Soooo, after being given the choice of:
a/ going grocery shopping with my host mum at 9am
and
b/ staying home with Aurore (while Marine went to "code") to sleep in
...after much consideration and thought I decided to stay home with Aurore. Which, in the end, was a good decision as I slept in til 11:10am...hehe. Very unlike me...but I guess all this French speaking is catching up to me.
After eating breakfast I went to take a very long shower (well, it was only about 15 mins buuuut...hehe) and then check my emails.
At about 12:30 my host parents arrived home with all the shopping and my host dad, Patrice, prepared a lunch of noodle soup. Yummy :D. Which we ate at 1:30-ish.
Marine and I then did the dishes (and got my first dose of actual sunlight through the window! Hehe, even though it was raining :D).
For the rest of the day we didn't really do much. Marine tried memorising her French for her exam next Friday, whilst I read (haha, for the first time since I arrived). Once she had had enough of French-doing, she joined me in my room with her laptop and we spoke with Alexis a bit on her Facebook Wall :D. And now, we're pretty much doing the same thing, haha.
Tonight a lot of people are coming over so my host parents are preparing a big dinner : ) Lots of yummy food, I'm sure :D. Hehehe.
So yes...Oh, and my Management teacher said to me the other day that I'm the first Australian to have a Picardy accent...haha, because of my "haaaah?"s when I don't understand...It's contagious, okay?! Hehe.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
: : Bonsoir [[ avec Alexis, Marine, Natasha and Aurore...and the funny little boy... ]] : :
Today started at 10am :D hehe, was happy about that :D and finished at 4pm. Although, we only had two classes. French at 10am and Gestion for two hours at 2pm...and in between was spent writing those mini-stories in French etc. (You know the game where one person writes the subject, then the other a verb, and then a place?)
Anyway, we got a funny one out of that...Something to do with Henry and Alexis (I was meant to give Alexis the peice of paper tonight but didn't get around to doing it).
So apart from the drama between class (which I won't write about...for personal reasons and for those involved : )), the school day was quite amusing with Marine and I writing a song during Gestion called "Franglish/Franglais" and Marine accidently flicking her pen ink all over my face (which resulted in A LOT of laughter and having to be excused to go wash my face...luckily the teacher found it rather funny too :O).
---
At 4pm we made our way to the music school to consult the director about trumpet lessons...I think he thought I was really bad or something because he wanted to put me in the Junior orchestra, haha. Oh, and he's going to give me lessons for free because I'm Australian, haha, amazing what being Australien can get you away with..hehe, thank you parents :D.
Anyway, Patrice picked Natasha, me and Marine up from the music school at 4.30pm and took Natasha home, before dropping of me and Marine at home as well to get ready for the singing concert tonight (haha, don't worry, I didn't sing :D hehe). Marine, Aurore and I all got ready together with Marine and I dressing eachother, doing eachother's hair, and make-up...haha, yes all that girly stuff, hehe.
At 7pm we left to go the concert where Marine was third. The concert was really good with a lot of people just singing for fun : ) hehe. At the half-way break we went and talked to Alexis over by the food tables before making our way to the bathroom (wow, don't know why I included that detail :S haha). Anywaaaay, by eating time we were extremely hungry and proceded to eat two desserts and dinner with this bacon, egg, and herb scone loaf thing that Sandrine's mum had made - REAAAALLY YUMMY! :D
About half way through the second part of the performance, Marine and I went to search for Alexis to give him the piece of paper...but he was no where to be found. Instead we hung around the corridor (it was all opening into the stage area) where there was a cute little boy who was rather agro and kept throwing this ball thing at us :S ahahaha.
We went back to our seats after about 10 mins and we decided that Marine was going to ask if she could sing "My Heart Will Go On" to end the show. We went outside (in short-sleeves, may I add...and into 0* weather!) so Marine could practice a bit. When we went back in, Natasha, Aurore and I went and stood with Alexis by the food table again. Alexis went and stole one of the lolly buckets and asked what "bonbon" was in English. I told him, "lolly". He then asked me how to spell it. "L.O.L.L.Y". And then proceded to laugh at the word "lolly". It's funny how being here makes English sound so stupid, haha. Yes, anyway, by that stage Marine was singing. Half-way into the song, the singing teacher began swaying her arms in the air - which, in turn, Alexis, me, Natasha and Aurore did...more laughing there.
Once Marine had finished. We all went into the main foyer to look at the photography. Alexis pointed out a photograph of a topless woman before gasping and sheilding his eyes (and then laughed some more...yes, we were all rather tired at this stage, hehe). Aurore nearly killed herself laughing at that picture...and when thte little boy attempted to see it Alexis lost it, and walked around the corner...only to find yet another picture of a women in longerie...yes, that was about the time where he calapsed onto the chair and started crying with laughter. Then the little boy began screaming really high-pitchly. Which started the laughing once again...haha, this time with us all blocking our ears.
After all that laughing had died down a bit, there was a rock song playing so Alexis, Marine and I did hair guitar before the little boy decided to join in and get reallllly into it...he even started rolling around on the floor doing it :S haha. Yes, that set off me and Alexis! haha.
Anyway, it was time to say goodbye - so after all the goodbye kisses to the grandparents the little boy...for some reason, went and slapped Alexis' butt...Oh, that was hilarious! Haha, yes, Alexis and I were pretty much crying and I'm sure Marine and Aurore were close to it! haha.
So once we had all kissed Alexis goodbye, I proceded to fall into a puddle...catch myself and then trip into another and twist my ankle which resulted in me falling sideways onto our car. Haha, that got Sandrine laughing until she was on the verge of tears too! Haha...yes, and then I fell asleep in the car. The end. Haha, nah, I got ready for bed and am now here writing this, with Marine talking to Henry on msn : ) and Natasha in the bed next to her (she's staying the night).
Bonne Nuit!
Anyway, we got a funny one out of that...Something to do with Henry and Alexis (I was meant to give Alexis the peice of paper tonight but didn't get around to doing it).
