awesome! I still have the faintest traces left on my hand. Once we arrived at Strasbourg and I stepped off the bus, I heard a giant crash behind me. I turned and saw Simon, the Australian, with a box that formerly held dishes, with the bottom open and the smashed dishes on the ground. And, just my luck, I had put my bags of pottery in his box... However I had my special dish in my pocket so it didn't break. Some of my other stuff broke too but less than Simon. On the other hand I knew that my dishes were too heavy and would break through the plastic bags I had them in, so I threw them into Simon's box.
And from there I went home. But it was an awesome weekend.
And that brings me up to the present. I go back to school tomorrow (not exactly looking forward to that). And I'll try and post more often so it doesn't take me quite as long as this to update things. (By the way, I'd like to apologize for both bad grammar and weirdly phrased sentences because my mind isn't working very well in English at this moment.)
Lots of love,
Dori/Camille
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