Salut!


This week was great! I went to school and found that I am starting to understand what my teachers are saying. For example, in Science (Physics and Chem) we made chocolate and had to use a lot of chemical equations, and learned a lot of terms. I realized that I already knew almost all the terms from my chemistry class in the states. It was really helpful and I was even one of the main participants in my group. I am also loving my English Politics class. We have been debating the different American topics such as abortion, immigration, military funding etc. I have found, however, that I do not stand on the same ground as most of the people here. This Monday we are going to see Iron Lady at the movie theater and I am so excited! In geography, I am also making progress. Although, I felt like an idiot when my teacher asked me what the capital of Hungry (pronounced An gare eee) was. I thought he said "Anglais" (which is I presumed he meant Angleterre, England) and so I said Londres…my whole class laughed at me. With that being said I have been memorizing the EU countries with a French accent so that doesn't happen again. I also took my first French test. The class had to read 6 excerpts from famous novels, and then answer analytical questions about them in essay form. For me, I just had to write a paragraph summary in French. It was hard for me! But luckily, my teacher is super nice and will not grade me harshly. 

La Princesse de Cleves was one of the stories that I had to write about. And the only one that I am confident I understood :)

Thursday night I had my first soccer practice! It was so fun. I am playing with a small team (only 12 on the whole team) and we play 7 vs 7 on a half field. It is a lot different than my team in the States, but equally as fun. I think this is going to help my French a lot too. I couldn't play in our game this weekend because my player ID card is being processed. But next week I promise I will have pictures!

After a week of school, I have been having a great weekend. On Friday night, our family went to a neighbors house for dinner. It was really good! We had couscous and chicken. Eliot, the neighbor, goes to school with me and he is super, super nice! It was nice to meet his family. I learned that his dad was a famous soccer player here in France. He is so funny! It was a little strange for me because we all went over at 8pm and didn't eat dinner until 11pm. The Exbrayats and the Flucklingers are very good friends and we had lunch again with them Saturday. Sadly, I forgot my camera both times. 

Today was my favorite day of the week! I woke up early and went on a run on the course near the house. I tried to take pictures, but that didn't really work out…here is one kind of pretty one, but it doesn't do the course justice! Its BEAUTIFUL!

After that, I went to the farmer's market that they have every Sunday in the town center with Emma. We rode bikes and bought bread for lunch. 

And for my favorite part of they day…my family (minus Ludmila who was studying for a HUGE exam tomorrow) rode our bikes to the beach! It was one of my favorite things that I have done so far in France. Absolutely beautiful. One of the coolest thing about Lattes is that there are Flamingos everywhere! 

When we arrived at the beach I went into a small church. I think they are so pretty! This one was super, super small and right on the beach. 

Inside was a beautiful stained glass window and lots of statues of the Virgin Mary. I find it strange how France is full of all these gorgeous churches, but so few are actually religious. 

Next we rode our bikes along the boardwalk and then eventually got down to the restaurant and housing area. We stopped for a drink and crepes! 

This is Emma! She is too cute.

Nathalie

Olivier

Emma and I descended onto the rocks together and felt the water…it was surprisingly warm!

I realize that I haven't taken any pictures of my room or house :/ I am working on that but just feel so weird walking around taking pictures of people's bedrooms…so here is mine to start.

My favorite part of my room is this window. Its open all the time my view is beautiful! 

On a side note, I have been learning a lot about the French music. I really like it :) I don't  always know what I am listening to…but it's so fun and different. I keep finding myself singing my American music but translating the lyrics to French…odd right? 


I want to especially thank everyone for sending me letters and emails and leaving comments! I am trying my best to reply to everything and I think a lot of you are going to be getting mail from me sometime this week, if not already! Every time I have a new letter it brightens my day a little bit more! Thank you


Hope all is well for everyone. A bientot!