So apart from the drama between class (which I won't write about...for personal reasons and for those involved : )), the school day was quite amusing with Marine and I writing a song during Gestion called "Franglish/Franglais" and Marine accidently flicking her pen ink all over my face (which resulted in A LOT of laughter and having to be excused to go wash my face...luckily the teacher found it rather funny too :O).
---
At 4pm we made our way to the music school to consult the director about trumpet lessons...I think he thought I was really bad or something because he wanted to put me in the Junior orchestra, haha. Oh, and he's going to give me lessons for free because I'm Australian, haha, amazing what being Australien can get you away with..hehe, thank you parents :D.
Anyway, Patrice picked Natasha, me and Marine up from the music school at 4.30pm and took Natasha home, before dropping of me and Marine at home as well to get ready for the singing concert tonight (haha, don't worry, I didn't sing :D hehe). Marine, Aurore and I all got ready together with Marine and I dressing eachother, doing eachother's hair, and make-up...haha, yes all that girly stuff, hehe.
At 7pm we left to go the concert where Marine was third. The concert was really good with a lot of people just singing for fun : ) hehe. At the half-way break we went and talked to Alexis over by the food tables before making our way to the bathroom (wow, don't know why I included that detail :S haha). Anywaaaay, by eating time we were extremely hungry and proceded to eat two desserts and dinner with this bacon, egg, and herb scone loaf thing that Sandrine's mum had made - REAAAALLY YUMMY! :D
About half way through the second part of the performance, Marine and I went to search for Alexis to give him the piece of paper...but he was no where to be found. Instead we hung around the corridor (it was all opening into the stage area) where there was a cute little boy who was rather agro and kept throwing this ball thing at us :S ahahaha.
We went back to our seats after about 10 mins and we decided that Marine was going to ask if she could sing "My Heart Will Go On" to end the show. We went outside (in short-sleeves, may I add...and into 0* weather!) so Marine could practice a bit. When we went back in, Natasha, Aurore and I went and stood with Alexis by the food table again. Alexis went and stole one of the lolly buckets and asked what "bonbon" was in English. I told him, "lolly". He then asked me how to spell it. "L.O.L.L.Y". And then proceded to laugh at the word "lolly". It's funny how being here makes English sound so stupid, haha. Yes, anyway, by that stage Marine was singing. Half-way into the song, the singing teacher began swaying her arms in the air - which, in turn, Alexis, me, Natasha and Aurore did...more laughing there.
Once Marine had finished. We all went into the main foyer to look at the photography. Alexis pointed out a photograph of a topless woman before gasping and sheilding his eyes (and then laughed some more...yes, we were all rather tired at this stage, hehe). Aurore nearly killed herself laughing at that picture...and when thte little boy attempted to see it Alexis lost it, and walked around the corner...only to find yet another picture of a women in longerie...yes, that was about the time where he calapsed onto the chair and started crying with laughter. Then the little boy began screaming really high-pitchly. Which started the laughing once again...haha, this time with us all blocking our ears.
After all that laughing had died down a bit, there was a rock song playing so Alexis, Marine and I did hair guitar before the little boy decided to join in and get reallllly into it...he even started rolling around on the floor doing it :S haha. Yes, that set off me and Alexis! haha.
Anyway, it was time to say goodbye - so after all the goodbye kisses to the grandparents the little boy...for some reason, went and slapped Alexis' butt...Oh, that was hilarious! Haha, yes, Alexis and I were pretty much crying and I'm sure Marine and Aurore were close to it! haha.
So once we had all kissed Alexis goodbye, I proceded to fall into a puddle...catch myself and then trip into another and twist my ankle which resulted in me falling sideways onto our car. Haha, that got Sandrine laughing until she was on the verge of tears too! Haha...yes, and then I fell asleep in the car. The end. Haha, nah, I got ready for bed and am now here writing this, with Marine talking to Henry on msn : ) and Natasha in the bed next to her (she's staying the night).
Bonne Nuit!
Friday, January 29, 2010
: : ZERO [[ /20 ]] : :
WHOOOOO! I have officially completed a whole MANAGEMENT test in FRENCH! Haha...we'll soon see how that went...After spending much of yesterday afternoon, night and this morning revising, only to find that the majority of was analysing text :S. Haha, I'm lucky that the teacher seems to like me : ) hehe, maybe I might get 2/20 if I'm lucky...Didn't really help that Marine said that SHE found it difficult, haha. Oh, well. As I said, we'll see :D.
So today was a very very very very very long day! Haha - 8am - 6pm (same as Monday :S haha). Got up early to have a shower etc. all the norm. Revised all through the first class, haha. Then took the test. Then we had recreation (10 mins) then English...where we had ANOTHER test, haha...I made up a few things (I wasn't there for the majority of the stuff on it - stuff about recovered addicts...yes, quite difficult compared to the French I learn in Aus!). Then was French...With the boys behind me playing up as usual. They even drew a picture of Marine as an ugly bunny with a speech bubble that said, in English, "I'm Marine and a bunny!". Word for word. I didn't really do much in French because it's really difficult to understand, so I took to grafitting my page, hehe.
After French Marine and I went into Soissons to a bakery and bought two WHOLE baguettes with chicken, mayo, lettuce and tomato and ate them both (we were hungry, okay! :P)...they were sooooooo good, haha. After Marine had to go to her driving lesson, so she left me outside the front of the school (after trying to get us in using the excuse that I needed to get a bus pass...didn't work, haha, so I had to wait) until the doors opened. Once inside, I didn't really know what to do so I was wondering around looking for a computer room. A girl I met yesterday in art came up to me and asked if I was all alone...I then asked her in very bad French where the computer labs were. The doors were locked but she took me around the back through the library. Annnnnd, my password wouldn't work so I was sitting there for a while when a teacher came in and started telling me off. Haha, luckily the girl came to my rescue and dropped me off with some friends from my class.
