Conflicted and Conflicts

Bonjour tout le monde

Well, it's been less than a week since I last blogged and I shouldn't have anything new to talk about, but I have a big something that is pretty monumental in terms of my exchange program. I am changing host families. 

This has been coming actually for quite sometime, but we, meaning my host family, AFS and I tried everything to make it work. It came down to basic relationships in the family and my happiness with them. The sister and I didn't get along great at all, with both of us making mistakes in the beginning and it spiraling downward with both of not really wanting to fix it unfortunately. In addition to that, I never felt like I was completely at home or a member of the family, which is not what I wanted. I tried to integrate and do things and participate, but without much success for some unknown reason to me. With all of that being said, it is time for me to move on and start fresh somewhere else with a different family. 

On Tuesday night, I will (at the time I write this) be moving out, and into a temporary family of AFS volunteers. The family I will be staying with for a few weeks until I am given a permanent family is one I am actually very excited about. The mother is an active AFS volunteer who has hosted three students in the past and I adore and get along great with. The daughter that I know is a university student in Lille who I get along fantastic with. We were making jokes and laughing hard together the whole AFS weekend. Along with those two, their are two other daughters who I don't think I will get a chance to meet, as well as the father who I have yet to meet, but I would imagine is as friendly as the two I do know. 

After AFS finds me another family, I may be able to go to the same school with a great chance that I won't be able. If that is not a possibility, they will try to find me a family in the North first, and if that truly doesn't work out, I will move to a different region of France. That, moving to a different region will be very, very difficult for a few reasons. 

1. I have to learn a new way of living in that region, which isn't too big of a problem, but it is a minor difference in culture. 

2. I will be leaving all of my friends from school. If I change schools and stay in the north this will also happen, but I will be able to see them on occasion because of reasonable distance and such. 

3. AFS. I have found a family with the AFS exchange students here in the north. This past weekend, I have bonded with each one and I care about each one and want them to excel and do amazing things here in France. If I change regions, I will have to leave this group and join a different AFS chapter, which would be exciting and unsettling at the same time. 

I hope I will be able to stay close to where I started, if so, I will be very happy. That's all I have to say for now. I will write about everything else as it happens. 

Fast forward to Wednesday night at 10:00. I have just finished my first evening with my temporary family, or at this point, temporary mom. Tonight, it was just her and me and it was great. But before I get to that, lets start at the very beginning, I find that to be a good place to start. 

I get home at 5:00 and have a snack with my at the time host brother and sister... So much tension at that table it was crazy. I ended up getting a call from one of contact people from AFS who told me that she along with my liaison (yes, a lot of people I can talk to) were coming to pick me up somewhere from 6-7. That meant I didn't have much time to finish packing, which I promptly did. After that, I got a message from my sister, which I hate and love you for, saying that everyone at home was thinking about me and that started me putting into the emotional distressed state of life, which everyone knows once it starts, it doesn't just stop. So pretty much I was an emotional wreck from about 5:20 to 6:45 when I had been picked up and been on the road for a few minutes. 

After I got into the emotional distress caused by my sister, thanks again, I got a call from my at-the-time host dad. He was stuck at work and he wouldn't be able to make it home to say good bye with the rest of the family. So I had to say good bye and thank him for everything on the phone... Swell. I didn't feel like I got my point across of how thankful I was to him which makes me a little sad. 

About thirty minutes later, the people AFS arrived and we talked for a little bit before putting all of my belongings in the car and saying my goodbyes. Everyone actually looked truly sad that I was leaving, which made me even more emotional. It was hard saying good bye, harder than I thought it would be. I realized that in that moment that they took me in and tried to integrate a total stranger into their family. In that time, yes both of us made mistakes and were incompatible for living together, but that they truly cared about me and my well being. That was what made the goodbye that much harder. 

After we left and drove away, we had a good time talking, the AFS people and I, in French. It also helps knowing that they were both exchange students and know what I am feeling, even with the very different experiences. When we arrived at my temporary host family's home, I was warmly greeted by an AFS volunteer who I knew from past weekends and I got along great with. She brought us into the living room and we talked about things, they talked while I did a lot of listening, while eating some nuts and berries which were phenomenal. 

