Hello.
I am ok.
I hope you are well.
And life goes on.
Ok? That was weird. What am I doing with my life? I suppose I will never truly be able to answer that question.
I am going to do a few things in this post. Of course, I will update everyone on life and stuff because I know you all like that, show you some fun pictures from the fun stuff in my life, and lastly, start a culture topic from what I have picked up in my time in France. I will get to that later. Ok.
Three weeks ago, was basic school with nothing really new or exciting their. Except my friend tries to explain how soccer works in English using crumbs for lunch.
That Saturday was great, but in retrospect a complete and utter disaster for a main reason... Miscommunication. Leave it to the American to not communicate how he wants, but get ready to give me absolute crap, because I had a miscommunication with an American. Insert face-palm here.
My very good friend Kinze, who is from Chicago, and I wanted to hangout in Lille and just be touristy. We agreed to meet at the metro at noon. I thought I knew where the metro was, but I was wrong. So I ended up asking people where it was and got sent in every direction possible. It turns out I walked by our meeting place was and where she was about five times. She eventually gave up after waiting for an hour and a half and went home because she lives in Lille. She also doesn't have a phone yet so that was also a major pain.
After three hours of me wondering around, and giving up, I got a call from my host mom giving us a new meeting point and that she was on her way. I was frustrated with myself and everything, so I sat on the curb outside of a store called Printemps for about 15 minutes kicking myself mentally until I saw her walking towards me. She was mildly annoyed, but not beside herself with anger, which was good... For me. We eventually agreed it was a mutual miscommunication and picked a new meeting place for when we do hang out in Lille again. She also has a phone now too, so that's very easy to work with.
We walked around Lille, looking like your typical American tourists and we didn't care. We took pictures and just were carefree for the next three hours. We did a little shopping, went to a crêperie for linner (lunch/dinner) and it was amazing. 
Kinzie being awesome
I would also like to point out I have seen this amazing human every weekend for the past three weeks. One on purpose, two because we had to, and three on complete coincidence. Not that I'm complaining, she's awesome.
I just mentioned because we had to, that's right ladies and gentleman, it's time for THE FIRST AFS WEEKEND IN FRANCE! AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! AHHHHHH! It wasn't like a rock concert like I just made it out to be. Sorry for giving you a false visual. The best part was seeing so many awesome exchange students in one place, including some friends from Paris I hadn't seen or talked to since like Annie or Sarah (Both awesome Americans). I also got to meet and get to know better the people from some of the other countries like Julia from Germany, who basically taught me that I can't eat right and "cockadoodle doo" is the funniest thing in the world, Kaja from Poland, who has almost perfect French and I hate her for it, but is the singularly most adorable person I have ever met, as well as people from China, Italy, and Finland as well.
We stayed in a hostel in Lille over night from Saturday to Sunday and that was fun to say the least. We also walked around Lille at night which was perfect. Also, let me just say I am an idiot (it's relevant, I promise). I forgot to bring my camera to an AFS event. How dumb could I have gotten? So please note that none of the pictures below are mine, but rather stole- I mean... Borrowed from other people. So here are the pictures from that fun excursion.
WANNNNNNNAAAA
The greatest collection of humans in
France.
Highlights from that weekend include watching Polish, Finnish, and Chinese students falling in love with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, WAAAAAANNNNNAAAAAA, walking through Lille at night, and doing the un-arm-tangle-game all in French. So a great weekend when you remove all of the AFS necessary and stressful stuff.
School again. But school is great for me. I may or may not have covered that my class is amazing and I love them dearly because they help me so much.
Fast forward two weeks ahead, I am with Kinzie AGAIN! I love that girl. Although I think host mom doesn't like her. Every time I hang out with her she always asks if I like the girl in Lambersart. Yes I like you girls out there, it's just, Kinzie. We went and walked around, she bought me something... Here's a hint... Glug. THAT IS ALL I AM GOING TO SAY ON THAT!
Then this week I went to Normandy with the host family, but that is a different post all together!!!
On to my cultural portion. These are just small things that I have noticed here in France that differ from the US. They may not all be true throughout France, or even other host families, but here are some of the main points.
Pain
Pain is the French word for bread. Bread is eaten with everything and anything. I have had maybe two meals the entirety of my stay here that had no bread at all. It is most often a baguette that is eaten with the meal. A whole baguette is placed on the table, not cut or on a plate, and when someone wants a piece, they too off the amount they would like. It is also never placed on your plate, but rather on the table. Everyone around me never makes a mess with the crumbs, but I make the biggest one possible. Eating bread is a French art I have yet to master. Oh yeah, I just did that with the title of my blog!!!
The Limit Does Not Exist
This is referred to driving, not math (pop culture reference). Their are speed limits posted on roads and highways and such, but these are more like suggestions. You will have some people driving a good solid 160 kph for a long stretch of time and other people will almost never make it to 80 kph. Also, turn signals are not used, and their are more roundabouts (circle thingys that people drive in) in the place of stop lights.
Fumer
That is the French verb for smoking. Smoking is something that everyone does. I have seen people as young as twelve smoking without anyone saying anything about it. It's culturally acceptable to smoke and is considered "cool". I personally find it disgusting, but hey, that's just my opinion.
Now for some quick one liners that really don't need an explanation.
-Ketchup does NOT go on everything like I once thought.
-Everyone's handwriting is perfect, with the exception of the teachers
-Peanut Butter is not universally loved
And really, I'm done writing for now. I'll do a part B for this section another time. Until then, thank you all for reading, and I should be posting about my trip to Normandy pretty soon!
Au revoir!
-Aidan
