before i forget

when i get back from france i need to...


1. call AE in St George AND Logan
2. figure out whats wrong with my laptop charger
3. write my paris essay
4. start playing the kinect errrryday
5. AFTER paris essay is done, start rereading the Harry Potter series
6. enjoy America LIKE A BOSS :]

it's one of those days.

3 more days in france.

then i'm leavin on a jet plane.

i'm kind of sad.

and kind of scared.

and kind of excited.

all at the same time.

it's been an interesting ride... i am SO grateful for this opportunity and those who helped me get here.

namely, my parents.

they are so amazing to me.

i could never thank them enough for all that they've done.

i hope to be at least half as good of a parent as they are.

and i'm also SO grateful for my host family.

they have been so generous and loving. 

i was truly blessed to get placed in their home.

ill miss them.

and i'll miss you, Annecy.

i can see the Alps from my window :]

lately

i've been thinking about this trip as a whole

and how to summarize it.

it's near impossible.

but here are some "spewed thoughts" about it. hopefully they'll get my point across.

ready

go.

Friends, The Simpsons and Spongebob Squarepants are REALLY popular here.

so is techno music and rap

a lot of American artists and actors are as well...

which is kind of dumb, since the majority of french people dislike english and the people who speak it.

also

they drive like MANIACS.

it is ridiculous.. they have no spatial awareness whatsoever and they speed like crazyyy.

the pastries

are soooo good.

so is the bread and cheese..

but mostly the pastries. :]

my fav has become pain au chocolate.

delicious!

the french have no clue how to do the whole "fast food" thing. lol.

it makes me laugh.

each dinner i've had at home tho, has been soooo tasty.

and like 4 courses long, mind you.

that's another thing i really do love about french culture.

they know how to eat.

THAT REMINDS ME. 

the other day... i had coeur de palmier.

translation? heart of a palm tree.

no

it's not a coconut.

i actually ate THE MIDDLE of a palm tree.

it looks like this:

they made me eat it with mayonnaise

(which was also different than American mayonnaise)

aaand it was actually quite fantastique! :]

i wonder if you can find it in the US..

anyway

other things.

the toilettes are smaller and flush... weirdly.

a lot of the toilet paper here is colored a lot of the time too.

Coke is made with real sugar.

its amazing.

i've had a lil 33cl can almost everyday since i've been here.

there's another drink called Orangina.

i think its boring, but it's super popular over here.

Kaitlyn actually informed me that they show it in the movie Taken!

(the scene when he is in the car with the pop singer he was protecting. she's freaking out cuz she almost got killed, and he says "Here. Drink this," and hands her some freaking ORANGINA. hahaha.

hmmmm..

OH YA.

everyyyyoneeee smokes here.

i'm not kidding.

EVERYONE.

from like.. 12 yrs old on up.

it's disgusting.

and it's really funny tome, cuz the french say they are all "environment friendly"

like they never use paper/plastic shopping bags

they hate everything that has "colorants" in it

it has to be "natural"

they love tiny/smart cars.

yet.

they smoke.

almost ALL of them.

it's bizarre.

on a more positive note,

the fashion here is AWEOSME.

everyone here just does their own thing.

i love it :]

ima come back to the US lookin super chic ;P

alsoooo

PDA is hugee here.

even with older couples

sometimes it's cute

sometimes... it's gross. lol.

but most of the time just cute :]

it makes me miss Devin even more every time i see it.

but

bottom line

this has been an eye opening experience for me.

it made me realize a few key things about life

first

i am SO grateful to live in America where there's ice, and escalators, and easily accessible warm water, and where people have figured out that smoking KILLS you. haha. where everything is bigger, and cheaper1

and most of all, where everyone speaks ENGLISH.

i now realize my life is sooo blessed

second

it doesn't really matter where you travel, because it's people that make life enjoyable.

not places.

i'll remember this trip for the rest of my life.

it's definitely changed my outlook on things.

let's conjugate "savoir" shall we?

today
i have a lot to let out.


today
i was crackin french jokes left and right.


some funnier than others.


today
i wanted to go to the beach but i'm glad i didn't since it rained
out of NOWHERE


today
we decided that we're gonna hit up Lyon on samedi


today
i talked about St George in class.


today
i prolly won't get to talk to Devin. that'll make two days in a row for no contact.


today
my computer is dying so i can't mess around on here.


today
i had a chocolate panini


today...
i'm just kinda glad yer over.

i'm ready for the weekend.

c'est un beau jour dans la quatier! (it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!)

as of late...