After the tow AFS people who brought me left, my new host mom had me unload the dishwasher as she finished dinner. It was an amazing pumpkin soup with a random assortment of other vegetables with a little bit of peanut butter because why not? After we were done eating, we talked about the rules to the house and such and such. I was actually really appreciative of how understanding she was of absolutely everything from the language to reexplaining things slowly until I could understand. 

After that it was time for bed and sleepy sleepy time yadda yadda. 

Then this morning I woke up at 6:30, which is typical for me so not really a change their. The biggest change about school is that it takes about twenty minutes by driving which she will do in the morning, and then to come home, it will be about an hour because I will be taking the bus and then switching to the metro along with walking. 

So today was my first day taking the bus in France, ever. So I was a little confused and worried I was going to take the wrong bus, or take the right bus in just the wrong direction. Luckily now, I know exactly what bus I am taking. My school is on the corner or a round-about with about 5 different bus routes to take the student home various ways. My first problem was actually finding the right line, and then getting on that bus in the right direction. That took me about twenty minutes after school ended until I was at the right stop wiring for my bus. I got on and out my ticket in the slot and waited. My bus ride, which should have been about twenty minutes ended up being 45 because I got on the bus that started going in the opposite direction... Good one Aidan. It did eventually take me to the right stop, but that freaked me out at first. 

After I am on the bus, I have to get off and walk to the metro. Sounds easy? No. The have signs saying that the metro is this way or that way, but everyone conflicts with each other which meant I had to ask people which way the metro was. That was luckily a success for me so I did find the metro, and one where I will be able to get off the bus sooner too. This was easier than the bus, because the train tells you which way it's going and you have two options to make it really easy. Once you are on the train, it even announces what the station you are stopping at is, for public transportation stupid people like me. But I made it home in one piece and happy. Two hours after I got out of school, but home. 

 

So that is my past 48 hours in a nutshell. Voila. 

I have something else that I heard today from my host mom. She is a volunteer with AFS and she said something to me that just made me sort of think hard about everything that I have done and what I will do in the future of my experience here in France and with AFS once I get home. 

She was saying their is a reason why AFS is called AFS Intercultural Programs. The language is important to live in the country of your choice, but she said it goes deeper than that. It's the culture people are coming to learn at its absolute core. Different people may have different aspects of the culture that they really want to learn, like the language or religion, but they have host families for the students to learn about the culture of the family and how the family works. Not every family in a country has the same culture, but it's a different way of living than from home. It is her job as a host mom to teach me about the culture of her home, and after that, the culture of France and how the people think and act. Along the way she will speak to me in French as it is a part of the culture of the family and the home, and she can't speak to me in English, because for one, she can't speak fluent English, and two, it wouldn't be the truth about how they live day to day life. 

She also said that when they host a student, they receive almost as much as a culture shock as the student. They may have to change the way they live their life as well to adapt to the newest member of the family. She said it is very hard to be a host family, but it is just as rewarding as being a student, learning about the home of the student and allowing them to teach you as you teach them about your culture. The mutual exchange of cultures is what is truly important here, not just learning the language, which is still important. That is why it is called AFS Intercultural Programs. 

I think that the ten minutes she was talking to me about it in French was the most valuable explanation about AFS I have gotten this far, and I will carry that ten minute conversation with me forward on my experience as well as any other interaction I have with AFS post my year abroad. I now truly know what people mean when they say that they believe in the AFS mission and goals. I believe I it too, and I believe that it is a good mission. 

So that's all for tonight. It is sort of an interesting compilation of topics so yeah. Thanks for reading and I will be back soon with more information on my current situation. Also to anyone back in the states, have an awesome Thanksgiving and stuff yourselves silly, and remember what it is you are thankful for. Truly think about what it is in your life that you value and are really thankful for. 

Good night/day/morning/afternoon/whatever everyone!!!

Au Revoir,

-Aidan

P.S. I would like to point out that as angry as I am that I went to school this morning to find out that we didn't have school and that nobody told me, it is Thanksgiving and I have the day off. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Normandy Et Paris

Bonjour tout le monde!!!