Constance, me, and two other girls went into a study room...but when Constance reached into her bag to grab some books, CATASTROPHE! Haha, her apple compote had burst in her bag...so we spent the next 45 minutes trying to clean in up. After those 45 minutes Myriam came and asked me if I wanted to go into town with her as we still had another hour until we started class again. We met up with Marine, Costance and another girl in Soissons (before parting with Constance and the other girl) and, as we walked by the bus stop, Sawadatou hopped off the bus, so then there were four. Haha, Marine and I had fun spraying eachother with HELLO KITTY perfume...for adults. Haha, interesting stuff. Smelt rather good though :D.
Sawadatou wanted to go to the supermarket before returning to school to buy some lollies...even though we only had 10 mins to spare and classes started in nine! haha...we were late...after running...a lot. So guess who got lost in Soissons again? MOI! haha, turns out the Constance and the other girl were late too so Marine and I ran up to them and they were happy to have an excuse, haha.
Soooo, we returned to THREE HOURS of Communications...fun stuff. Haha. But, Milmila, Marine and I had fun dancing up and down the corridors, and spraying eachother with water.
---
YESTERDAY
Yesterday was verrrrry short. Three hours only, and we were able to return for lunch before taking Marine and Natasha to singing class. I watched :D haha, and learned that massaging one another helps warm the vocal cords...who would've guessed? There were only four girls plus me in the class.
After each had performed and improved, Marine, Natasha and I were picked up my Sandrine and Marine was taken to her FIRST driving lesson, haha, she crashed :P. And Sandrine took me and Natasha shopping. I had to buy some pants for sport, and new coat and a new bag (it seems that everything that I bought in Australia breaks here :S haha, go figure...must be a weather thing ;)). Didn't get the new bag, but was successful with the coat (hehe, big, long and WARM!) and the pants :D.
After, we went to pick Marine up from "conduit" where we were suprised at how good she was driving and played a bit of a guessing game of whether it was really her or not (we were driving behind her).
Once Marine was safe and sound in the car, Natasha, me and Marine went to singing again, this time for a rehearsal of Billy Jean with the band and everything...It was pretty awesome! haha. Alexi and Marine were a tad crazy, haha, but I stood with them on stage with Natasha anyway : ).
Once we were back home Marine, Aurore and me, were on a bit of a high and did eachothers hair, haha. And then Marine did my make-up...ROCK STAR STYLE! WHOOO! HAHA. (I'll see if I can get a picture :D).
---
TUESDAY
Monday was looooooong, haha. Marine was luncky and finished at 3pm, but me? Nup. 6pm...three hours of art. For the first hour I seemed to be the centre of attention amongst 6 people. One of which was a bit too eager to show me around the room...he even went and got his French/English dictionary for me. Haha. And another asked for my lipbalm so that he could use it in his artwork...a bit random, haha. Came back all flat and smudged :S.
Enveryone was doing their own thing that day so I just drew a picture of Marine, haha, which she liked very much but is not yet finished.
---
MONDAY
Monday we finished at 4pm...one hour earlier than the expected 5pm. So Marine showed me the park...it took about 45 mins to get there because, as usual, we were a tad crazy and took to taking photos with the automatique timer...which we rested on Marine's "standing-up" French text book which was leaned on a tree : ) ....haha, interesting stuff!
[[ We stood in some dog poo too...yummmmmy! haha, still on my boots! ]]
Okay, that's all I can remember for now : ) Possible snow tomorrow :D. Start at 10 am (if we have to go to school that is...aaaah, snow is such a wonderful thing ;)). Finish at 4pm. Today I successfully completed a French questionaire (as in I made one :D) on food :D.
Tata for now :D
So today was a very very very very very long day! Haha - 8am - 6pm (same as Monday :S haha). Got up early to have a shower etc. all the norm. Revised all through the first class, haha. Then took the test. Then we had recreation (10 mins) then English...where we had ANOTHER test, haha...I made up a few things (I wasn't there for the majority of the stuff on it - stuff about recovered addicts...yes, quite difficult compared to the French I learn in Aus!). Then was French...With the boys behind me playing up as usual. They even drew a picture of Marine as an ugly bunny with a speech bubble that said, in English, "I'm Marine and a bunny!". Word for word. I didn't really do much in French because it's really difficult to understand, so I took to grafitting my page, hehe.
After French Marine and I went into Soissons to a bakery and bought two WHOLE baguettes with chicken, mayo, lettuce and tomato and ate them both (we were hungry, okay! :P)...they were sooooooo good, haha. After Marine had to go to her driving lesson, so she left me outside the front of the school (after trying to get us in using the excuse that I needed to get a bus pass...didn't work, haha, so I had to wait) until the doors opened. Once inside, I didn't really know what to do so I was wondering around looking for a computer room. A girl I met yesterday in art came up to me and asked if I was all alone...I then asked her in very bad French where the computer labs were. The doors were locked but she took me around the back through the library. Annnnnd, my password wouldn't work so I was sitting there for a while when a teacher came in and started telling me off. Haha, luckily the girl came to my rescue and dropped me off with some friends from my class.
Constance, me, and two other girls went into a study room...but when Constance reached into her bag to grab some books, CATASTROPHE! Haha, her apple compote had burst in her bag...so we spent the next 45 minutes trying to clean in up. After those 45 minutes Myriam came and asked me if I wanted to go into town with her as we still had another hour until we started class again. We met up with Marine, Costance and another girl in Soissons (before parting with Constance and the other girl) and, as we walked by the bus stop, Sawadatou hopped off the bus, so then there were four. Haha, Marine and I had fun spraying eachother with HELLO KITTY perfume...for adults. Haha, interesting stuff. Smelt rather good though :D.
Sawadatou wanted to go to the supermarket before returning to school to buy some lollies...even though we only had 10 mins to spare and classes started in nine! haha...we were late...after running...a lot. So guess who got lost in Soissons again? MOI! haha, turns out the Constance and the other girl were late too so Marine and I ran up to them and they were happy to have an excuse, haha.
Soooo, we returned to THREE HOURS of Communications...fun stuff. Haha. But, Milmila, Marine and I had fun dancing up and down the corridors, and spraying eachother with water.
