Coucou!

I am so sorry, I realized I have not made an update in a while…I have been very, very busy these past few weeks!

So it has been a little over 2 weeks since my last post, and I have done a lot since that time! I had my end of the year soccer party with my team! We had a bbq, played a small game, and had lots of fun! But the next week I had school off Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday after school I played tennis with Ludmila and then all day Thursday Ludmila, Milena, Laurie, and I went to the FISE. The Fise is an extreme sports festival all over the world. The biggest one in Europe is in Montpellier! There were people from all around the world (including a few Californian's) that participated in BMX, skateboarding, wake boarding, roller blading, and other competitions! It was super fun and literally all of Montpellier came! SO CROWDED!

That Friday night, Ludmila, Milena and I went to a party in a club! We got home at 6am…meaning the next day was full of sleep…

Sunday, we went to the Olivier's brothers' house on the beach and had lunch! It was rainy, but super super fun! And then Sunday night, Montpellier's soccer team won their final game, meaning we placed first in all of France! Even beat Paris :) 

Monday I had school, but we went to the center of the Comedie in Montpellier and had a HUGE celebration with everybody in town! There were fireworks and confetti and beaucoup de monde. All the soccer players came and everybody cheered and went CRAZY. Soccer is a religion here!

Tuesday I took a train to visit one of my friends, Hannah, living in Nice. Another friend, Mika, lives about an hour away from Hannah so the three of us spent Tuesday and Wednesday together! After a beautiful train ride across the French Riviera, I arrived in Nice and we went to the Coldplay concert. It was AMAZING!!! I am sooo glad I got that opportunity and I am so glad I got to see two of my American friends!

Wednesday morning, we woke up and took a 30 minute train to Cannes. Cannes was gorgeous! We went to the Film Festival and stayed all day! We ate panini's on the beach and then waited in front of the red carpet and saw tons of stars!! Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Kirsten Dunst, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Mcconaughy, and TONS of French stars (that I am completely unfamiliar with). It was amazing!!! After that, we ran over to the other side of Cannes and watched the taping of Canal +'s Le Grand Journal. It is a super super popular talk show/news show. It was sooo cool to watch and Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman were interviewed! All in all the two days there were AMAZING!

Alec Baldwin

Blurry…Kristen Stewart

Back of Zac Efron

Kirsten Dunst

Today I left Hannah's house and took another 5 hour train ride home! It is getting super hot here and I cannot believe that I only have 6 weeks until I am home…time goes by too fast. 

As for my French "Bucket List" I can cross off going to Cannes Festival! I also started my French book L'etranger by Albert Camus and have been planning my Paris trip! I hope I can cross off even more and completely fill the rest of my short time with even more amazing things! 

I miss everyone! A bientot!

Bonjour!
This week was so packed with school! And I didn't have much time to do anything other than homework…but I promise in 2 weeks when we have our huge festival I will have a better post!

I realized that I only have 2 months left! I have grown really attached to my French family and friends and it is going to be very hard to say goodbye. Today, one of my friends from Canada left! She had a shorter stay than me, but it just shows how fast time goes by. So this week, I am going to write kind of a "bucket list" along with my goals of the things that I want to do in my last two months.

1.  Master French completely. I can confidently say that I can understand 99% of things being said. Occasionally there is a word that I am not familiar with, but for the most part I can understand everything. My problem is writing and talking. My talking has improved a lot in the last month, but I still have problems conjugating verbs while I write. I want to get that done!
2. Read a book in French—I'm thinking a classic, like Madame Bovary or Candide.
3. Perfect my accent
4.Learn how to cook a typical French meal. And I mean everything from the first course to the dessert of homemade Creme Brulee.
5. Cook that meal for my French family!
6.Go to the Cannes Film Festival (which is already being planned :) )
7. Visit the Northern regions of France—my liaison is trying to get me a week in Bretagne with another host family during summer
8. Visit Paris and Versailles
9. Have a French sense of style—this involves tights, trench coats, hats, scarves, etc.
10. Visit 10 museums—so far I have 6!
11. Enjoy every day more than the last!

I have been talking with some of the other Americans in different regions and we are trying to plan visits to stay with each other so we can see more regions in France! I might be going to stay with my friends Hannah and Mika who live in Provence-Alpes-Cote-d'Azur. And then I will go and see my friend Grace who lives in Midi-Pyrenees and then Noe who lives in Clermont Ferrand.
I don't know when the next chance will be for me to come back to France, so I just want to enjoy every second I have left and see as much as I can!

Aside from that, yesterday was the final election! It was Nicholas Sarkozy against Francois Hollande, and my family's wishes came true as Hollande was elected the new President. In celebration, Montpellier's main esplanade was full of people and Dj's and drinks and parties! We all went and I have never seen anything like in regards to an election…

Tomorrow, I have a holiday! The family and some of our friends are going to a camp ground and having a picnic lunch. I will be sure to take lots of pictures, and have less boring blog updates soon :)

A dimanche (ou Lundi)!

Bonjour!

This past week, I haven't done anything exciting! Just got back into the normal school week, and didn't even take a single picture. I had a semi-busy weekend, however. On Friday, I went to a dinner with all the AFS students in Montpellier at my friend Iveta's house. I love visiting with the other host families and my friends! On Saturday, we had some friends over for dinner too. With the elections coming up, the adults had a lot of debating to do over dinner. Sunday, I had another soccer game. This time, things went much more smoothly! We won 4-3 and I assisted 3 of our 4!

Because nothing else exciting has happened in the past week, I will note some of the differences between school in the United States and school in France.

1. There is no particular room for a teacher. At my high school, each teacher has their own room with their desk and computers etc. etc. Here, almost every class is in a different building, let alone room,  each day…we are constantly in contact with our friends to see if a teacher has said anything about where we are to be.
2. Everyone in your class is in all our your classes. That being said, it is hard to know a lot of people outside of your class, which I really hate!
3. Every class has a different schedule. At Foothill, almost all students start at 8, with the exception of 0 period, and end after 6th period or sport. But here, some kids start at 8 while others start at 1pm.
4. Homework/tests are much different. Homework is optional and almost never collected. Tests and quizzes are never multiple choice, or even have a single answer. My last history test was just two blank pages with a question at the top of the first saying, "Write down everything you know about the totalitarianism governments in the 20th century."
5. Lunch is never brought from home. Everyday, everyone either walks into town and eats at a cafe or restaurant, or eats in the Cantine. The cantine at my school is not very popular though, because nobody likes the food.
6. Lunch is long. We normally have an hour and 15 minutes to eat, but sometimes I get 3, and even some days, 4 hour lunches.
7. There are no electronics rules. Cell phones, ipods, and laptops are completely permitted at all times. Obviously, you can't talk on the phone when your teaching is lecturing, but a few texts is perfectly normal.
8. The students are very focused always. Even with the rules so lenient, teachers never have to ask people to be quiet or pay attention—parents stress education A LOT here, and their kids do not disappoint.
9. There are no sports teams, student government, dances, or clubs. School is for learning, and that is all. Oh, and no lockers either!
10. Girls do not carry backpacks. At all. I really hate this as everyday I have to carry an oversized bag on my arm full of books and notebooks. It's very inconvenient and leaves me with a lot of shoulder aches…

That's all for now! Bisous