I am back rather soon to enlighten all of you about my most recent excursions to Normandy with my family, and Paris for the day!  So lets start at the beginning. 

Part 1

I had a two week holiday from school for a reason I didn't completely understand (let alone was told), but I refuse to complain about it. My family told me they were going to take me to Normandy for the first week. I had no clue what this meant as I had never been to France before, let alone Normandy, and I didn't know what kind of "vacationers" my family was. I found out later they were the high energy, erratic, and restless vacationers that loved to spend money. This is a very big difference between my family who is very calm, relaxed, almost never in a rush because its "vacation", and very reserved with money. 

Day 1

I woke up around 8 in the morning to be on the road from Lille to Normandy at 9:30. It took about 2 hours to reach our first stop. We arrived in the town of Fécamp in Normandy at around 11:30 ish. We went to a local pâtisserie and supermarché to get bread and sandwich meat for lunch. We ate right outside over looking the harbor, which was very cool. 

After lunch, we went to the Palais Bénédictine, where we had a tour and history lesson on the alcoholic beverage, Bénédictine, which was created as a medicinal drink created by monks who lived in Fécamp Abbey  where the Benedictine monks lived, hence the name. I got to have a small taste of the Bénédictine and it smelled better than it tasted. Gross. 

Then we piled back into the car for another hour drive to this town which I don't know what is called, but here are some pictures to help me explain my feelings. 

We spent some time on the beach, which had smooth rocks on it from the mer as opposed to sand, which I thought was neat. After walking through the town and such, we went to the B&B we were staying at in Honfleurs. We dropped our stuff off, and went to the town for dinner. The town is a ton of shops just outlining the harbor, reminding me of Inner Harbor on a much smaller scale. Every restaurant was serving moule-frites, which are fresh muscles served with French fries. I got a pot that night and they were awesome.

A cool harbor in a town which I don`t know the name of. Oh well

Inside of the Benedictine

Me being my avid photographer self

And again...

And again...

I think this picture looks like the cover art for an album by Of Monsters and Men- My Head is an Animal, but hey thats just me.

And the last picture of the cool, awesome rock arch thing in a place somewhere in France. I don`t get told a lot.

Day 2

Day 2 was probably my lest favorite day, but it was still good. We ended up going to a lot of small, small, small towns that didn't have much in them and all began to blur together after a while. I did get to go to a different beach, to my own personal happiness, and got to see an amazing view of the Seine River and Le Point Du Normandy. 

Pictures from Day 2!!!

Not a lot of good pictures from this day, but enjoy what I have.

Day 3

By far, my favorite day because it was sentimental to me. Day three we spent the majority doing things in relation to D-Day. We visited the D-Day museum which was extremely cool, we went to Omaha Beach which was one of the landing sites in France for American troops, as well as visiting the American Military Cemetery in Colleville-Sur-Mer. 

Over the past two years of having my French teacher, she has mentioned several times of a man who is buried in Normandy from the same town as myself. She told us that his family has never visited his grave, and she goes whenever she is in Normandy. Just this last April on a school trip with my fellow classmates, they visited his grave and paid their respects. Knowing I would be in Normandy, I asked her where he was buried so I would be able to pay my respects as well. 

My family took me to the cemetery and after convincing a grounds keeper (the area was closed due to maintenance) he let me visit the grave for a few minutes and I was able to pay my respects. 

The cemetery is a beautiful place and I felt very fortunate that I was able to go. Thank you US government for reopening when you did. It was also extremely saddening to realize that although I may be here in France with them, I will be able to go home once my time here is finished, as they will continue to stay in France, and not rest in the country they were born raised, and died to protect. That was very saddening to me. 

Again, here are the pictures from day three!

Rainbow over the ocean!

The grave of the man from my town who died in the D-Day Landing

The American Cemetary at Coleville-sur-Mer

Day 4

One of the coolest places I have ever been, and the most interesting throughout the entire week. What is it? It was Mont Saint Michel! We drove up to the, I guess it's an island and took a bus that takes people from the parking lot to the island. From the parking lot, I could just barely make out its rough form because it was hazy that morning, but I remember it was just such a cool thing from a distance with bad visuals, that I could only imagine what it looked like up close! 