---
YESTERDAY
Yesterday was verrrrry short. Three hours only, and we were able to return for lunch before taking Marine and Natasha to singing class. I watched :D haha, and learned that massaging one another helps warm the vocal cords...who would've guessed? There were only four girls plus me in the class.
After each had performed and improved, Marine, Natasha and I were picked up my Sandrine and Marine was taken to her FIRST driving lesson, haha, she crashed :P. And Sandrine took me and Natasha shopping. I had to buy some pants for sport, and new coat and a new bag (it seems that everything that I bought in Australia breaks here :S haha, go figure...must be a weather thing ;)). Didn't get the new bag, but was successful with the coat (hehe, big, long and WARM!) and the pants :D.
After, we went to pick Marine up from "conduit" where we were suprised at how good she was driving and played a bit of a guessing game of whether it was really her or not (we were driving behind her).
Once Marine was safe and sound in the car, Natasha, me and Marine went to singing again, this time for a rehearsal of Billy Jean with the band and everything...It was pretty awesome! haha. Alexi and Marine were a tad crazy, haha, but I stood with them on stage with Natasha anyway : ).
Once we were back home Marine, Aurore and me, were on a bit of a high and did eachothers hair, haha. And then Marine did my make-up...ROCK STAR STYLE! WHOOO! HAHA. (I'll see if I can get a picture :D).
---
TUESDAY
Monday was looooooong, haha. Marine was luncky and finished at 3pm, but me? Nup. 6pm...three hours of art. For the first hour I seemed to be the centre of attention amongst 6 people. One of which was a bit too eager to show me around the room...he even went and got his French/English dictionary for me. Haha. And another asked for my lipbalm so that he could use it in his artwork...a bit random, haha. Came back all flat and smudged :S.
Enveryone was doing their own thing that day so I just drew a picture of Marine, haha, which she liked very much but is not yet finished.
---
MONDAY
Monday we finished at 4pm...one hour earlier than the expected 5pm. So Marine showed me the park...it took about 45 mins to get there because, as usual, we were a tad crazy and took to taking photos with the automatique timer...which we rested on Marine's "standing-up" French text book which was leaned on a tree : ) ....haha, interesting stuff!
[[ We stood in some dog poo too...yummmmmy! haha, still on my boots! ]]
Okay, that's all I can remember for now : ) Possible snow tomorrow :D. Start at 10 am (if we have to go to school that is...aaaah, snow is such a wonderful thing ;)). Finish at 4pm. Today I successfully completed a French questionaire (as in I made one :D) on food :D.
Tata for now :D
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
: : Wot?! [[ No Tuesday ]] : :
Soooo, as a request by my grandparents : ) (via email with the title of this entry...) I will write about MONDAY, haha, as it's Tuesday morning and that may be a bit difficult. But as I need to leave for school now...you'll all have to wait :D hehehehe.
Monday, January 25, 2010
: : Droit [[ = ...legal studies??? ]] : :
Soooooo, today Marine and I were able to sleep in which was nice for a change. (Arrived home past midnight last night)...
We both woke up at approximately 10.30am. While Marine had a shower I went downstairs to eat a late brekky. Let's just say that I'm not very experienced with packaged breakfasts...haha. I ended up turning my "crepe" (if you could call it that after I had finished with is :S) into an extremely thin, and large cracker. Note to self: CREPE DOES NOT GO IN MICROWAVE FOR 30 SECONDS
Anyway, once everyone was ready, we left went to my host mum's step-mum's house at 12.30pm for lunch...
We ate rabbit* with mushrooms and mashed potatoes.
*add to list of new and exciting foods
And ate an apple tart for dessert, which was really good :D.
After lunch we waited around for a while with everyone drawing random pictures of eachother and animals : ) which was good fun! Whilst we were waiting for the adults to come to the car, Marine and I took to taking pictures outside with the camera timer : ).
At about 5pm I started my homework...which was writing various defintions for
Droit which I had spent the whole week thinking was Business Studies...haha no wonder I was confused! It turns out it's actually Legal Studies :S. Anyway, I've allocated my grey notebook to this subject because it's just that...dull. Haha.
So, just finished dinner and spent a while doing fake karate with Marine and then taking various pictures of Aurore, Marine and myself jumping off a small stool.
We both woke up at approximately 10.30am. While Marine had a shower I went downstairs to eat a late brekky. Let's just say that I'm not very experienced with packaged breakfasts...haha. I ended up turning my "crepe" (if you could call it that after I had finished with is :S) into an extremely thin, and large cracker. Note to self: CREPE DOES NOT GO IN MICROWAVE FOR 30 SECONDS
Anyway, once everyone was ready, we left went to my host mum's step-mum's house at 12.30pm for lunch...
We ate rabbit* with mushrooms and mashed potatoes.
*add to list of new and exciting foods
And ate an apple tart for dessert, which was really good :D.
After lunch we waited around for a while with everyone drawing random pictures of eachother and animals : ) which was good fun! Whilst we were waiting for the adults to come to the car, Marine and I took to taking pictures outside with the camera timer : ).
At about 5pm I started my homework...which was writing various defintions for
Droit which I had spent the whole week thinking was Business Studies...haha no wonder I was confused! It turns out it's actually Legal Studies :S. Anyway, I've allocated my grey notebook to this subject because it's just that...dull. Haha.
So, just finished dinner and spent a while doing fake karate with Marine and then taking various pictures of Aurore, Marine and myself jumping off a small stool.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
: : Bye bye [[ Katie : ( ]] : :
About two hours ago there was a very emotional goodbye to Katie at our front door with the Wlodarczyk's and Floriane's family (Katie's previous host family). After a lot of fussing about with the weight of Katie's suitcase (she had a bit of a dilemma as she was only allowed 20kg and 1 kg over the limit is something rediculous like 100 euros or something; and she had 32kg...most of which were books which she put in another bag instead...oh and she only had 15 euros), which in the end of 26kg, but we decided that she'll have to cry and throw herself on the floor - it was time to say goodbye.
