I love France.

But I am ready to come home.

Leaving for Paris

Saturday we're leaving for Paris. I'm so pumped. I think we're going to try to rent bikes and run around the city for a while. I'm soo excited. Today was the last day of class and the last community service project. We did slave work again, but it wasn't too bad. Tonight we're watching Saving Private Ryan to go along with our DDay week. Yesterday I got super sick at the WWII museum. It sucked. I lied when I said it was the biggest in the world. It's just the biggest in Normandy. Tomorrow we're going to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery.

Wednesday I get to see Fabienne and Saturday I get to see Amandine! I absolutely cannot wait. Then I'll be home the following Tuesday (the 10th). Plan accordingly.

This will probably be my last post until I get home. Unless Fabienne or Amandine has to work and I have a bunch free time alone at the house. Amusez vous bien!


Ciao

I write poems in deux langues.

For some reason, I've taken to writing poems during class when I get bored. They're all ridiculous and in two (sometimes three) languages. This is the last week of class. Today was the last 7 hour day. It was super long. And I was in a horrible mood. You know how I am when I wake up in the morning, and I don't really form words, I just grunt? Yeah. I was like that all day today. It was so bad.

We have just three classes left. Tomorrow after school we're going to a cidery. That should be fun. I hope it smells better than the fromagerie. Then we start our D-Day stuff. We're going to the biggest WWII museum in the world, I think. If I remember right, I went there the last time I was here, but I probably didn't appreciate it then. I'll try harder this time.

Someone is playing the piano in the next room, and it sounds terrible.

Eventually this week, we'll go to Omaha Beach. That's where I broke my camera last time, so this time I'll be careful and take some pictures.

Saturday we leave for Paris. We'll be there until Wednesday morning, then we all go our different ways. Kids from the earlier groups told us that everything is really rushed in Paris and that we only have an hour at each thing we go to. I'm really glad Daniele, Rachelle, and I have all been there before. I think we'll be alright with not having a lot of time to spend at each place, because we've already done all the touristy things in Paris.

I bought my train ticket to go to Brest next Wednesday. I leave at 8 in the morning. I should be in Brest by 1. I'm SO excited to see Fabienne! It's been three years since I've seen her, but I bet she hasn't changed at all.

I am so tan right now. It better stay until I get back home.

I'm almost done with everyone's gifts. I'm super excited! I can't wait to give everyone their French treasures. I have a real gem for Jared. I'm going to have to leave some tshirts here in order to fit all this stuff in my suitcase. Not excited about trying to fit everything in there.

It's dinner time, and I'm starving. Bonne journee!

Je ne comprends pas.

Today, we went to Honfleur. That's the town where Samuel D. Champlain sailed from to found Quebec. It's super cute and has lots of tiny stores and boutiques. We got there in time for the market, so I found lots of wonderful things for my friends and family. Get excited! After walking around for a few hours, we went on a boat tour. You should all know that I get motion sick, so the boat ride was not enjoyable at all. We left the town right after the boat ride, and Madame Haskett refused to open the window in the minibus because she didn't want her hair to get windblown. I nicely proposed to her that it was either going to be the wind or my vomit in her hair. She then gladly opened in the window.

Last night I went to the town council meeting. It was three hours long. Rachelle, Daniele, and I sat on a 90 degree angle wooden bench the entire time. We tried to pay attention, but it was kind of hard to understand what was going on. I ended up writing seven poems during the night, and I've decided to share one with you all.

"Je ne comprends pas"
je ne comprends pas
c'est toujours comme ca
ils parlent trop vite
i can't stand the heat

get out of the kitchen!

if it's too loud
you're too old

je ne comprends pas
they didn't win, the Pays-Bas
it's a rather large shame
soccer's a stupid game

Be aggressive
B.E. aggressive!

nintendo off
friendship over



Don't judge me. If you were sitting in a 90 degree room with 19 angry French town council members for three straight hours, you would have written horrible poems too. Chip, maybe we can incorporate this into my poetry this year?

James Dean Buttons and European Onesies

Sorry I've been so lazy with the blog! I'm always super busy and it costs money to get on the internet.

Here's what I've done in the last few weeks:

We went to the city where Joan of Arc was burned. We saw an awesome wax museum of her life. There were some really creepy people in it. I also bought a fox keychain at the museum. It was so strange, but I couldn't resist.

