I'm not sure... haha
Hey everyone. Thanks for still following my blog even though I have not been so good about keeping it up.
But you must understand that the last few months have been CRAZY!! But the best few months of my exchange. I am really comfortable in France now. I am constantly with my friends and my host family.
At the beginning of the year I struggled to keep away from my computer where i knew emails were waiting from the States.. and i could possible talk to a friend online.
I came home from school directly after class because I didnt have anything else to do. As soon as i came in the door i would literally crash!! I was so tired from one day of school all in french!
Some dinners with my first host family (7 including me), I would feel LOST in what seemed like and overload of conversation!!
Like I said, following classes seemed almost impossible at the beginning! If I didn't understand one word, I might not understand most of the lesson. I was constantly with my dictionary.. which was like my bible in class for the first 3 or 4 months...
My history class has become one of the classes that I like the best. I have always felt like I could follow, even if it was in french. But up until about a month ago, my teacher never gave me a grade on written tests. (most test consist of writing an essay or analyzing a document). I would only get a grade if it was a small quiz or map that we had to label. Even for midterms... we had the choice between writing an essay, or commentary on a document and I was the ONLY one who chose the essay. I wrote 5 pages and I had all the information... but no grade. Because my teacher kept telling me that I had made good progress, but I was still making too many mistakes in french!
At that moment I remember feeling annoyed and embarassed. Like all the other times we had a test passed back... if the teacher hadn't already announced your grade to the class.. everyone asked everyone what they got. And I had to tell them.. no grade. I thought to myself, "why can't she just grade me like the other teachers! she knows I have all the information even if my french isn't perfect!"
As the months went by my french got better and better, as I had become more and more motivated. I even bought grammar books at the middle school level to do in between classes.
Finally about a month ago I got a test back in History class, and my teacher announced to the class that I had recieved a grade. And that my grade was actually better that some of the others in the class. Because not only did i know the information... but my french was at the level of the others. She said that I had made a lot of progress and that I should be proud because she graded me like the other students.
It was a great moment that I will remember for a long time. I have that test hanging on my wall in my bedroom like a 2nd grader!! :)
Now it is the month of May.. and I honestly don't know where the time went!! My family was here.. and I had an amazing time showing them my new life. When they left I changed host families for a third time, and I am now living in the city. Which allows me to see my friends a lot more.. and I'm really loving it!
Last weekend we had a long weekend, and my host family took me to a region in France called "La Loire" which is near the city of Tours. We visited probably 5 or 6 different castles! What an amazing trip! I will post some pictures of that ASAP!
Hope everyone is having a great spring... and that you still understand my english?!
BISOUS!!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
greve de taxi... graveeee
so I am about to leave for my trip to spain!!
It's an 8 day bus trip with Rotary... a bunch of exchange students are going!!
Before I left I want to tell about something I saw on Wednesday that I've never seen in my life.
GREVE DE TAXI... you may ask yourself what the heck that means..??
It means that all the taxi's in and around the city of Rouen went on strike... and decided to block all traffic for hours..
It's definately not the first strike or protest i've seen in france, but it's one of the most impressive.
I come to school like any normal day and i see all these taxis around the train station.. i say to myself... that's strange?? Then about five minutes later they all leave in a huge caravan... and i walk down the street to find taxi's EVERYWHERE! as far as i could see down every street.
All the taxi drivers got out of their taxis in the middle of the street.. lit up cigarettes... talked amongst eachother.. some stayed in their cars and honked their horns. It was crazy. They had things written on their taxi's about Sarkozy (president of france).
So i guess the reason they were striking is because the government wants to make it so you dont have to have a special permit to drive a taxi.. basically anyone would be able to drive one. Thus taking away any competion and the superiority of 'the taxi driver'.
Not sure how far that strike got them.. but I was pretty impressed that they were able to block rouen in a matter of about five minutes. Incredible.
Stay tuned for more manifestations... strikes.
It's an 8 day bus trip with Rotary... a bunch of exchange students are going!!
