So what's new in the life of Amanda the Frenchie?
Well, for one, it almost vacation!!! YAY! I just have my private tutor lesson tomorrow and then two classes on Thursday and them I'M FREE for two whole weeks! On Friday, I leave for Spain. San Sebastian, Spain to be specific. I am meeting my friend, Barbara there. She was the exchange student who stayed with my family in Australia after I did. She is from Austria and is studying in Spain for a month, so I'm going to visit her :). I met her for the first time when I went to Australia last January to go to Phil (my host dad) and Carol's (my "step" host mom, i guess?? haha) wedding. Barbara is awesome and I can't wait to spend sometime with her, specially in SPAIN! Even though I am so close to Spain (only a 4 hour train ride) I didn't think I would have time to make it, but now I am, so it makes it all the better. I am in Spain from Friday the 20th till Monday the 23rd. After that, I am going to Nirot to spend a few days with Melissa and then we will both head back to La Rochelle on the 25th-ish to get ready to head to LONDON! I'm so excited. I talked with Amanda (my roommate from last year in Mankato, who is now living in London) last night and she gave me some great advise on what we should plan to see, so I feel like we have a jump on things knowing them in advance. We will be staying with her and will be in London for 6 days. So, we should be able to see a lot of things. We may even take a couple days to head up to Scotland??? But not sure, I'll let you know :)
Work has been going good. I'm finally at the point where I really enjoy going. Only took five months! Haha. But better late than never, I guess! The kids are finally getting used to me and know what is expected when I come in. It's nice.
Last weekend, Melissa, Donald, Jamie, Donald's friend Brandi (who is an assistant in Brittany, which is in northwestern France) and I took a trip out to Fort Boyard. It's just off the coast of La Rochelle and is this really old Fort. They built it as an impenetrable fort, because it's located in the ocean and is very difficult to get in. It's really interesting, because it's literally a lot of cement plopped right in the middle of the ocean. The next sentence I was going to have here was, "See the photos to get a better idea," but our internet is running slow and I can't upload them! Ah! Sorry :( I'll try to get some up soon, but in the mean time google "Fort Boyard" for some photos. We weren't able to go in, because they don't let people and it's actually now used for a game show (crazy, huh?) but it was really awesome to see and definitely worth it. It was a bit expensive, but if I wouldn't have done it, I would have regretted it.
AGAIN, my next sentence what going to be, "Here are some photos from my weekends in Niort," but again, I can't upload any. Sorry :( I'll try to get some up as soon as possible. Niort is very different from La Rochelle, because it's very hilly! I love it! It's a very beautiful city and Melissa and I have had many fun times there :)
Anyways, just wanted to let you know I'm still kicking :) And I'll have some amazing stories in the next couple weeks!
P.S. Count down: 2 months 3 weeks :D It's going soooo fast! I like that it's going fast, but I'm kind of nervous at the same time! AH!!! I can't win! Hahahaha.
P.P.S. I remembered something cute that happened today in one of my classes. It was my last class of the day and right before I left, one of the kids said, "Amanda, can you say something in English? Say a really long sentence in English!" In this class, the teacher speaks pretty good English, honestly, I'm not sure why I'm there, because, even though she has an accent, she speaks really well, so I usually end up just assisting her in saying words, etc, where as in the other classes, I'm the English teacher, I do my own thing away from the teacher. So, these kids in this class really don't hear me speak as much as the other. So, my really "long" sentence was, "I hope you all have a fun vacation. I hope the weather is beautiful and that you are all safe." Their reaction was great. They were all like, "Ahh! Wow!!!!!" Hahaha. So cute. Then I said it again really slow and they understood "vacation" and "fun" so they understood what I was getting at.
Oh! Another really funny thing that happened last week. I was teaching clothes to my older kids, ages 10-11, and I came to the "boots" flashcard. When I introduce new vocab, I always have them repeat the word three or four times. So, I held up the flashcard of the boots and said, "Boots" and this one kid, I think he may have ADD or something, he's always being really loud and seems agitated all the time, said REALLY loud, "BOOBS." I said, "No! No! BooTs. BooTTTTs!" Hahahahaha. I couldn't help, but have a really big smile on my face and giggle a bit. Obviously, he doesn't know what "boobs" mean, just mispronounced. It makes me wonder how many times I do that in French and they hold back a laugh :) Hahaha, not many I hope!!!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
YAY! I Rock Someone's Socks Off!!!
