April
Tulsa, OK to France

This has been such an awesome month. Last Sunday, I visited Paris and it was magnifique as the French say. It was not as big as I was expecting but beautiful. The entire day was spent walking and seeing the different sites. There are many statues of modern art everywhere. This one statue was just a big, iron thumb. It was crazy. I didn't go into any museums this trip because it would take up too much of our time. I am going to have to take several trips into Paris to see everything. My third host mom told me that you could stay in Paris for a month and have something new to do each day. As I looked out at Paris from the Eiffel Tower, I could believe it.

School is going wonderfuly and I have some true friends. It is really awesome what God is doing in my life. I went to a Rotary meeting and met all kinds of exchange students. They were all from the U.S. and everyone just let it all out. We talked about the French life and how different it is from the US.. It was really nice to have someone to talk to who was going through the same things as you. I realized how blessed I was when the students talked about their schools. Some students teachers are really mean to them and give them a hard time. My teachers are wonderful to me and let me do my own thing during class. Everyday, I just study my French during class. I am learning a lot and I am slowly getting better.

My host parents are very supportive of me and are constantly giving me French lessons at dinner. This Thursday, I go to get my medical exam for my French resident permit. I am not looking forward to that but know that it must be done.

I was talking to the other exchange students about making a Thanksgiving dinner for my family. I realized that I would probably be homesick this day and thought what a wonderful way to deal with it. I am going to make all American meals with my host mom. I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully, the meals will turn out. I never cooked a big meal before so this will be interesting.

This month, I am traveling to Sarlent with my CAV class for a week. I am really excited. I will get to go to southern France. Yeah!!! I hope the weather will be warmer down their then it has been up here. In November, I found out that I will be going to Sweden with my first family to visit their daughter. I have no clue what Sweden is like but will have to take lots of pictures. After christmas, I am going to England with my host sister to stay for a week. I am really looking forward to this because I have always wanted to visit England. That is all I know about trips so far but I will keep you updated.

I hope that everyone is having an awesome experience. Au revoir.

April

I have survived my first week of school. It is wonderful! My schedule is very good compared to the other French students. The schools in France have block schedules, so at the beginning it is a little stressful trying to find your classes. I met a girl in the first class that I went to who spoke a little English. She tried to help me understand everything that was going on in class and has been very nice to me all week. It is so strange because they have smoking breaks all the time and sometimes the teachers will come out to smoke with the students. After the long day was over I felt like I had smoked with all the smoke I inhaled. Everyone smokes but mostly the girls for some reason. I brought some mints and gum to give to everyone during the break. I found that this is a good way to start up a conversation. I have met a lot of people through my pack of mints.

I have  English, Philosophy, Spanish, P.E., Histoire, Cinema Audio, and Government classes. I like my Cinema Audio class the best because it is the most interesting. All we have done in that class is watch weird movies that the former students made and discuss what we thought these movies meant. It is the only class besides English that I can understand what is going on. The teacher is really cool and allows her students to address her in a familiar form instead of the usual polite form. The rest of my teachers are very serious and always carry a no nonsense look. My English class is really funny. The teacher likes to call on me to answer all the questions and has me pronounce words for the class. She had me pronounce the sound for, "awe", one day. I pronounced it as, "ah", and she said, "Oh, that is just the American accent. It is actually, 'oh'. I just smiled and kept silent. I met this girl in my English class who just came back as an exchange student in Missouri. She was really nice to me and I found out that we eat lunch together at the same time. She told me that she would help me with my French if I helped her with her English. I thought that was a pretty good bargain.

Somedays, I can go home for lunch and not have to be back at school until 3:45pm.. I like this block schedule because it reminds me of college. You can leave the school anytime you like and go shopping through Maubeuge during a free time in your day. I have already been through a market in Maubeuge and think it is really cool. You can buy food or clothes on the streets. There are several booths set up.

Last week, I went to a big, famous market that took place on the streets of Lille. It was crazy!! The streets were lined with booths where you could find antiques to high quality clothes or shoes. They also had some pretty, bizzare foods and everywhere you walked there was some strange food to smell. I walked from about 2 in the afternoon to 12 at night. I am not used to walking that much or staying up as late as they do here. I didn't buy anything because the prices were too high. Overall, the market reminded me of one, big garage sale.

The next day, I went to Brugge, Belgium. My family and I watched this famous, medieval parade take place on the streets. This parade only takes place every five years so God really blessed me to be able to see it. Brugge is beautiful. It has these tall, majestic buildings lining the streets with flowers hanging out the windows. The streets were cobbled and there were outside cafes everywhere. There were all kinds of little shops to buy souvineers or get a pastry. Oh boy, the pastry shops smelled good. When you walk into the bakery, there are dozens of different loaves of breads to choose from and even more different types of colorful pastries to buy. They also had belgium waffles with chocalate syrup on top to buy. A river ran throughout the town and you could catch a boat ride if you wanted too. They had swans swimming everywhere and trying to get food from you. Those swans look beautiful far away but are actually mean, ugly things up close. One was trying to attack my hand.