Geneva = where the classy french people live. 

adjectives: huge, beautiful, refreshing... and expensive.

but i loved it all the same :] it's prolly my favorite french city so far. it def beats Paris.

but we're going to Lyon next weekend soooo that may change :p

also... i've learned that sometimes you just have to be mean to people. not everyone has good intentions. 

i thought that i had watched enough SVU to understand that, but it's completely different when you are in a sketchy situation with someone you don't know.

i find myself giving strangers the benefit of the doubt.. when, really, they've done nothing to deserve it, and doing so can be potentially dangerous.

i haven't had any HORRIBLE experiences with creepy french strangers. at least not yet. haha. buut.. i've had a couple "encounters" with some "people" who weren't necessarily "sober" or even "close to my age". lol.

on another note... i love it so much here. it has its cons, yes. but i've adapted quickly and come to appreciate French/European culture. 

<3

the animation "festival"

sooo

i went to the animated film festival mardi soir and guess what? i couldn't find ANYONE i knew. haha.

there were so many people! it was ridiculous..

plus i was late so my group of friends were already in the middle of the masses by the time i got there. (at least that's what i assumed happened)

aaand ya. i walked around the entire parc like 3 times, but it was dark and crowded, so no luck.

after about 15 mins, i decided to just sit down by myself.

i had time to kill til the next nocti-bus came anyway.

BAD IDEA.

this creepy old guy came and sat RIGHT next to me. it was disturbing... but i gave him the benefit of the doubt and just stayed there. i thought "well..maybe he just has a really small bubble. and i'm not gonna stay for much longer anyway"

no.

he wasn't some nice old european man with spatial issues.

he was a creep.

he tried talking to me in french like he knew me or something.. i mumbled some nonsense french in return, hoping he'd shut up.

but he didn't.

then he realized i didn't really speak french, so he asked what language i spoke.

i said anglais.

he proceeded to laugh in the creepiest way possible.

that's when i knew i had to get out of there. ASAP.

so i looked behind my, back, acted like i saw someone i knew, and basically ran away. haha.

i was to scared to walk back in that direction right away, so i watched the movie standing up for a while..

then hurriedly walked past mister creeper to leave the festival.

it may not sound like much of a scary thing..but i had like the worst feeling in the world. i was so glad to get out of there and just go home.

gah. 

what a night. 

also, i was pretty mad cuz it was a cute outfit wasted ^

poopy.

what a buzz kill..

welp.

if there is ONE thing i've learned while being in France, it's that YOU choose the outcome of each day by yer attitude.

and sometimes it's necessary to actively CHOOSE happiness.

je suis contente :]]

Annecy.

I didn't really like you at first..

but now i think we're gonna be great friends. :]

class is going WONDERFULLY. we have two different teachers throughout the week and they are both amazing.

ESPECIALLY compared to the Wicked Witch of the West, our former teacher.

i feel like i'm getting better and better each day :D it's crazy.. idk if it's because of those brainjuice-pumping vitamins my mom gave me, or if i'm actually making progress all on my own.

my money is on the vitamins tho.

(sometimes i pretend i'm taking NZT, like in Limitless, and i just trip out at everything..it's great :P heheee)

also, le lac is beautiful!!!!!

especially from the view of a pedal boat ;] 

gorgeous :]]

also also..

this week is the animation festival!

all day and all night, filled with animation movies! every night there is a free showing too :] tonight is Rango. i haven't seen it yet so i might go.. but the movie doesn't start til it gets dark... which is 10:15pm. lol. so we'll see.

tomorrow tho, there's a picnique avec all the IFALPES students, before the film. i'm DEF gonna hit that up :]

AND there is a cybernight this thursday with DJ BOB SINCLAIR. 

i actually don't even know who he is, but apparently he's super famous and really popular here. haha. 

i'm excited!

this week is gonna be rad.

a bientot, my peeps :]

as Pink would say... wait, i hate Pink.

UPDATE

I AM NOW IN GROUP 4

YAAAYYY.

*queue applause*

as opposed to being in group 3.

BOOOO.

my first day of class is tomorrow.. i'm kind of nervous.

but i have so many other emotions that i could focus on that it's not a big deal. lol.

TODAY 

though

was a holiday :] so no class.

at first it was stressful because apparently the buses are tres bizarre on national holidays.

soooo i couldn't really find my friends.

and nobody has a cell phone here..

and i didn't know their addresses either.

so needless to say, it started out a little rough. lol.

but i eventually found people that i knew. :] then those people found more people, then more people found us! 

so it was bon.

after shopping for a little while, i went to a movie with Sam and her...lady. lol.

it was called The Tree of Life.

it

was

interesting.....

haha.

i can't even explain it. lol. it was like a mix of The Land Before Time, A River Runs Through It, and Discovery channel. :I

i know, right?

but the chairs were SO STINKIN COMFY. hahahaha. i was lovin it :P

c'est tout pour aujourd'hui :]

PS- i miss American snacks.

and my boyfriend.

mostly my boyfriend tho :]]