Almost Finished!

Sorry we haven't blogged in awhile; once you're here you tend to forget some things.

Well we have been here for almost 6 full weeks and the time seems to have flown by. We're ready to go home though.
This week has been the most eventful so far and it's all because of our friends, the British. A group of students from England came for a week exchange and they sadly leave tomorrow morning. They arrived last Thursday and to welcome them, the school hosted a wine and cheese party on Friday.
Tuesday was a good day because we went to La Rochelle. We took the train in the morning and went on a walking tour of the town. For lunch we went to a bakery and got some sandwiches and went down to the beach to eat lunch. The weather was a bit chilly but it wasn't too bad when the wind was down and the sun was shining :) After lunch we were given free time to do some shopping and then before we walked back to the train we went to this awesome ice cream shop where they had a bunch of different flavors. My flavors of choice: cara'sel (salted caramel) et chocolat noir :) Haley's: tiramisu et chocolat brownie, also good :)

Today we went to this place, I don't think anyone actually told us the name of it, but it was a little river and we went on a boat ride down it. It was really relaxing and the scenery was beautiful. When we got back to land we went to a crêperie and got, naturally, some crêpes. Overall the past couple days have been pretty good.
We just have one more day of school left and then on Friday we're going to Paris, which is neat in and of itself, but even more special to me because I will be spending my 18th birthday there. How many people can say that they've had the opportunity to spend their birthday in Paris? I am truly blessed :)

Well that's all I've got for now, we come home in 3 days! Woohoo!!  (However I think I shall miss this beautiful country)

Week 2

Wednesday last week was a funny day. According to Charlotte, approximately 100 days before le BAC starts, the seniors dress up in costumes and sell candy/collect donations in order to throw one last bash. This day is supposed to mark the last day before the official studying begins. Needless to say, there were a lot of people dressed up in strange/funny costumes running around the school.

Saintes

This weekend, we visited Saintes with Charlotte's dad and step-mom. For lunch on Saturday, we went to this little pizza place that served us incredibly delicious pizza. It is an authentic Italian pizza place and they cook the pizzas in a wood fire oven. 

We also went to this church that was built on a lake.

Saintes is also home of an old Roman amphitheater that was an incredible sight. We weren't actually able to go in because it was closing when we got there but the sight alone in enoughto make you wonder. We also visited a Roman water system that still supplies water to Saintes. It is almost entirely underground with a couple of spots where you can see it begins. My question is, well technically her dad's question because he asked it at least 10 times is, how did they know what direction to dig? Hmm....

Et voilà!

C'est Isabelle!

Bonjour classe de francais (et plus...?) !!
Isabelle/ Haley is finally getting around to signing in here, merci to Lauren for diligently keeping up...

France is gorgeous! (Bien sur) This week has just been crazy school... appreciate the U.S. education while you can, kids, because France is famous for their unique and grueling schedule. Classes are different every day, and my week with Audrey has been all over the place. Tuesday was tough with about ten hours of classes-- Biology, Physics/ Chemistry, Algebra, History and Geography, French, German... we didn't get home until after 6 o'clock at night!
Mais, mecredi est tres bon:) Just two 2-hour classes then out to shop and enjoy la soleil.

It's nearly impossible to understand everything that is going on and being said around us, so we're just trying to soak it all in and starting talking as much as possible.
Et, Audrey and I might go to La Rochelle this weekend. A Bientot!

Lundi: Sciences Économiques et Sociale, Français, Anglais, Mathématiques, Histoire-Géographie
Mardi: Français, Maths, Math Option, Anglais, DNL, Allemand, Atelier
Mercredi: Sciences Économiques et Sociale, et Biologie 

Monday was the toughest day so far, knowing that you're going to go to a French school is so different than actually going there. It's weird to hear the conversation around you but not really understand what's going on. Everything seems to be spoken so fast. It's going to take some time to get used to but that's normal. As you can see, Wednesday only has two classes and the first class doesn't start until 9:05; there's 2 hours of SES and 1 1/2 hours of Biology. After that, we get to go home :)


 

The Plane :D

On the bus riding to the hotel :)

En France!!

So we arrived in Paris yesterday morning around 8:30 (2 am Warsaw time) and then we split up. Haley took the train with her host family back to Niort and I stayed in Paris for a little while with mine. We spent some time in Paris taking in the sights, we drove past L'Arc de Triompe and we also drove past Le Tour d'Eiffel. We went to a bistro for lunch and then we walked around for a little bit more. We also took the metro to Trocadéro where we had this amazing view of Le Tour d'Eiffel. Overall it was a pretty successful first day :)