The parade was like nothing I have ever seen before. They had 70 different scenes walk down the streets. Everyone had this outlandish costume on and would perform some talent. Some would dance or sing and others would play some instrument or recite some ancient writing. It was amazing. During one scene, three men came walking down on these stilts and as one of them walked by he tried to step on my foot. Thankfully, he missed. It scared me to death, though. Again, we walked around all day and I just dragged behind the group towards the end of the night.

My third host family took me to Six Flags in Belgium my first week and it was a lot of fun. It is not as big as the Six Flags in the US but it was still good. We went on every roller coaster they had and I even went on this ride that took you up really high then suddenly dropped you. My host family told me that my face turned deathly white while I was going up but thankfully I didn't throw up. That is all I am happy about. Towards the end of the day, I emotionally broke down. All the other kids were riding a ride except me and my third host mother. I suddenly realized, that everyone here was going to get to go home to the warmth and security of their families except me. I started to tear up and cry right there in front of all those people. I didn't care though because I missed my family. My third host mom gave me a tissue and just hugged me. She was so nice and she told me I was part of their life. That she wanted me to share my life with them and that meant my emotions too. Afterward, I felt loads better and enjoyed the rest of my evening.

My family has had so many different guests over and whenever a guessed comes over you have to stay by their side the entire time or you would be considered rude. First, we sit on the couches and pass three to four different bowls of snacks around the circle. Everyone sips some wine or for me orange juice, while we talk. Then, we sit at the table and eat the first course which is some little appetizer. One appetizer I ate was salmon, fish, and this white sauce wrapped together into a little circle. The first one was good but by the second one I felt sick. Then, the main dinner is brought out. Sometimes, we have potatoes or vegetables. It depends on the day. One dinner, we had a meal that looked like a pizza except it was zuchinni pie. It was delicious and has been my favourite meal so far. There is always bread present on the table. After the main meal, the cheese is brought out. Then we have fruit yogurt, cheese yogurt, and a basket of different fruits brought out. By the time the dinner is over, you have to be roled to your bead or at least that is how I feel.

My French family asked me if my time here had gone by fast or gone by slowly. I told them that it had gone by slowly. I said that I had done more things these past 2 weeks then in a lifetime.

God has really blessed me with three wonderful families. I will be traveling with my third host sister to England for christmas. I am very excited about that because I have never been to England. I will also be going to Sweden with my first host family sometime this year. I am going to have one busy year. I hope everyone is having a fun time and I will continue to keep everyone in my prayers. Au revoir.

April

I arrived in France safely without any complications. France is very beautiful and my host family is very nice. Everyone in France speaks pretty good French. I was surprised. My family helps me with my French and I help them with their English.

Boussois is a very small town and is very picturesque. I noticed that all the houses here have tall, orange, roofs with 1 to 3 chimneys. All the buildings are lined up very close to each other on the streets and have flowers hanging out of every window. It is so French. I love it! There are chickens and cows in the yard across from my house so I wake up to hearing a rooster crow every morning. It is ironic bec. I woke up to hearing a rooster crow on my alarm clock. I guess I got to here it twice that day. It is strange being in a new home and in someone else's bed. I could not sleep one night because this duck was qwacking the entire night. Everything in France is small. The cars are small, the roads are small, and the houses are small. There is no speed limit on the roads here so there are a lot of crazy drivers. I noticed that the kids wear about the same things that we wear except they look classier. The fashion here is bowling shoes and big knit turtle knecks. I do not like this look either.

People are very polite here and say bonjour to everyone. I had to get used to kissing everyone on each cheak. That is not the American way. Americans just say,hey, while french people give a handshake, kiss, and sometimes a big hug. It is very different. We eat a lot of cheese here and drink a lot of wine. I tried a little wine but I did not like it bec. it was very bitter. The weather is very cool here and you have to wear a light jacket. It was a big difference from the hot Oklahoma weather.

I start school next Wednesday and will be taking a lot of literature classes. I am excited and a little nervous bec. I do not know anyone. I will be fine though bec. God is watching over me. My family does not pray before meals and they asked if I would. I prayed for the meal and I could tell they had never heard someone pray like that. I was happy to be a witness. I met all my cousins and we have become friends. They asked me many questions about the American kids and what they do for fun. The French kids go to disco techs and dance for fun. They also go to the cinema and watch movies. Everywhere you go you can hear American music playing in the background but hardly anyone can understand it. I asked why they play American music and they said it was bec. our music was cool. 

I am getting tired of trying to translate everything and trying to understand what everyone is saying. It is sometimes very frustrating. I miss my family very much but know they are in God's hands. I am learning new things everyday but it is coming slowly. I miss everyone and wish all the other exchange students a good year.

April