Day 3 in France

Good Morning everyone (well, for you. For me, it's almost four in the afternoon)! Today is my third day in France, and what an adventure it's been so far.
I arrived on the 27th of August around 7:00 in the morning. My host father, Christophe, picked me up along with one of my host brother's, Valentin (it's pronounced Val-Enn-Ta...with a little n at the end). We drove to Compiegne from Paris and spoke franglais (a mix of English and French) heavy on the anglais the whole way home. When I arrived at my new home, I met my host mother, Astrid, and my host sister, Noemie (which is pronounced No-Mm-EE). I spoke with them a little and then went upstairs to unpack and take a nap.
Astrid woke me up in the afternoon and we ate lunch with the whole family (including the only member who I hadn't yet met, my other host brother, Nicolas). After lunch, Astrid, Noemie and Nicolas showed me around Compiegne. It's such an unbelievably beautiful town. They kept telling me how small it is and how it's a little boring, but I think it's wonderful. While walking around, I met quite a few people. But that first day is kind of a blur.
We got home and ate dinner (they eat bread and cheese every night for dinner) and then I went to bed. It was early, but the combination of travelling, jet-lag and such an increadably new experience had me worn out. Astrid understood and told me it was alright to sleep as late as I wanted. So I went upstairs to my new room, and feel asleep (a side note about their house: it's four stories high [including an attic], but very narrow. My room is on the third floor, with Noemie and Valentin. Nicolas' room is on the second floor along with Astrid's and the bathroom and the bottom floor holds the kitchen, the dining room and the living room. It's a very cute house with a small backyard, and it's very pink.)
In the morning, I awoke around 12:00 (6:00 AM home time) and went downstairs for lunch. We had pesto pasta and salad and a "vegatable cake". It was all very good. After, I showered quickly (the bathroom and shower is very small and with so many people in a small house, one needs to take very quick showers), we went to a farm about half an hour (27 km) away. There, we picked carrots, framboise (raspberries), apples, lettuce, and other vegatables and fruits. We also picked flowers, and on the way to the car, Nicolas presented me with the flowers we had bought. It was very nice of him.
When we got home it was around 4:30ish here, and we got changed and went to a "gymnaise" for badminton. Valentin is quite serious about badminton and for two hours, I played with him, Nicolas and Nicolas' friend, Adrienne. I also played a bit with Noemie and her friend, Diane. It was very tiring, and I was quite sweaty, but it was a lot of fun.
After that, we ate dinner (cheese and bread, every night) and after dinner, we watch Indiana Jones 3 in English with French subtitles. I had never seen it before, and I really liked it. It was also tres interting to both hear the English and read the French together.
This morning, I woke up pretty early and got ready to visit my lycee (school). A girl I met the other day, Claire (who is a friend of Victoria's, my host sister who is in the US) came with Astrid and I to Pierre d'Ailly. We got my books and arranged my schedule which I don't know yet. I will be in class with 16 year olds parce que the kids my age are preparing for le bac (a big test at the end of school for the kids in France). It was quite stressful trying to listen to everyone speak, but I can understand better than I could two days ago. I start school on the 2nd of September, and I'm quite nervous. But both Claire and Astrid have assured me that the teachers will go easy on me and have told me that if I have problems, they will help me.
After our visit to the lycee, we ate lunch and then my country contact en France (Helene Sanders) came over to speak with me about les regules (the rules) and about Rotary. She spoke completely in French, and I understood the good majority of it, which made me very proud. There are a lot of rules, but she told me she is very leinent.
And here I am now, updating this for the first time in France. I like my family very much; Astrid spent two years in Stony Brook and speaks very good English. She is very excited to speak English with me, but I try to always respond in French. It is easier to have her though, because I stumble on a lot of words. Also, my accent "est horrible", but she understands me very well. The children still have trouble understand what I say, but we communicate as well as we can. I didn't realize how limited my French was until I came here.
Christophe works away from home five days a week. He comes home on Wednesday's and I think Saturdays. So mainly it's just Astrid, Noemie, Valentin, Nicolas et moi. I like this family quite a bit and they are all going out of their way to make me feel welcome. I really appreciate it.

And I am having a good time, but it is so emotional and stressful. I cry a lot when I'm alone, but that's to be expected. I know that although it is so difficult, it will get better in time, and that I will benefit greatly from it. I'm trying not to email or call or have any contact with home, because it's very, very hard for me emotion-wise. It's also difficult to keep switiching from English to French.

So that's it for me now, I hope I didn't forget anything. It's been a tiring, but exciting past few days. Feel free to leave comments or email me, but I most likely won't write back for a while.

A beintot!

P.S. I tried to check to spelling and grammar, but the computer's not working. I'm sorry for any mistakes, je suis tres fatiguee et alors, je n'ecrite pas tres bien.

19 days

Hello again! I have less than 3 weeks on this continent! Ahh, the nerves are setting in; I'm terribly excited and yet awfully nervous as well. I am definitely flying out on Aug 26th and will be arriving in Paris on Aug. 27th around 7 a.m.

A quick note about leaving comments: tt came to my attention that previously not everyone could leave comments on this blog. That was my fault, I accidentally had it on a setting that only let those with accounts on blooger.com leave comments. I've fixed it, and now anyone can leave a comment (and please feel free to!).

Peace,
Kristen