Yay

I love exchange. Long live "the honeymoon period." I'm meant to get into my Culture Shock stage in two weeks time, officially. Screw that, I say. I'm not going to expect it- because if I do, then that'll be my excuse always, and I won't try and be happy. I'm planning on keeping a positive attitude, talk to my friends, host family, and express how I feel as best as I can in French. Every day is a new day. Just because I'm in the time period of culture shock, doesn't mean I have to always be sad and upset and homesick. I'm expecting it, of course I am. But I want to be as positive as possible.


What else is there to say? Let's see.

My last week of the holidays was pretty good- mostly staying at home in pyjamas! But nice to have a break. Then it was back to school...oh joy, school. But yeah it was ok, I guess. I'm really starting to figure out who are my friends here and who aren't, and as well as that, I'm beginning to have closer relationships with people- they are 'amis' rather than 'copains'. I got my first ever 'bulletin', with and average of 14. 14!! Yay! People who don't know the French school system, 14 is good. Very good. I also got 19 in one of my English tests (which means FREAKING AMAZING work, like 120%), but then got 10 in another. But I did pretty damn well. It was a vocab test on all the words they had learnt from the beginning of the year (like over 600), then we were given 200 words to translate. They had to be the perfect word that the teacher wanted as well, he didn't want any synonyms...loser. And I was only given like, a week's notice to study. So yeah, I think I did pretty damn well.

Last weekend was awesome. I started off my singing in Spanish at my school's open day... yeah now that was interesting... We sang La Bamba and danced, and luckily I didn't make a total fool of myself. I think. My IC (as in the person in charge of me), Evelyne, came to the open day and afterwards, we all (as in her and her husband and me and my family) went to eat lunch, then I went home with her to wait at her house for Lily, her exchange student, Chelsea and Anna (two other exchange students). At Evelyne's house, there is no tv or internet and no phone signal either. It's actually really interesting to see the way that they live and how they entertain themselves...but still, I don't think I could stand it for a year, so here's to you, Lily. I was the only Aussie against three New Zealanders, which was an interesting experience! Haha. Oh, and Vegemite totally wins over Marmite. Anyway, we all bonded very quickly, as most exchange students do, because we understand what we are going through, I guess. Sunday we slept in... a lot! And then we went off to these gorgeous castle ruins on top of a hill, from the 13th century, I think it was! It was incredible. We took lots of photos and fell over in the mud and snow a heap. One of the best parts of tyhe weekend though, was when my host family came to pick me up and my sister ran over to me and gave me a huge hug... maybe she doesn't hate me after all! I think we are getting to have a real sister relationship now haha.



Then the weekend past was pretty cool as well. On Saturday, I went to Toulouse with a bunch of French and German people, as at the moment there are Germans at school doing a mini exchange. Didn't buy anything but had fun looking at clothes and being in the city again. That afternoon, I met my host brother, Gary, who's twenty five, at the train station and we went to Atyka... where I got the cartilage in my ear pierced =) Hopefully there'll be more to come! That night Gary, Stephenie, his girlfriend, her family and me went to see Holiday on Ice, and ice skating show, which was awesome- I love watching skating! It's so pretty. Then I slept over at his house, and on Sunday we drove back home and they had lunch at our place. All in all an epic weekend.

Cartilage in my hurt hurts like a bitch but so worth it =) Actually it wasn't too bad at the time, it's just the fact that I am a tool and keep on hitting it accidently when I'm doing things. Nice one Kirsty. I'm paranoid about getting an infection as well.

Basically life is pretty epic. Fracne is amazing, God is great.

Time passes so quickly...

Snow!

And I'm almost a month in. Wow. Time really has flown past. Whatever happened to my decision of yes, I WILL write in my diary, yes, I WILL keep a blog?? Gone. Totally gone.