As soon as I saw Katie becoming emotional, I started to cry...and laugh at my stupidity...At first I thought my crying was due to seeing Katie cry but even after she had left, the tears came :S. Bizarre, because I've only really known her for a week and conversing was strange because I knew that we could converse perfectly in English but French? Not really, yet I was made to speak it, hehe.
Marine went with Katie and Floriane's family to the airport with Katie.
Last night we were all a bit crazy and slept in the big blow-up mattress, which was good apart from my pillow falling off the bed and not having enough blanket at once stage...
---
School is going good. This weekend I have to write out all the definitions for Droit...A LOT of definitions! I should be doing that now actually, however the definitions are on Marine's computer but it ran out of battery...hehe, didn't really understand the "low battery" warnings in French, haha.
Sport. Let's talk about sport class...Here are some words to explain it :: MUST. KILL. MARINE. haha...I didn't have any clothes for sport so she let me borrow some pants...Which she decided to tell me once we were AT school, were extremely large :S. So the last lesson of the day was two hours of sport. I got changed into my massive, while, TRANSPARENT pants and prepared myself for sport (what's more, my peach top also happened to be semi-transparent...oh and the class is mixed :S). I didn't do much in sport as the class was being graded on their "step" routines. Still, it was an interesting experience, haha.
Before sport was TWO hours of Droit (it's like Business Studies) which Marine and I were late to (we had gone into town during lunch --- more on that later). Because the teacher of Droit is rather strict we made up the excuse that because I was new to Soissons, I had gotten lost and Myriam and Marine had to search for me :S haha. I had absolutely NO idea what on Earth was going on in Droit so Marine and I took to playing French (for me)/English (for her) hang-man, noughts and crosses, and that dot game (don't know what it's called)...Which we stopped doing after 30mins and took to writing down the notes...which Marine told me not to worry about anyway.
Maths is great. It's easier here than in Australia. Most of it is learning the various functions of graphing etc.
---
Right, lunch. After lunch, Myriam, Marine and I went into town to three different parfumeries, which was fun. Because they were all really expensive, Marine took to telling the sales-assistants that I was from Australia and I want to send some gifts of French perfume. In each shop we got two samples of different perfumes : ). They're really good here!
---
Wednesday after-school, I went and watched Marine's singing class. We finished school at 12 so that gave Katie time to bake some cookies for the class too - which, may I add, were really good, with many people going back for thirds.
Wednesday night, we went to Didien's (family friend) house - he is extremely funny! - for dinner. And ate, and ate...and ate some more, haha. Marine and I were a bit crazy and for some reason decided to eat a peice of our napkins dipped in mayo...wasn't too bad suprisingly, haha, although it was a tad chewy, haha. We also tried some baguette with Swiss cheese and this choc/banana milk powder (which was really really really good...haha, so good that Aurore and Katie tried it too ; )). That night we went to bed at 12:30am...and then got up 5 andf a half hours later to go to school.
On Thursday Marine and I walked to Didien's for lunch - we ate pigeon, which was...bizarre, but quite nice; however the meat was quite rich. With the pigeon we had chips and mushrooms. When I first cut into my whol pigeon I was surprised to see...the interior...haha...don't worry, I didn't eat it.
When we returned to school, Marine and I were yet again crazy and used the school hall as a catwalk, haha...and took photos ; )...hehe, all before our next class. Communications. OF which there were only two students - Marine and I. Marine told me I could sleep if I wanted - at first I refused...but then my eyes took over :S haha. Just after I awoke again, a lady come to tell me that it was time for me to go meet Jean Lin - the exchange coordinater here. After speaking with him, he took me, Marine, Katie and another exchange student outside to take photos, which he printed and then took to our house when he came for dinner that night. Again, the lack of sleep caught up to us all and we found ourselves laughing like idiots. Haha - a lot of photos that night.
---
This morning we woke at 8 am to have our showers before leaving at 9:30am to take Marine to driving school. Katie, me, and the parentals went grocery shopping at Cora where I also bought all my school books and stationary for Monday (haha, instead of my usual collected of six or so papers that I carry around with mee - once sheet for each class, haha).
When we had finished (it only took about an hour, which, according to Katie, was quite quick compared to the norm) we went to pick up Marine and then continued on home for a lunch of mushroom soup - well appreciated after being out in the cold.
Tonight we are going to a family friend's house for dinner going to be lonely without Katie : (...but as she said, I will survive : )...(and not to waste my time on Facebook : )). Hence the smaller-than-usual lunch...Apparently tonight we are going to eat a lot, haha.
Soooooo, anyway - a bientot!
x.
List of bizarre foods so far ::
Skin of cow tongue (bizarre texture!) --- first night
Pigeon (texure kind of like braised beef) --- third night
Tripe (texture...interesting...not my favourite) --- last night
As soon as I saw Katie becoming emotional, I started to cry...and laugh at my stupidity...At first I thought my crying was due to seeing Katie cry but even after she had left, the tears came :S. Bizarre, because I've only really known her for a week and conversing was strange because I knew that we could converse perfectly in English but French? Not really, yet I was made to speak it, hehe.
Marine went with Katie and Floriane's family to the airport with Katie.
Last night we were all a bit crazy and slept in the big blow-up mattress, which was good apart from my pillow falling off the bed and not having enough blanket at once stage...
---
School is going good. This weekend I have to write out all the definitions for Droit...A LOT of definitions! I should be doing that now actually, however the definitions are on Marine's computer but it ran out of battery...hehe, didn't really understand the "low battery" warnings in French, haha.
Sport. Let's talk about sport class...Here are some words to explain it :: MUST. KILL. MARINE. haha...I didn't have any clothes for sport so she let me borrow some pants...Which she decided to tell me once we were AT school, were extremely large :S. So the last lesson of the day was two hours of sport. I got changed into my massive, while, TRANSPARENT pants and prepared myself for sport (what's more, my peach top also happened to be semi-transparent...oh and the class is mixed :S). I didn't do much in sport as the class was being graded on their "step" routines. Still, it was an interesting experience, haha.
