Sunday, February 6, 2011

Exploring the City and Reviewing Grammar

Today is my second full day in my host family and I'm beginning to settle in much more and also understand them much better which is a huge relief. I guess now would also be a good time to introduce you to my host family. I have a host mother whose name is Christine, and she is so nice and has been helping correct my little mistakes when I speak and also summarizing the conversation when I don't understand. There is also a dad, Thibault, who I have only met briefly because he went on a ski vacation this weekend in Switzerland. There are also two 13 yr old twins, Marie Caroline and Philippine. They are very nice too and we have been talking a lot about the differences between America and France especially with schools. They have 7 classes a day and they go to school for 7-8 hours a day not including lunch. They also thought it was quite funny that in America we just eat sandwiches or salads for lunch because they normally have a hot meal.
I also watched a rugby match with Marie Caroline and I was completely confused but it is kind of like a cross between American football and soccer. Also Marie Caroline told me that rugby was WAY better than American football and that American football was pointless...actually according to the twins a lot of the things Americans do are silly or pointless...hahahaha!

So tomorrow starts our planned activities, and we begin bright and early at 9am with a placement exam and then we are going to all reunite at the Centre Condorcet (the apartment of our program Director Nathalie) and then we are going to a lecture later in the day about Dijon. I'm excited to have a schedule finally and have things to do because while this weekend was fun, it was a bit overwhelming to be constantly surrounded by a family you just met, and I think during the week it will be a bit easier.

I'm a bit nervous about the placement exam but I feel so much better now because my host mom helped me study after lunch and she is also going to help me after dinner, so I think I should be very prepared, and at this point I just can't wait till it's over.

I also explored Dijon a little bit with my friend Justine, but there wasn't really a lot to explore cause it was Sunday and so everything was closed - another difference between France and America. But we walked around and the city is so pretty. I will post pictures soon of my room and Dijon!

That's it for now as I'm off to dinner for some more conversing in French!

A Bientot! (A French expression that is similar to see you later)

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