YAY! I WIN! :)
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Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass the Award on to 5 most-deserving Blog Friends.
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You must link to the author and name of the blog from where he/she has received the award.
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You must display the Award on your blog and link to THIS POST which explains the Award.
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Each blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add your name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, they will be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this prestigious honor.You must post these rules on your blog.
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Each recipient must post these rules on his/her blog.
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Now, since I don't have many friends on blogger.com, well, let's get serious, I only have one :) hahaha, so this award goes to her FIVE TIMES!!!!! WooooWhoooOO!
My friend Kacie ---Neo-plains Woman--- and I go way back, wow, it's really weird to say that. We were friends throughout high school, which, mind you, is now almost 6 years ago!!! And we roomed in college together and filled our walls with dirty words, which really upset our R.A., but we found it entertaining. I miss you, Kacie! And I'm going to come see your train when I come home ;) I love reading her blog, because it reminds me so much of home and it makes me happy :)
Before I forget, I have a couple of funny stories from my classroom experience. I don't think I've ever wrote them on here and I need to, because now I don't remember the funny things that HAVE happened, but I'll start now. Yesterday, my most dreaded school, though it's not THAT bad, but some of the classes are just really misbehaved and the director of the school is kind of really creepy, BUT anyways...it was my first class of the day, I was waiting for all the kids to sit down and arrange their stuff as the teacher, like usual, was yelling at them, something you would never see in the States, well at least not to the extent that the French teachers yell, and I look at this kid in the front row, which, mind you, is the cutest thing. He's has glasses and is a bit on the "bigger" side, but you can tell he has such a good heart, even though he's 7, you can still see he is/is going to be a really good person. Plus, he really likes learning and tries really hard in my class and I take a liking to those who like to learn and now I understand why all my teachers didn't like me, not that I don't like to learn, because I love to, but I had a hard time paying attention all the time, haha. ALRIGHT, anyways, I've made a really, really short story really, really too long, but to get to my point, this kid had a sweatshirt on and it had written on it, "South Dakota." I was like WHAT?! I wanted to ask where he got it from, but I'm sure he got it in France, like how you can get "Paris" shirts in the U.S., but I thought it was awesome, because it was South Dakota. You'd expect it to be "L.A." or "N.Y.C." but South Dakato?! I loved it and it made me smile. It was like a little sign from someone up above saying, "Eventhough this school isn't your favorite, you still got home." It was just cool.
In another class that day, the teacher wanted me to do an activity where the kids had to think of words that began with "p." Simple enough. So, the kids would come up with a word and I would ask them to spell it, so they could practice their English alphabet, and then I would write the words on the on the board. One girl, who is a smarty pants and is the cutest little thing ever, (haha, if you ask me to describe any of my students, they are all the "cutest little thing ever") raised her hand and I said "Yes" and she said her "p" word like this: piiiiss. I smiled and said "Ah, what?" And she said, again, "Piiiiss." I smiled more and giggled a bit and then asked her how to spell it. It turns out she was trying to say "peace," but with the differences with the vowels from French to English, she got confused. While she was spelling it and said "p...ahhh..." I was just thinking, "Oh my gosh, how am I going to explain that this is not an apporpriate word to use?!?!??!?!?" Hahahaha. Funny story and just thought I'd tell you.
Oh! I just thought of another cutest little kid ever. He is in my Monday school, which is my favorite school to go to. The VERY first day of classes way back in October, I was just observing and not teaching, so I sat in the back of the class. This little kid, which I must get a picture of him, because he just is so cute and his looks would make this story better, not that he's "funny" looking or anything, but you understand...I hope :)...but, anyways, this little kid came to me in the middle of class, while the teacher was teaching and came to ask me a question. This was in October, so my ability to understand wasn't where it is now and it's so much harder to understand younger kids, because of their "little kid talk." But he came up to me and asked me a question and I had NO clue what he said, so I'm just like, "Ahhhh, oui?" (Which is "yes" in French, if you didn't know). He looked at me, smiled and went back to his seat. I was thinking, "Alright, good answer...I think..." Then, at the end of that class, he came up to me in his cute little waddle, funny walk and stuck his hand up in the air and said "A lundi!" Which in French means, "See you Monday." And then he walked away. Now, every Monday at this school, this kid always talks to me. I ask him about the toys he's playing with, because he always seems to have a different toy like hacky sacks or marbles. So I ask him what they are called in French and then he goes off in French and tells me about them. Even though I don't understand much of what he's saying, I just love that he's talking to me and doesn't understand that I don't understand a lot.