When we arrived in front of the island, about fifty tourists from all over the world on our train spilled onto the sidewalks which led to the front main entrance. I saw a group from Portugal on a tour as well as Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish tours all given within the first 10 minutes of arrival. I thought that that in itself said something about Mont Saint Michel, even though I had never heard of it before, or not to my own recollection. 

HISTORY LESSON!!!!

Mont Saint Michel is built on an island with a mountains-peak type body mass. The abbey sits on the very top, with the alter standing in the middle of the point. It is held up on the four sides by crypts (the word my guide used) which keep the abbey balanced. Next to the abbey were the Cloisters, which serve as a spiritual location for both meditation as well as easy access around the abbey itself. During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries stormed all Abbey's and places of worship. Even though these religious workers did not take a side in the revolution, they were typically from higher class families, and thus, associated with the monarchs and aristocrats. They were beheaded, as the French had a very large fascination for beheading people in that time period, and most faces carved into the walls revealing scenes of angels and men, were destroyed, with the rest of the carving in tact. 

There was so much cool stuff in that one place and so much history, I will spare you the details and the extent of which I remember, which happens to be a lot. 

After we finished Mont Saint Michel and visiting the island, we went back to the car and went to a two cool towns and walked around for a little bit. We ended up getting salted caramel and that was really good so I couldn't stop eating it. Thank whoever that my braces were off...

And here is me being all unable to look good in a picture ùin front of Mont Saint Michel

And more Mont Saint Michel

Inside the abbey

The Cloisters of the Abbey

And Mont Saint Michel for the last time

Day 5

The next morning we woke up and headed to what was pretty much Bretagne. We had traveled pretty far down the coast and along everything until our destination. Here is a general picture of a map of where I think we ended up going in Normandy/Bretagne. 

That morning, it was cool and crisp with a light wind that wasn't too cold, which suited me very well. Those of you who know me very well are well aware of how I hate being cold. Give me a warm beach any day!

We drove up to this cliff across the water. It was a very long narrow strip of land that had no way of being accessed easily from anywhere. It was extremely jagged, preventing air, didn't touch the main land, no land, and all of its cliffs were to high and dangerous to be reached by a sea approach. So here in front of me, was a piece of land that had the possibility of not having been touched by humans physical activities (which, don't worry, I know probably isn't true). Even still, it was a very cool piece of land. It is also the very location I took my favorite picture from the entire week. 

After we were finished with the cool cliffs (I guess that's what you can call them?) we got back in the car and drove to this really cool port town that had an awesome outdoor fish market. The highlight for me, was of course eating. But not just any eating, oh no.

 I am talking about oysters, so fresh that the salt water inside was still cold. It was amazing and just ERMERGERD! Sorry, I am obligated to use one type of stupid modern, teenage fad language in every post.MOVING ON... We had arrived in town at around eleven thirty, and the oyster huts had apparently just opened with their fresh catch of oysters. I was asked if I wanted to try any, in the case that i liked oysters. Now mind you, I had only had oysters a few ùtimes before in my life and had only recently begun to like them, but i did say yes, anticipating something amazing. We got a plate of six, three for me, and three for my host dad. We got the oysters, sat along a wall over looking the ocean and i tasted one and felt my mouth die and fall into the sea. I just wanted more, but didn`t to my dismay. It was something i really enjoyed, and is something that I will do again, no questions asked! Here are the pictures of us enjoying the oysters. Yum!

Host dad and I enjoying our oysters

My face in this is priceless!

After we finished eating, we did some small shopping, nothing for me, and we piled back in the car and drive for the next five hours back home from Bretagne to Nord-Pas de Calais. Not a fun ride on the hump. Note to self* if I have three kids or more, buy a car with a back row! 

And now here are the pictures from Day 5!

Artsy and stuff

This is THE picture from the week. Zero editing and just perfection.

