Peace and Love

Tonight we had a dress up dinner in the garden. It was ispired by "Hairspray" that we watched the other night, but was a mixture of the 60s, 70s, and maybe even the 80s. The whole family was involved and it was so fun! The motto of the night was Peace and Love.

Tektonik

One of the greatest things I've been learning here so far is the side of language you can't learn from a text book. I've been learning slang and the less formal "street talk". One of my favorite things to do here is get together with our correspondants (French university students my age) and trade slang words.

My favorite so far is Tektonik. I laugh even thinking about it. It's a type of dance that at the moment is very popular here. It always goes to techo-style music and it's very interesting to say the least. My correspondant is not a huge fan of it, it's for a very particular group. Sometimes at night walking down the street I'll see a group of teens on the street in a group dancing Tektonik.

Here's an example: Tektonik

Chocolate Chip Cookies avec Isabelle

Today was a really nice day. Sunday is very much a day of rest in France. None of the shops or stores are open, and I think in general families stay home to spend time together. I spent the first part of the day reading and relaxing. Then Nicky left with her cousin and I spent some time with Isabelle.

Isabelle loves to cook, and she's very good at it! She's also very interested in other cultures so today we made an American tradition, the chocolate chip cookie. Cookies don't really exist in France so it was something new for the family. It was also a fun exercise for me to have to translate measurements and words in order to cook in a French kitchen. In the end the cookies turned out great and were even a part of our Sunday dinner.

Another fun thing is Sunday dinner in France. For example we ate crêpes with Nutella, chocolat chaud, chocolate chip cookies, and a sort of apple crisp. So it was all desserts and sugar for dinner. It was also very nice to sit at the table with the whole family.

All in all it was a very nice sunday.

Avignon avec Marie.

Today Marie, 12, the oldest of my host family's children, took Nicky, Justin and I on a tour of the city. We saw the Music Conservatory, her school, the garden by le Palais des Papes, and some of her favorite stores. It was really nice to spend time with her and to start to feel a little bit more like part of the family. I love listening to her talk! Her French is so good (obviously).

Before we left Nicky and I spent a little time playing with Po-po, 3. I'm used to only hearing French spoken by other students my age or older professors. It's adorable to hear such a little person speak French!

Le Mistral souffle.

Before I left for Avignon, France many people warned me about the "Mistral". Everyone who had been there had something to say about this wind that blows incredibly hard and is pretty annoying. I kind of figured it was one of those exaggerations that locals always do about their city. But, for the past three days or so we have been experiencing this Mistral. I'm surprised how hard it does blow, I've had to brace myself a few times to avoid falling over. And unfortunately, it started Sunday night, the night when the town puts its trash out. You can imagine how that went.

I have to write a little about my Litterature professor. He's just like a French Litterature professor should be. He wears a "neckerchief" with a button down shirt, today it was a mauve-y pink, with a black blazer, and black jeans. It's really not that big of a deal but when he's going on about la vie bohème or le romanticisme, it just fits.

Yesterday I saw my first beret, and it made me smile. Sorry to say the stereotype is not very correct, they're rare.

Je suis en France! (I'm in France!)

So much has happened in the past few days I don't know where to start. It was really awesome to have Nicky, another student with the program, on the plane with me. We traveled together, so it was really nice not to be alone. We left Cincinnati on Wednesday and arrived in Paris Thursday morning. Especially when we were walking through Charles de Gaulle, it was exciting to hear all the French.

On the flight from Paris to Marseille, I sat next to an older man who began talking to me, and after I got used to his southern accent (in the south of France there is an accent that's sometimes hard to understand because French taught in the US is French spoken in Paris) I figured out he was returning from a trip to South Africa. He was really nice and showed my all his pictures on his camera. Then he started taking pictures of a man who came on the plane and he told me it was a famous "footballer". So that was exciting to see a celebrity my first day in France.

Nicky's cousin, Michel, picked us up at the Marseille airport. We went to their house, which was awesome. 80% of the day was in French because her family does not speak much English. Our first days in France were spent talking French and learning the culture of the country.

We then met up with our group from OU and spent the night in l'Hotel le Magnan. Little by little our lives became more normal. And finally at 17h (5:00 pm) on Saturday we met our host families.

I feel so lucky to be in the host family that I'm staying with. There is Isabelle, who is the close to wonderwoman. Her husband, Jean-Bernard works in Paris during the week and comes home for vacations and week-ends. They have four children, which is alot for a French couple. There is Marie-12, Hugo-9, Thomas-7, and Pauline(Po-Po)-3. The house is one of the oldest houses in Avignon and it's gorgeous! Isabelle also has a little B&B service that she runs out of the other rooms that are empty in the house.

The family is very musical. Here in the house there is a piano, marimba, drumset, violin, and cello. The kids also sing. Sunday Nicky, Justin, and I went to see the three oldest sing in the opera Orphee aux enfers. It was amazing! I've never been to an opera before, and I feel privileged that my first one was so great, and in French.

Avignon is beautiful, I feel like everywhere I look I see a postcard. I love that I speak French the majority of the day and that all of my classes are French classes. But on the other hand, I miss my friends, family, especially the closeness that I don't have here. I've made a resolution to enjoy everything I do here and to take every opportunity I can until I come home.

One Week To Go

Today makes one week until I leave for France. Right now it's a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and worry. Once I'm there I'll be fine, this waiting part is what is getting me.