Thursday, March 10, 2011

And then there were four...

Salut a tous!

Today is March 12, 2011. I have been in France for almost 6 1/2 months. Time has gone by faster than I could have ever imagined and now I find myself with only 4 months left in France. The notion of leaving is slowly starting to creep its way into my thoughts and as I look around at this life I've grown so accustomed to it scares me in 4 months it will be gone. On January 2, 2011 I switched host families. The switch has been amazing; I now live in centre ville Antibes. I live within a 5 minutes’ walk of the high school and am now so much closer to all my friends and cafes. Now that I can walk home at night I no longer have to be home by 8 when the buses stop. From the first day I switched I’ve felt really comfortable in this house and it will be hard to move again in 3 weeks. But, I am going to try to embrace the change. So, as I've probably mentioned before the French have way more school vacations then in the US and I am currently enjoying the last 2 days of my 3 WEEK VACATION, yes that is correct... 3 weeks off. No specific reason- no holidays, just a nice break from school. Last night my parents had a dinner party and that was one of the topic we were discussing; the differences between life here and in the US. I said I thought teenagers here had more freedom then teenagers in America and also that we had significantly more breaks then in the US. Although by now I am getting used to people asking me what I like better here than I do in the US it’s still hard for me to put into words how I feel about the 2 countries. Last night one guy asked "C'est quoi le pays que tu trouve les gens vivent la plus belle vie?" which basically translates to "In what country do you think the people have the better life?" I honestly couldn't answer him I kept on repeating that there are better and worse things about each country and I could never choose between the US or France. I t was difficult after a while to try to explain myself especially in French. I have a love hate relationship with this language. Sometime I feel so comfortable speaking it and other times I hate that I can't express myself freely and get embarrassed when I obviously botch a sentence. Most of the homesickness a that I’ve felt here has rooted from the language barrier and it has been without a doubt the hardest challenge for me here but I am really happy and proud of the progress I've made since the beginning. I love France more than I ever thought I would and know that I will most defiantly be back for an extended period but this year has also taught me to love and appreciate my life at home even more. I don't know if I’ll ever feel 100% at home in either country. Getting back to my explanation of my break. During this said break to prevent myself from the almost given boredom that comes with 21 days of no schedules I’ve started to take advantage of the public transit system and have been making daily adventures with my friends around nearby cities. I still can't get over the fact the a 10 min train ride brings be to Cannes- 20 min to Nice- 1/2 hour to Grasse- 1hour to Aix-on Provence. My French friends like coming with me because they say they never really think to visit the places around them because they are so used to it and of course I love going and discovering things with the other exchange students Last week I went to Vieux Cannes with Alex and we somehow stumbled upon and old art school and walked in to see what it was about. We explained to the people in charge that we were American studying in Antibes for the year and they were really interested and showed us around the school and the ceramics teacher let us take part of her class and make little clay bowls for the day. We got to watch her take all the ceramics out of an old kiln and all the other students showed us with pride to all of their previous works. After we finished our bowls the teacher offered to fire them for us and told us to come back in 2 weeks- she was such a sweet lady. I remember standing on the balcony of the school where the kiln's were located, looking out over all of Cannes and the medditeranien and I had a moment where I was just like "How did I end up here?" It was such a great day and I was shocked at how welcome and open the people were there. In the beginning of the year I thought the French weren't as open as Americans but know I realize that if you make an effort to be interested in what they are doing and make an effort to talk to them first they are some of the most welcoming people you'll ever meet. But, I also think that mentality can be applied to anyone on this earth. I feel so blessed to be here and although it's definitely not easy all the time this year has defiantly been one of the best years of my life0 it has taught me more about myself than I would have imagined. The next 3 and a half months are going to be so quickly I know it. My dad comes to visit me the first weekend of April then out district Rotary conference is the next weekend and I switch into my final host family on April 3. On April 15 I head off to Paris to start the EUROTOURR for 2 weeks and then my mom comes to visit me the first week of May and then I head home on July 3, 2011. France has become a part of who I am and I know that when I say my goodbye's at the airport they won’t be forever- I know I’ll be back in France but I know that when I do everything will be different- maybe not worse just different. I hope everyone is doing well and wish everyone a happy spring!







3 comments:

  1. Hi, my name is Daniel Mark and I'm going to be an exchange student next year to France. I'm going somewhere in district 1780 of France. I am preparing now, but I would like to know if you have any advice for me. Thanks for doing this blog, I really enjoy reading it.

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  2. oh hey there! sweeeet thanks for reading. im in D1730 which part of France is D1780? I have so much advice and stuff to say about France and such couldn't even begin to start in this measly comment but if you have any questions or anything feel free to shoot me an e-mail (hannahscwartz12@yahoo.com) or add me on fb... and I go on CS every once and a while too (Im guessing thats how you found this link??)

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  3. Ok, I'll add you on facebook.

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