Hey everyone,
I have big news.
As you have been able to guess from the title of the post, I have indeed
received my host family. Yesterday, just after lunch, I received an email from
AFS announcing that the information about my host family has indeed been sent
over from AFS-France and is now available for me to look at. I was excited, but
I had a little less excitement than if AFS sent me this email out of the blue.
I had little tidbits of information from a few people before AFS officially
told me I had gotten placed.
Last Monday, a
woman who works for AFS in my chapter posted on our Facebook group wall that I
had gotten a host family. I was watching the Hunger Games on Netflix when I got
the notification and I was like, "Sorry Rue, your death scene can
wait!" A little cold I know, but the excitement got to me. I
sprinted (moved very fast) to our computer to check all of this hubbub out. I
checked my AFS profile first, and I didn’t see anything, so I then checked my
email, and got nothing. At this point I was thinking this was either a really
bad joke or a mistake, completely disregarding the fact that I may have
actually gotten a host family. So I responded to the post saying I got a host
family saying that I didn’t get any information and something must have been a
mistake or something along those lines. I don’t feel like looking for what I
actually wrote right now. Her response was that I did get placed, not to worry
and that she sometimes receives this information before the students do.
That’s when the
firestorm erupted. I got a private message from her saying that she knew I was
excited and that the host family was filling out the final parts of their
application before I got their full profile and she would give me one thing to
tide me over until I did get everything. And that was, drum roll please… Where
I would be placed! I will be living in the northern part of France in a town
called Bondues.
I would also like
to point out that not many people are going much farther north in France than
where I will be living. Bondues is seemingly on top of the Belgium border. My
mom jokingly says that I can walk to Belgium. It seems like a really cool
little town and a huge difference from where I live right now, which is just
what I wanted this entire time. Lille, the big city around Bondues also looks
super cool. Here are some pictures of both Bondues and Lille.
Bondues is a small town, meaning
it is extremely difficult to find
decent pictures on Google
A picture of the city of Lille
More of Lille
THEY HAVE A FERRIS WHEEL!
MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!
Also, Natalie from my previous post is also going to be outside of Lille in Lambersart. her response to me telling he this is, actually here is the conversation just so you know what we were thinking.
Natalie- "Actually, it would be bad if we were in the same region. We need to be separated because there is not enough room in one city for they two of us. So that we both have more progress in France, we shouldn't be close to each other because we don't want to speak much english"
Myself- "We are."
Natalie- "are you serious?"
Myself- "Im just north of Lille. Bondues France"
I will admit, that
wasn’t as good as I remember, but still, you get the idea of how disappointed
we were. I really like Natalie, but at the same time I think we were hoping we
would get placed in separate regions just to have more experience and unique
lives from different regions.
My two host parents and
two younger siblings. The older son is 14 and the sister is 13. I am excited to
see they have a really nice house, seem really nice AND have a trampoline. Its
strange I am so happy about that. Here are a few pictures from around their
house and my host family.
A TRAMPOLINE!
EVEN MORE COMPLETENESS!
Below is what will become my own room and I am
very excited and happy about that. AND I have my own bathroom!
I have to say that I am over the moon thrilled with my placement. My family seems awesome, really cool, and just perfect for me. I can't wait to actually meet them, and am also happy to say that the mom is fluent in english so I will get a little assistance while I learn my French to make everything a little smoother and easier... I hope.
I am slightly disappointed to find out that my host family is not a hockey family, or that AFS didn't find any families that had any association with hockey. I definitely would have loved to play in another country and culture, but I think I am going to have a great time regardless, and maybe my host family might be able to find one before I get there and surprise me. If not, I hope my school team will let me practice with them before I go just to get my fill in for the year.
I also found out where I will be going to school next year through a little research and confirmation from a girl from Utah who is currently in Bondues. FUN FACT- She found me on facebook before I received my placement and told me my family-to-be is super excited to have me stay with them. Her current host family is apparently very close with my family-to-be so I was and still am very grateful for her going out of her way to find me on Facebook. So I will be attending the school below and I can never remember the name off of the top of my head but I am pretty sure it is Le Lycee de la Croix Blanche and there it is below. I will be in Premirรจre ES or economical and social which is what I was hoping for, so yeah.
I also want to ask for forgiveness for any missing accent marks throughout this post (and there are quite a few).
In other news, I have scheduled my Visa appointment at the French Consulate in early August and I forgot how much I love New York (big surprise there) on Saturday, but I HATE driving through that city and to never leave when parents want you to leave when going through the Holland Tunnel. Sorry for any irrelevancy on that.
I have 59 days left in the US and I have my travel plans for leaving. It makes it seem like everything is just so much more real. In one year today, I will be leaving my host family and saying my goodbyes before heading to Paris to come home. Talk about a scary thought , which is what the French people are doing today I guess.
More updates coming more frequently with more substance, so bare with me.
-Aidan
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