Before sport was TWO hours of Droit (it's like Business Studies) which Marine and I were late to (we had gone into town during lunch --- more on that later). Because the teacher of Droit is rather strict we made up the excuse that because I was new to Soissons, I had gotten lost and Myriam and Marine had to search for me :S haha. I had absolutely NO idea what on Earth was going on in Droit so Marine and I took to playing French (for me)/English (for her) hang-man, noughts and crosses, and that dot game (don't know what it's called)...Which we stopped doing after 30mins and took to writing down the notes...which Marine told me not to worry about anyway.
Maths is great. It's easier here than in Australia. Most of it is learning the various functions of graphing etc.
---
Right, lunch. After lunch, Myriam, Marine and I went into town to three different parfumeries, which was fun. Because they were all really expensive, Marine took to telling the sales-assistants that I was from Australia and I want to send some gifts of French perfume. In each shop we got two samples of different perfumes : ). They're really good here!
---
Wednesday after-school, I went and watched Marine's singing class. We finished school at 12 so that gave Katie time to bake some cookies for the class too - which, may I add, were really good, with many people going back for thirds.
Wednesday night, we went to Didien's (family friend) house - he is extremely funny! - for dinner. And ate, and ate...and ate some more, haha. Marine and I were a bit crazy and for some reason decided to eat a peice of our napkins dipped in mayo...wasn't too bad suprisingly, haha, although it was a tad chewy, haha. We also tried some baguette with Swiss cheese and this choc/banana milk powder (which was really really really good...haha, so good that Aurore and Katie tried it too ; )). That night we went to bed at 12:30am...and then got up 5 andf a half hours later to go to school.
On Thursday Marine and I walked to Didien's for lunch - we ate pigeon, which was...bizarre, but quite nice; however the meat was quite rich. With the pigeon we had chips and mushrooms. When I first cut into my whol pigeon I was surprised to see...the interior...haha...don't worry, I didn't eat it.
When we returned to school, Marine and I were yet again crazy and used the school hall as a catwalk, haha...and took photos ; )...hehe, all before our next class. Communications. OF which there were only two students - Marine and I. Marine told me I could sleep if I wanted - at first I refused...but then my eyes took over :S haha. Just after I awoke again, a lady come to tell me that it was time for me to go meet Jean Lin - the exchange coordinater here. After speaking with him, he took me, Marine, Katie and another exchange student outside to take photos, which he printed and then took to our house when he came for dinner that night. Again, the lack of sleep caught up to us all and we found ourselves laughing like idiots. Haha - a lot of photos that night.
---
This morning we woke at 8 am to have our showers before leaving at 9:30am to take Marine to driving school. Katie, me, and the parentals went grocery shopping at Cora where I also bought all my school books and stationary for Monday (haha, instead of my usual collected of six or so papers that I carry around with mee - once sheet for each class, haha).
When we had finished (it only took about an hour, which, according to Katie, was quite quick compared to the norm) we went to pick up Marine and then continued on home for a lunch of mushroom soup - well appreciated after being out in the cold.
Tonight we are going to a family friend's house for dinner going to be lonely without Katie : (...but as she said, I will survive : )...(and not to waste my time on Facebook : )). Hence the smaller-than-usual lunch...Apparently tonight we are going to eat a lot, haha.
Soooooo, anyway - a bientot!
x.
List of bizarre foods so far ::
Skin of cow tongue (bizarre texture!) --- first night
Pigeon (texure kind of like braised beef) --- third night
Tripe (texture...interesting...not my favourite) --- last night
Thursday, January 21, 2010
: : Bonjour [[ Soissons ]] !!! : :
YAAAAAAAAAAY!!! I'm here! Haha, I know that this post is a bit late (hehe, sorry Tilly, Julia, Georgia and Georgia) as today is my fourth day here...
So. When I first arrived in France, it was a pleasant 8*C! Haha, a bit warmer than the expected negatives! Anyway, after two days of flying and an unexpected dumping of passengers at Bangkok airport (we were all stuck on what to do and where to go, and we only had 20 mins till the plane left!...but I'm here, aren't I???) and washing my hair at Heathrow airport (hehe, in a very low, tiny sink...), I arrived at Paris airport. It took a while for my bag to come around, but it did...eventually.
I walked through the gates and the first thing I saw (and probably, the first thing everyone saw, hehe) was my host family. My host mum was holding a sign they had made with a fish and mouse on it - very cute : ). Haha, and I was attacked by my host sister and Katie :D.
When we left the airport and made it to the car, it was funny to learn that my host sister had never seen a plane before (apart from photos, of course)...and that we were apparently lost because my host family had never been to the Paris airport before.
The first day was mainly just blank looks and "oui"s and "non"s on my part as there really wasn't much I understood...but as the days went on, I understood more and more. :D
However, I still find that during the day I take two steps forward and then when it's morning again, I seem to have taken one step back...
My first night was mainly spent yawning...haha. After dinner we went upstairs to my room (where Katie and Marine are sleeping at the moment too :D) and watched "The House Bunny" in French (with English subtitles ; )). By the end of the movie, I was so tired that every time I blinked, I litterally fell asleep and had to wake myself up...So I don't recall what happened at the end at all!
My first full day in France seemed rather long considering I had slept for half of it! My host sister and Katie took the day off school to take me to the centre of Soissons. We visited the post office, the Cathedral, the school (although they were determined not to be seen otherwise "bye bye" Katie and Marine, haha) and various shops - Stopping along the way for a coffee and hot chocolate (it was 1*). At about 5 o'clock we returned home for dinner and to unpack.
