Differences, Update.

 

So Mont Saint Michael was so much fun. My host sister, Stephanie took Sarah, the other exchange student in my town, her 14 year old host brother, Alessandro, and me to the mountain. The "Mountain" which is more like one big random hill next to the ocean, is in Normandy but there is a river and it sort of surrounds Mont Saint Michael and on one side of the river is Bretagne and on the other is Normandy, yet it is considered Normandy. It is so beautiful.

In France it seems as if a lot of people love Lady Gaga, so we listened to her for most of the way there and Britney Spears for most of the way home. I don't love Lady Gaga but I definately enjoyed Alessandro singing and dancing to her. Haha!

That night was the night I changed famlies. I had an amazing time with the Alix family but I was also excited to know my new family. The next day my new host sister, Hortense, took me shopping with her friends in Rennes. We took the bus, which takes about one hour to get to Rennes and then we went shopping, I did not buy a lot but makeup was cheap so I bought some, I bought a pair of plain pearl earrings, and a new pair of shoes. The shoes were definatly a splurge, but they were cute so who can blame me?! Her friends were really nice and I had a fun time in Rennes.

On Saturday I played tennis at the Club in Lehon. It was a lot of fun and I am now going to start playing on the girls tennis team! I will play Wensday evenings for practice!

Tuesday I started school! Wow. Crazy. So on the first day I only had to go to school for 2 hours. 2 to 4 pm. The first thing they do is seperate everyone into classes. I ended up being with no one I had already met. When I had to speak French infront of everyone my face went completly red and everyone was staring at me. The 2 hours of class were a lot of rules, papers handed out, and a lot of me not really understanding.

The second day things were a little better, I ended up talking to the girl next to me and she was nice. I only had to go to school for 4 hours hours, 8 to 11 because well it is Wensday and most people get the afternoon off on Wensday and then I got off at 11 which was an hour earlier than most of the the other students.
The third day, today was pretty good! Things seem to be getting better, I sort of understand the swing of things and I have slowly began to meet people with my poor French skills. Everyone here seems to be pretty good at waiting for you to speak and stuff. I had English class which is about the best thing ever. I finally had an advantage and I got to speak English which was a nice change. Spanish was a complete joke, I did not even pay attention but I wrote the numbers 1 to 100 in French and the girl next to me corrected all my spelling mistakes! I don't think she liked Spanish class either... Then we had lunch and I ate with Sarah, it was kind of confusing but we did it and the food was good for school food. We had real plates, silverware, and not to mention real food.

So now to mark down some differences:

(This is not meant to say either way is wrong or right, its just simply different)

1. In school you change classes BUT you always change with the same people, if they have different classes than you it is because they are taking more hours.
2. The kiss thing, its not a myth. They do it for hello and goodbye, all ages. Even some of the boys will do the kisses with eachother
3. One of my favorite differences, the boys here care about what they look like just as much as the girls, and no they are not gay. They shop for their own clothes and actually put together their outfits.
4. People here smoke a lot. It is definatly a cultural thing. I think in the USA now it is considered almost shameful. If you do smoke you usually smoke away from people unless they smoke too.
5. Stores and Restaurants that sell alchol or cigarettes will sell to anyone because they want the money. Also I don't think that it is illegal to smoke the cigatettes or drink the alchol if you can obtain it because they do not hide the smoking or drinking. In fact people my age and younger smoke right in front of the school doors.
6. People are very respectful of their teachers here.
7. Atleast my school here is very strict, no gum, no cell phone, no ipod. If you have a cell phone or ipod out its gone for the rest of the year. Unlike in my town in the States, one day for the first time, one week for the second.
8. MOST things here are made in France, in USA MOST things are made in China or foreign countries.
9. If you want to be lets say a doctor you MUST be in S for you premier and terminal years.
10. You must use pens on tests and most people just use pen for everything, also its a plum pen. USA its mechanical pencils.
11. School is not a bunch of fun here, school is for learning, not to socialize, not to have dances, ect. You can do that on the weekends and outside of school.
12. Meal times: USA 12 and 5 France: 1 and 8 or 9 pm. Also food preparation time.
13. Toilettes! You have 2 buttons... Also public toilettes, you get your own little room, sometimes the girls and the boys share a bathroom, also no toilet seats. Also toilettes and bathtubs are ALWAYS seperate
14. Boxer swimshorts for boys are considered dirty, you must have a tight swim suit here.
15. I think socks are less commenly worn but maybe not.
16. Gym class, in mine you got seperated into 3 groups depending on what you wanted to do for the year. I chose Handball which I heard is like soccer with your hands, 30 minutes, which is run for 30 minutes, and CO which is like orentering or something!
17. Car brands, size and shape of cars. Bigger is not always better here. Well with gas at something like 14 dollars a gallon bigger is not really practical.


Hm. That is all I can think of right now... I will probably make another list later. Sorry for spelling and grammer mistakes they happen when you don't use your English everyday. Also when your computer tells you every word you write is spelled wrong because it thinks in French.

Sarah and I

We went to the market to buy our lunch before

We are cute.

My new room

My new bathroom

The toilet. It is always seperate.