Sunday, March 25, 2012

Fourth and Final Family!

Finally I am all moved in to my 4th host families house! I was sad about leaving but I am starting to enjoy all the changes every few months.
This time I live with Mrs. Toublanc. She has four kids who all love to travel. Three of the four have been on Rotary exchanges and the fourth lived in Africa for a while. This time I live in Quevert which is pretty much considered the countryside. My favorite change so far seems to be no car noise. I missed silence so much. I hated every time I wanted to run having to watch out for cars 24/7 and while I was trying to sleep. Though with no car noise also means its a good 15-30 minute bike ride to get into town. Bread shops that I said before were on every street corner are now a 1/2 mile or so away. Also I will start having to take a bus to school. I am a little scared about that since I have not been on a bus since I was in the second grade. But nevertheless I do like the change and the food and the sheep, donkeys, ponds, and cows I have near the house!

Pictures coming soon :)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Video of Paris/Barcelona bus trip!

The video I made for the bus trip from Paris to Barcelona is finally finished after staying up until 3 a.m working on it! If you would like to watch it click here:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stzODGl3rkA&feature=youtu.be
Please give me your opinion and tell me things you I should change about it!

Friday, March 2, 2012

New Month, New problem.

If you don't know (since I have never said it on my blog) I have been sick or injured in France enough times to cover every month. I have gotten many of the normal colds and flus but also some rare things such as shingles. I knew exchange students got sick more often than normal people but for a girl who never got sick to be sick every month! I must be an extreme case..
New month, New sickness or injury. January: flu Febuary: tonsillitis March: sprained ankle
Yes, the FIRST day of the new month and I am already injured. I must have terrible luck.
First day back in gym class after a 3 week holiday, first day starting orientation course. I was so excited! On the bus I was slightly bragging (but mostly just proud) that I lived in the woods in the States and have spent a lot of time in the woods. I was given the rules, emergency numbers, and the long speech about how if you are late getting back to the bus we are docking points off your grade, blah blah blah. We started running and I was having more fun than I ever had before during gym class. We found four of the nine cones and decided it would be a better idea to cut through the woods since the cone would be a lot closer than if we went back out to the road. About 4 feet from hitting the road that would lead to the next cone something caught my foot and I fell. Once I hit the ground a surge of pain came at me and I was yelling in agony. The other two in my group came over asking me if I could keep going. Obviously when you have a person on the ground crying and yelling in pain they can not keep going! Another group came over and advised that I atleast move to the path which was 4 feet away. I knew I could probably do that so I moved into the road with help and sat down. I was not sure if I should try to walk and I had completly forgotten everything I have learned in first aid at the moment from being in such shock and pain. I started walking with aid towards the bus when we saw a teacher. The teacher advised that I don't walk on it and that the other students carry me! I was as far as I could possibly be from the bus at the time and I have gained a lot of weight on exchange so I was not to thrilled about having to be carried by other students but I really did not have a choice.
All the students around me were very helpful in carrying me for as long as they could. Even the teacher ended up carrying me for a while! The last bit of the journey I decided that if two people helped me I could hobble. So I hobbled my way to the bus and ended up crawling to get up into the bus. Unfortanatly our bus was the last one there, I was way over the time allowed and everyone on the bus was going to be late because of me. Talk about one of the most humilating things I have had to do all year! I made 50 people late, was crying infront of a huge group of people which destroyed my make up and had to be carried by my teacher and classmates.
Once the 30 minute ride was over I had to again try to walk another quite large distance to the school and then to the office. Another student went and got my school bag and things since I obviously could not finish out the day. The lady from the office called my host mom and dad who did not have their phones on them, so I ended up waiting 2 and a half hours for them to come and pick me up and I spent the next few hours in the Emergency room.
Luckly the sprain is not to bad. I took Friday off of school, I wear a brace for four weeks and no sports for 6 weeks. (Though I may start playing tennis before then...) Today my ankle is already feeling better, it still hurts but I am able to put more weight on in and walk at a bit faster (limping) pace than I was yesterday. I will be back to school Monday and hopefully I will be walking normally by then!