The next day (yesterday) was my first day at school. We woke up at 6:10am and had got ready before leaving at 7:30 to commence school at 8:00am (however, we got there a bit earlier so Marine could give me a tour). The first lesson of the day was Economics - in which I did nothing (just sat there taking in my surrounds) as everyone was doing a test. It was rather embarrassing at the start of the class when the teacher said, "tu le fait pas", meaning "you do not do it" and I looked at Marine and said, "Je l'aime pas???" which means "I don't like it"...to which many laughed, haha. My second class was maths...half of which was spent getting paperwork etc from various different rooms, which my host mum filled out last night and I returned this morning. Didn't understand much of maths...Next was Spanish, although the teacher was absent, so we went to the sick bay for some bread (yes, strange I know, hehe...for recess you go to the nurse and she gives you mini baguettes!) before walking to the centre of Soissons to the post office (just made it back to school in time for English! Which, as expected was easy :D).
Next was lunch, which was really good compared to the lunch in Australia!!! During the lunch break, I went with Marine, Katie and Myrium to the centre of Soissons again - nearly stepping in various piles of dog poo on the footpath! haha - lots of shrieking "ATTENTION!" haha.
When we returned to school again, we found a place to sit inside (it was -1*). While Myrium memorised some notes for science, Marine and I listened to music while she tested her.
Then, the boy who was sitting next to me began to speak to me and once he learnt that I was from Australia, he grabbed my hand and told me to take him back to Australia with him and marry him and have lots of children...haha...interesting...
The last lesson for the day was Communications which I loved. I understood quite a bit which was good. It's like "Visual Communication" at my school, but without the drawing.
The final class finished at 3:00 pm which was good. It gave me time to give my host family the gifts I brought with me...all of which they liked :D. Especially the picture I drew for them, the Aussie beanie kid (one of the massive ones!) and Cherry Ripes.
---
Today school started at 9:00am which gave us all a bit of a sleep in (got up at 7:00am).
Again we started with Economics, of which I successfully did my work in and understood about four fifths of what the teacher was saying. We learnt about legally changing names, and the nationality of a child and how it depends on the nationality of the father...and how the mother is able to change the nationality of the child only after four years of marriage.
Second was maths...while we were waiting for the teacher Marine pointed behind me and I saw the guy who told me that he wanted to marry me the day before! I successfully avoided him, haha. Most of maths was spent trying to figure out my scientific calculator as it was different to the French calculator and the instructions didn't fit mine...But we were learning parabolas, which is good as I just finished learning about them before I arrived.
Third was Communications again, where we analysed an advertisement for ELLE magazine (again, I did my work, haha, probably not so successful this time though as there were a few words that I wasn't sure of, and although Marine did her best to explain, I still didn't understand). We then played a game that was a bit like Chinese Whispers but instead 6 people went out of the room and one at a time they came in. Marine was the first to come in the room. A boy read her a short story in French, she then had to retell the story to the next person who entered the room, and so on. The story was then retold to the last person who entered the room and compared to the distorted story they told. It was rather funny! The teacher then passed around numerous boxes of chocolates and we helped ourselves.
School finished at 12pm and we returned home for lunch.
(Today it was -1* again...ANNNNNNNND IT'S SNOWING!!! - I'll see if I can get a picture on here)
For lunch we had a bacon, potato, tomato and cheese (lots of cheese!!!) omelette. And now, here I am!
Till next time, haha - might be a while...having too much fun ; )
So. When I first arrived in France, it was a pleasant 8*C! Haha, a bit warmer than the expected negatives! Anyway, after two days of flying and an unexpected dumping of passengers at Bangkok airport (we were all stuck on what to do and where to go, and we only had 20 mins till the plane left!...but I'm here, aren't I???) and washing my hair at Heathrow airport (hehe, in a very low, tiny sink...), I arrived at Paris airport. It took a while for my bag to come around, but it did...eventually.
I walked through the gates and the first thing I saw (and probably, the first thing everyone saw, hehe) was my host family. My host mum was holding a sign they had made with a fish and mouse on it - very cute : ). Haha, and I was attacked by my host sister and Katie :D.
When we left the airport and made it to the car, it was funny to learn that my host sister had never seen a plane before (apart from photos, of course)...and that we were apparently lost because my host family had never been to the Paris airport before.
The first day was mainly just blank looks and "oui"s and "non"s on my part as there really wasn't much I understood...but as the days went on, I understood more and more. :D
However, I still find that during the day I take two steps forward and then when it's morning again, I seem to have taken one step back...
My first night was mainly spent yawning...haha. After dinner we went upstairs to my room (where Katie and Marine are sleeping at the moment too :D) and watched "The House Bunny" in French (with English subtitles ; )). By the end of the movie, I was so tired that every time I blinked, I litterally fell asleep and had to wake myself up...So I don't recall what happened at the end at all!
My first full day in France seemed rather long considering I had slept for half of it! My host sister and Katie took the day off school to take me to the centre of Soissons. We visited the post office, the Cathedral, the school (although they were determined not to be seen otherwise "bye bye" Katie and Marine, haha) and various shops - Stopping along the way for a coffee and hot chocolate (it was 1*). At about 5 o'clock we returned home for dinner and to unpack.
The next day (yesterday) was my first day at school. We woke up at 6:10am and had got ready before leaving at 7:30 to commence school at 8:00am (however, we got there a bit earlier so Marine could give me a tour). The first lesson of the day was Economics - in which I did nothing (just sat there taking in my surrounds) as everyone was doing a test. It was rather embarrassing at the start of the class when the teacher said, "tu le fait pas", meaning "you do not do it" and I looked at Marine and said, "Je l'aime pas???" which means "I don't like it"...to which many laughed, haha. My second class was maths...half of which was spent getting paperwork etc from various different rooms, which my host mum filled out last night and I returned this morning. Didn't understand much of maths...Next was Spanish, although the teacher was absent, so we went to the sick bay for some bread (yes, strange I know, hehe...for recess you go to the nurse and she gives you mini baguettes!) before walking to the centre of Soissons to the post office (just made it back to school in time for English! Which, as expected was easy :D).
Next was lunch, which was really good compared to the lunch in Australia!!! During the lunch break, I went with Marine, Katie and Myrium to the centre of Soissons again - nearly stepping in various piles of dog poo on the footpath! haha - lots of shrieking "ATTENTION!" haha.