Before I left I want to tell about something I saw on Wednesday that I've never seen in my life.
GREVE DE TAXI... you may ask yourself what the heck that means..??
It means that all the taxi's in and around the city of Rouen went on strike... and decided to block all traffic for hours..
It's definately not the first strike or protest i've seen in france, but it's one of the most impressive.
I come to school like any normal day and i see all these taxis around the train station.. i say to myself... that's strange?? Then about five minutes later they all leave in a huge caravan... and i walk down the street to find taxi's EVERYWHERE! as far as i could see down every street.
All the taxi drivers got out of their taxis in the middle of the street.. lit up cigarettes... talked amongst eachother.. some stayed in their cars and honked their horns. It was crazy. They had things written on their taxi's about Sarkozy (president of france).
So i guess the reason they were striking is because the government wants to make it so you dont have to have a special permit to drive a taxi.. basically anyone would be able to drive one. Thus taking away any competion and the superiority of 'the taxi driver'.
Not sure how far that strike got them.. but I was pretty impressed that they were able to block rouen in a matter of about five minutes. Incredible.
Stay tuned for more manifestations... strikes.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The Netherlands
I just got back from The Netherlands about three days ago, and it was really a great trip. I don't have many pictures because my camera died shortly after we arrived... but I will post the pictures I DO have. I was fourtunate to stay with my friend Belen's Aunt and cousins, who showed us around Amsterdam. We did a lot of bike riding around the city, which was a whole new experience for me, but was so much fun. I can't tell you how many "tourists" I almost hit! haha. I also got to see the house that Anne Frank and her family hid during the war. On New Years Eve we got together with some friends of Belen's cousins. I also got to do a tradition from Ecuador, which was really interesting and fun! Overall, great trip. Lot's of fun times getting to know Belen's family, and really learning about Dutch people and culture! The Netherlands is really different from France. The people, the diversity, the food, and just their way of life. I am so glad I got to make this trip. I am also really thankful that I got to stay with Belen's cousins and Aunt because I didn't feel as much like a tourist, instead I really learned about their way of life, and got to meet a lot of dutch people... who by the way speak excellent English!
7 hours, 17 minutes, and 15 seconds until the New Year!! Amsterdam...
Laurens and I on New Years Eve
Belen and her cousin Jessica
Jessica and her boyfriend "chicho"
This is us on New Years making the "old man", we stuffed some old clothes with newspaper. after we burned it in the streets to burn away all the bad things that happened in 2007 and start a fresh year. We also jumped over it for good luck. It's a tradition in Ecuador. It was so much fun.
Belen and I kissing the "old man" we made
Belen with "the man"
Me with "the man"
Chicho with the finished product
Jessica and Belen jumping over it for good luck!
The house where Anne Frank and her family hid during the war
Anne's room
Anne's diary
The book case that hid the secret annex
We found this interesting. One big food vending machine??
What a great invention...
The streets of Amsterdam
Belen, her friend Simon, and her cousins Jessica and Ricardo.
Some more sights of Amsterdam
Us on the train
7 hours, 17 minutes, and 15 seconds until the New Year!! Amsterdam...
Laurens and I on New Years Eve
Belen and her cousin Jessica
Jessica and her boyfriend "chicho"
This is us on New Years making the "old man", we stuffed some old clothes with newspaper. after we burned it in the streets to burn away all the bad things that happened in 2007 and start a fresh year. We also jumped over it for good luck. It's a tradition in Ecuador. It was so much fun.
Belen and I kissing the "old man" we made
Belen with "the man"
Me with "the man"
Chicho with the finished product
Jessica and Belen jumping over it for good luck!
The house where Anne Frank and her family hid during the war
Anne's room
Anne's diary
The book case that hid the secret annex
We found this interesting. One big food vending machine??
What a great invention...
The streets of Amsterdam
Belen, her friend Simon, and her cousins Jessica and Ricardo.
Some more sights of Amsterdam
Us on the train
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