The last picture on a beach that I took for the week. And what a great week it was!

Part 2 

About three weeks later, I had the awesome luck of being invited to go to Paris with the girl who has become my best friend and rock here in France, Kinzie. After some minor setbacks and stress from the planning details and arranging everything, it was time to go!

We planned to go on Monday (last Monday from this post). It was a Holiday so we had off of school and yeah, why not spend it in Paris? Sunday night my host parents dropped me off at her host parents house in Lille, which is so cool! I had an awesome meal with two of her host siblings who were really fun and cool.

We finally made it to bed at around 11 to an absolutely freezing house, to get up at 7 the next morning and be at the train station at 8 for our train at 8:40. All went according to plan and we got on the train and were on our way to Paris with no problem. When we arrived at Paris Nord we were just so happy and were reflecting where we were waiting for our train our first week in France. Once we exited the station, we had a little confusion getting on the right path, but we did some lucky guesses and voila, arrival at Place de la Republic. Here are some pictures of said place.

Après, we were on our way to my one must-see destination, Notre Dame, and let me say, it is massive! It was one of the coolest cathedrals I have ever seen! There were gargoyles, stained glass windows, paintings, statues, the whole kit and caboodle. I can hardly find the right words to describe what we saw, so how about you look at the pictures and say what you would like! Also, to ,y personal dismay, there zwere no hunchbacks to be found throughout Notre Dame.

A statue in memorial of Joan of Arc

GARGOYLES

Just your typical ratchet selfie in front of Notre Dame

Pretty awesome right? Heh? Heh? That's what I thought. Once we left Notre Dame, we were on our way to the Louvre when we stumbled upon one of the two Lock Bridges. Kinzie had been given a lock by her mother and had to find a place for the lock, and then throw her key in the Seine after making a wish. All the while, a man across the bride was playing the accordion, setting the very French scene. It was also so cool to see couples returning and looking for the locks they placed the previous time they were there. A very cool experience for me, and a memory made for Kinzie.

After the lock brige, we did a lot of walking. We did a lot of walking in general that day, but that was a long stretch. Once we arrived at the Louvre, we had difficulty finding the entrance. Not because of our stupidity, but because the thing is massive. We were walking along the side of it for maybe a good twenty minutes before we were wondering if we passed the entrance. When we did reach the courtyard with the fountains and the glass pyramids, I was just in awe of the sheer grandeur and enormity of the museum. People say that it's big... Big is an understatement. It's ginormous! The courtyard was huge, and I can only imagine how it looks inside the museum itself. We didn't go in because of our lack of three-six weeks of time in Paris so seeing the museum wasn't an option. We were just touristy people and took our pictures and moved along, which can be seen right below!

On our way out, we stopped at a street vendor "Paul", probably the biggest chain in France. Paul is a pâtisserie that is found everywhere. They sell things from bread, such as baguettes, to macaroons, to sandwiches. It's pretty cheap and is awesome! So while we were waiting in line, we were making fun of American tourists and couldn't order anything in French, or even say bonjour or merci when they finished ordering. The one line I remember was a woman with a southern accent screaming to her husband in line "IT HAS OLIVES ON IT!", which we just died after hearing. And we go up, more American tourists, and order what we want in French. Take that Olive Lady! 

While we were eating out chocolate chip bread thingy (I can't remember what it's called for the life of me) we were on our way to Le Tour Eiffel! For that, we didn't use the map, we just looked up and over and walked to the tower. It was a pretty nostalgic day as we were recounting our adventures with AFS in Paris and our first time seeing the Eiffel Tower and how half our bus squealed like little girls, me included, at the beauty of it. Also, quick point to make, the Eiffel Tower is not black or gray, it's BROWN! That was something that sort of made me think and reconsider my life choices, realizing the Eiffel Tower is brown. We did our pictures marking our presence and as usual, here they are!

The next stop was L'Arc de Triumph. Because Monday was a holiday marking the end of WWI (this is what I was told, don't hold me to that) their was a giant French flag waving on the inside of the Arc. We were not able to go inside like we would have normally, but it sure made for a different picture, and some good ones at that! And it was super cool.