The other group has left now, and there are only seven girls left in the house - too much estrogen. We get sick of each other rather quickly, so we need lots of alone time. It's cool though, because I really enjoy going to the beach alone after dinner and hanging out in the dunes. It's rather nice.

Last weekend, we went to Swiss Normandy. We hiked in the mountains, then Rachelle, Daniele, and I rented a paddle boat and hung out on the river with some boyscouts. They tried to tip our boat over, but we prevailed. We thought we found a beaver, but it was actually more like a large squirrel. Stick around for a few weeks, and you'll see all the pictures we took that day.

A few days later, we went to a cheese factory. It smelled so bad. There was a lady selling jewelry in the exhibition hall and it was all so pretty. I probably spent too much money there.

Today, the girls and I went to Cabourg to do some shopping. I bought a European onesie. It's the coolest thing I've ever bought in my entire life. I can't wait to wear it every day in America. Everyone should be so jealous of me.

Grammar class started this week. Little did we know, it is also a composition class. We have to write an essay almost every night. About really dumb stuff. The class is really hard, and it's mostly stuff I've never seen in my entire life, but I'm learning. I'll survive, with the help of Mama Danielle and Elvira.

Tomorrow will be the third day this week that we had class for seven hours straight. It's kind of horrible sitting in the same seat all day - taking an hour to eat then returning to study some more.

Anyway, I'm still doing well. I'm not sick anymore, and the strange white thing growing in my throat has disappeared. Yesterday I received a box from my mother. It contained a bunch of James Dean stuff for Mama Danielle, some of my favorite snackes, and Erik's surprise. Of course it made me cry, but I loved it.

Fabienne called me tonight. She's got another student coming this week, and he'll be there while I'm there. That should be interesting. I think she said he's Russian, but I'm not sure. Tonight I'm going to buy my train ticket to visit her after the program. I'm sooo excited to see her. It's been far too long.

I think that pretty much sums up everything going on right now. I'm pretty sure I'm getting fatter, but that should change when I ride my new bike all over the mountains in Tennessee. I hope.

Bon Soiree!!

Dinner Theater at Breakfast

This morning during breakfast, Rachelle and I were the only two in the dining room for a while. We had the pleasure of watching this big nasty cat chase a tiny mouse around the yard. I opened all the windows and tried to distract the cat so the mouse could run away, but it didn't work. The mouse hit the cat in the face at one point, and that made the cat very angry. The cat finally picked the mouse up in his mouth, jumped up in the flower box hanging in the window, and devoured it right in front of me, coffee in my hand. It was the most terrible thing I've ever witnessed.

This afternoon, we went to the city of Rollond, some viking dude, and the site where Joan of Arc was burned. We went to a wax museum depicting Joan's journey through life and her imprisonment and death. It was one of the creepiest things I've ever been too, but it was so much fun!

We've started a Chez Vous Glee Club. We're singing the national anthem's of France, USA, and Canada tomorrow night at a party celebrating all of our national holidays. The first practice was last night, and it was probably the most fun I've had since I've been here. I laughed so hard I threw up. Twice. I've been dubbed Mercedes, for those of you who've seen Glee, you should be proud.


-Breeze

Je Suis Noir

Today, Daniele and Rachelle and I decided we wanted to go to Cabourg, which is the city right next to us. In order to get there you have to ride the bus. We missed the bus. Twice. So, we decided to go to the beach instead. I am almost black. It's awesome.

This morning before all that happened, we had another excursion. We went to a fine arts museum and then walked around another huge market in Caen. I bought my dad something. He told me not to buy him anything, but it seemed so cool, I couldn't resist. Now I just have Mom and the kids left. And Zack - kind of.

My mother should be sending me a box soon. I'm pretty pumped. There should be a suprise from Erik in there. And I miss poptarts. And there should be James Dean stuff in it for Mama Danielle. She's the lady that cooks and cleans here at the house. She's also taking care of all the sick girls, including me.

Our grammar class starts this week. I'm so excited. I realize that's really nerdy of me, but I don't care. French grammar is fascinating to me. I think it's because I never really learned very much. My high school teacher skipped a lot of things, and I tested out of the first two years at college - and that's where you learn most of the grammar. So, I'll finally learn how to speak correctly!

Someday, I want to bring Annie here. She'd find so many things to write about in her fashion blog.

Bon journee a tout le monde.

-Breeze