Let's see. Things I've learnt include that when EF say you'll be in Paris airport for six hours with someone taking care of you, they actually mean twelve hours with someone who has no idea what they are doing. "Yes, you'll be going to Toulouse by train. "Train? But it's only one hour. And the others have a flight that arrives and leaves at the same time." "No, it's a train." After much insisting that he check, "Oh, you're right, it's a plane." Duh. Also, host mummy knows best. As in, it's going to be cold today, wear your jacket. You're going to be hungry, take some food.

I totally love my host family. My mum and dad, Evelyne and Bernard, are totally awesome- they are extremely patient with my French and very encouraging. They correct me when I say something wrong, but not in a mean way, just a 'we want to help you' way. I always laugh when Evelyne speaks English (she really doesn't speak much at all haha) just because she sounds so happy when she gets a word right and it just sounds amusing. But I don't laugh in a mean way =) Anyway, they are wonderful and always laughing and joking. My host sister, Sandy, has hit her stubborn stage so there is a lot of crying, especially in the beginning when she got jealous of me. That was bad. However, now it is all going good- she's (kinda) accepted that I am here to stay!

School is good. I started in my second week here, because there was too much snow to go in the first week, when I was meant to be going =) I was terrified, of course. I've learnt that being the new kid really isn't easy, especially with the language barrier, and I think I'll always be the kinda random, weird, not-many-people-like-me kid. However, this doesn't matter. Exchange has made me so much more confident and I have discovered that as long as I have one or two close friends, being 'friends' with lots of people is fine.
Several things I have learnt about being the new kid:

1. It takes time to make friends!
2. Every new kid will be taken in by the 'popular' group in their first week or two.
3. Every school has their populars.
4. Everyone else will not like the populars.
5. Then you'll get taken in by the incredibly enthusiastic, oh, new kid, be nice be nice, I want to get to know them type people (usually me in Australia). This is great, especially when you're like, I don't like the populars, so who do I hang out with? For some people, they end up becoming friends (my bestie in primary school was the new girl in year 4, I still remember her first day...).
6. Then you'll find people that you really do like hanging with and they will develop into friends. And you'll have your little jokes and your daily routine and such.

Basically whilst people in my class are nice to me, there's only really one girl I think who actually likes me, the rest are just nice because they have to be, or they are shy/closed, I think. My closest friends here, Flora and Salome, are in a different class, and I was considering moving with them, but they have lots more maths and science, and more classes in general. So no! It's okay, I don't really talk in my classes anyway. I have lots of time to spend with my friends out of class.

School is okay. It's school, you know? Haha. I don't really have many classes, but the days are super long- I'm there from 7:45- 6:10, that's when the bus arrives and leaves Pamiers. Yeah, fml, I know. But during my breaks I can walk around Pamiers, which makes it all good. I try to walk a lot to get some exercise, and also so I can explore. Today I walked for 40 minutes to McDonald's, and then 40 minutes back again, just to find where it was, to take a photo, and because I felt like it. Haha.

It's amazing because in Australia I never would have been so daring. I would have been like, no thanks, I'll stay at home, but here, I am already so much more open. I will go into a cafe and order something, I will talk to people I don't know... I was terrified of having to ask someone if I could sit next to them ont he bus, so guess what God did a couple of days ago? Yep. I had to ask. And He's made me do it quite a few times since, and now, it's fine. All it is is a seat =) I really am growing.

What else? I have a dance class I go to every Friday night now, yay. Also, ski every Sunday. Once ski has finished, it'll be horse riding and maybe ice skating. I love the oppurtunities that I am given here. Last Wednesday me and Lily, another exchanger, went over to Andorra for some shopping, just because we felt like it...gotta love Europe =)

Also, I really want my mum to come visit me, just so she will have some idea of my life here and what it is like etc. Hopefully it will be during summer and we will get to Spain and England, which I really want to go to. And then she'll be here for my 18th as well! Yay.

Basically, life is good, exchange is good, all is good. I miss Australia, but that's a story for another day.

Bisous.