We were flying through everything that day, when we were pretty supposed to be heading back to Paris Nord after some time in Le Champs D'Elysées. It's a giant shopping district with the Arc De Triumph at the far end, and stretches for a long time. I'm sorry I can't tell you where it ends because I can't think of a good enough reference point. On a street branching off, they have all of your famous, very expensive clothing stores, Prada, Ralph Lauren, etc. Kinzie made a note to point out that all of the store had very little in each, meaning that every item available was extremely ramped up in price and very, very expensive. 

While we were on Rue Champs D'Elysées, we went to THE macaron shop. If at this point you don't know what it is, just go home. It's Lauderée, probably the most sheik and just over all awesome macaron magasin I have ever been in (I can count those on one hand). The service was fast for the line, the price was a little stretched when I first saw it, but let me say, it was worth every penny. Every macaron I had was absolutely perfect and I could have eaten them forever. Of course, I did get the "I told you so" from Kinzie, my macarons were a little broken when I opened the box up... So sorry, but no macaron picture.

This is her "OH MY GOD! I Am In Lauderée And It Is Perfect!" face

Selfie because why not?

The devil wears what???

Our next location, was something that was optional in case we didn't have time. *insert loud organ chords here* BUUUMM! BUM BUM BUM BUM BUUUM BU BU BUM BUM BUM BUM BUMMMMM!!! SORRY, the is my best attempt to verbalize the opening of "Phantom Of the Opera". For me it worked, but I don't know about anyone else so... But yes, that was our next stop and I was actually every excited about it. I had my hopes up for being able to see The Chandelier and the theatre and it just got me very excited. We took our pictures outside in the front, as seen below, and tried to go inside to see everything. We just missed the public access time by minutes, which made me a little mad. I wanted to go all Phantom on the Opera, but I figured that would be frowned upon, so I decided against it, mentally wishing rue and toil upon the hours of visitation on the Opera.

This is me being clever

And the backside of the Opera

And our last destination is a place I didn't ask for because our schedule was already packed, and I didn't know how far our of the way it was... I present to you the location of the Elephant Love Medley, where Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman fell in love; the one, the only, Le Moulin Rouge! It turned out it wasn't too far away from the Opera, and we had over an hour and a half before we needed to be at Paris Nord to wait for our train, so what did we do? We took out our amazingly handy dandy map, and were on our way. As we were walking, it got dark FAST! That though got me really excited and I said to Kinzie, "Maybe the lights will be on and the windmill will be working!" When we were a few blocks away, we saw bright lights, and a windmill working, making me feel all giddy and pleased. We quickened our pace and came across the street from Le Moulin Rouge. I was mad I didn't an elephant (no surprise their) but it was just so cool seeing a place made (semi) famous in modern culture because of a movie. Now I have one life goal checked off involving Le Moulin Rouge...

After we saw it, we decided to be typical American tourists and went to the Starbucks across the street and surprised our baristas by ordering and responding in French. They obviously were used to American tourists and noticed our accents, but I will always remember their faces when they responded in English after we placed out order, and we responded again in French... Priceless

So we walked back to the train station with our coffees, with our feet killing us and that was our beautiful and perfect day in Paris. Here are the extra photos from random times throughout the day that don't have a specific time stamp on them interns of location. 

Just a really cool random street

Swan River. We couldn't afford the rights to Swan Lake...

Just a really cool door that we found.

And in other news, I made my family chicken pot pie, which turned out perfect and they loved. Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie is also a misnomer, as it is not an actual pie, but more of a very, very thick, pasta-like soupish meal. Also we have our second AFS weekend this week so we will see how that works out. There is a talent show so we will see how that works out... Wish I had my sisters singing voice right about now. I blame genetics. For those of you who are unaware, my sisters voice is amazing. Done with that, but I have to brag a little bit... Sorry Haley. 

And with that, we have everything wrapped up nice and neatly for the time being. All big events are talked about and voila, I have finished. Thanks everyone for reading and I will return soon! 

Everyone have a good day, morning, night, week, whatever it is wherever you!

-Aidan