When we returned to school again, we found a place to sit inside (it was -1*). While Myrium memorised some notes for science, Marine and I listened to music while she tested her.
Then, the boy who was sitting next to me began to speak to me and once he learnt that I was from Australia, he grabbed my hand and told me to take him back to Australia with him and marry him and have lots of children...haha...interesting...
The last lesson for the day was Communications which I loved. I understood quite a bit which was good. It's like "Visual Communication" at my school, but without the drawing.
The final class finished at 3:00 pm which was good. It gave me time to give my host family the gifts I brought with me...all of which they liked :D. Especially the picture I drew for them, the Aussie beanie kid (one of the massive ones!) and Cherry Ripes.
---
Today school started at 9:00am which gave us all a bit of a sleep in (got up at 7:00am).
Again we started with Economics, of which I successfully did my work in and understood about four fifths of what the teacher was saying. We learnt about legally changing names, and the nationality of a child and how it depends on the nationality of the father...and how the mother is able to change the nationality of the child only after four years of marriage.
Second was maths...while we were waiting for the teacher Marine pointed behind me and I saw the guy who told me that he wanted to marry me the day before! I successfully avoided him, haha. Most of maths was spent trying to figure out my scientific calculator as it was different to the French calculator and the instructions didn't fit mine...But we were learning parabolas, which is good as I just finished learning about them before I arrived.
Third was Communications again, where we analysed an advertisement for ELLE magazine (again, I did my work, haha, probably not so successful this time though as there were a few words that I wasn't sure of, and although Marine did her best to explain, I still didn't understand). We then played a game that was a bit like Chinese Whispers but instead 6 people went out of the room and one at a time they came in. Marine was the first to come in the room. A boy read her a short story in French, she then had to retell the story to the next person who entered the room, and so on. The story was then retold to the last person who entered the room and compared to the distorted story they told. It was rather funny! The teacher then passed around numerous boxes of chocolates and we helped ourselves.
School finished at 12pm and we returned home for lunch.
(Today it was -1* again...ANNNNNNNND IT'S SNOWING!!! - I'll see if I can get a picture on here)
For lunch we had a bacon, potato, tomato and cheese (lots of cheese!!!) omelette. And now, here I am!
Till next time, haha - might be a while...having too much fun ; )
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
: : DIX [[ 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ]] ZERO : :
Okay, so, my first post for 2010...wow. One whole decade gone! Well, I'm glad to say that for me, this new decade began a few seconds after I ran up the stairs from a video conversation with Marine and Katie (the Australian host student staying with my host family at the moment) with three seconds to spare. Only to return a mere 30 seconds later to the same conversation.
So lately I have been trying to shop for the negative degree weather in Soissons...but all we've found are some polorfleeces from Kathmandu which my mum was extremely happy about, haha, she seems to like the idea of me attending school in snowgear...Now that would be interessting.
So I had a chat about it to my host sister and she's given me a list of clothing to buy (which we will hopefully get this weekend with only six or seven days until I leave *grin*), including : :
Jupes [[skirts]]
Pantalon [[pants]]
Pulls [[sweaters]]
Robes [[dresses]]
Bonnets (haha, at first she was kidding and thought she was mentally dressing me as a baby) [[beanies]]
Hm, so I've been looking online and have found a bunch of stores which have some lucky clothing condidates! Haha, wish me luck!
Oh, we did have some luck at DFO, where I managed to get two pairs of warm boots...yes, I know, kind of sad that's classified as luck, eh?
---
Sooooooo, yesterday I told my host sister that with French, speaking is my downfall because I'm quite shy when it comes to producing a French accent, haha. So I told her that she must make me speak...and she did.
Marine : : Tu vas faire quoi, aujourd'hui?
And I responded quite honestly,
Me : : je ne sais pas...
She then proceeded to tell me that was not an answer and to make something up.
Me : : Je vais regarder un film.
Marine : : What film?
Me : : "Rainy with a chance of Meatballs"
Marine : : what is it about?
Me : : Je ne sais pas...Euh, un garcon?
So after she logged off, I spent the day writing and creating my own story, in French, to "Raining with a chance of Meatballs" which I read to her this morning...Haha, 'twas interesting. That's the good thing about another language, you can be childish and just have fun with it!
Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my shopping successes *gulp*.
Beccccccccc xx
So lately I have been trying to shop for the negative degree weather in Soissons...but all we've found are some polorfleeces from Kathmandu which my mum was extremely happy about, haha, she seems to like the idea of me attending school in snowgear...Now that would be interessting.
So I had a chat about it to my host sister and she's given me a list of clothing to buy (which we will hopefully get this weekend with only six or seven days until I leave *grin*), including : :
Jupes [[skirts]]
Pantalon [[pants]]
Pulls [[sweaters]]
Robes [[dresses]]
Bonnets (haha, at first she was kidding and thought she was mentally dressing me as a baby) [[beanies]]
Hm, so I've been looking online and have found a bunch of stores which have some lucky clothing condidates! Haha, wish me luck!
Oh, we did have some luck at DFO, where I managed to get two pairs of warm boots...yes, I know, kind of sad that's classified as luck, eh?
---
Sooooooo, yesterday I told my host sister that with French, speaking is my downfall because I'm quite shy when it comes to producing a French accent, haha. So I told her that she must make me speak...and she did.
Marine : : Tu vas faire quoi, aujourd'hui?
And I responded quite honestly,
Me : : je ne sais pas...
She then proceeded to tell me that was not an answer and to make something up.
Me : : Je vais regarder un film.
Marine : : What film?
Me : : "Rainy with a chance of Meatballs"
Marine : : what is it about?
Me : : Je ne sais pas...Euh, un garcon?
So after she logged off, I spent the day writing and creating my own story, in French, to "Raining with a chance of Meatballs" which I read to her this morning...Haha, 'twas interesting. That's the good thing about another language, you can be childish and just have fun with it!
Anyway, I'll keep you posted on my shopping successes *gulp*.
Beccccccccc xx
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