I love little kids, they don't judge.
OH! ANOTHER ONE! Well, if you getting bored, it's okay. Even if you don't read all this, I will at least have these written down for the future.
I was at my Thursday school, which I really do like as well, but only have two classes at and in between classes, which the kids have a short recess, I sit in the teachers lounge. One day, there was this little kid there, not even my student, but I think he was in trouble, because he couldn't go out for recess. I was sitting there and he had a book. He asks me in French, "Do you know this book." And I said, "I'm not sure, let me see." So he gives me the book and I said, "No, I don't." And then he said, "What is (insert French word I can't remember here) in English?" And I said, "Mmmm I don't know. Is it an animal?" And he said, "Yes." The book had a whole bunch of white chickens (I think it was chickens) on the front with one black one, I think it was the equivilent of our "Ugly Duckling." So I said, "Is it a little chicken, like a baby chicken?" And he said, "Yes!" And then I told him the word in English and he just kept talking to me and asking me, "What is _____ in English?" At one point he asked me in French, "What is soccer in English?" It was so cute. Throughout all of this, there was a teaching in the room who was smiling and everytime I couldn't understand one of the little kids words, he'd describe it to me in French, because I don't think he knew very much English, and then I'd usually get it. It was just really cool.
I love little kids. They don't care that you can't speak complete phrases or don't fully understand, but will still talk to you anyways and won't judge you or give you weird looks. I will remember all these little kids and all these little "happenings." They're the best part of my job.
I'll try to think of my other cute stories I have, because they are the best part of my day :).
Tomorrow's another day...classes, then Melissa comes, hopefully with a date planned with her bus driver man ;) So, hopefully I'll have an interesting story for you soon.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass the Award on to 5 most-deserving Blog Friends.
*
You must link to the author and name of the blog from where he/she has received the award.
*
You must display the Award on your blog and link to THIS POST which explains the Award.
*
Each blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add your name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, they will be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this prestigious honor.You must post these rules on your blog.
*
Each recipient must post these rules on his/her blog.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now, since I don't have many friends on blogger.com, well, let's get serious, I only have one :) hahaha, so this award goes to her FIVE TIMES!!!!! WooooWhoooOO!
My friend Kacie ---Neo-plains Woman--- and I go way back, wow, it's really weird to say that. We were friends throughout high school, which, mind you, is now almost 6 years ago!!! And we roomed in college together and filled our walls with dirty words, which really upset our R.A., but we found it entertaining. I miss you, Kacie! And I'm going to come see your train when I come home ;) I love reading her blog, because it reminds me so much of home and it makes me happy :)
Before I forget, I have a couple of funny stories from my classroom experience. I don't think I've ever wrote them on here and I need to, because now I don't remember the funny things that HAVE happened, but I'll start now. Yesterday, my most dreaded school, though it's not THAT bad, but some of the classes are just really misbehaved and the director of the school is kind of really creepy, BUT anyways...it was my first class of the day, I was waiting for all the kids to sit down and arrange their stuff as the teacher, like usual, was yelling at them, something you would never see in the States, well at least not to the extent that the French teachers yell, and I look at this kid in the front row, which, mind you, is the cutest thing. He's has glasses and is a bit on the "bigger" side, but you can tell he has such a good heart, even though he's 7, you can still see he is/is going to be a really good person. Plus, he really likes learning and tries really hard in my class and I take a liking to those who like to learn and now I understand why all my teachers didn't like me, not that I don't like to learn, because I love to, but I had a hard time paying attention all the time, haha. ALRIGHT, anyways, I've made a really, really short story really, really too long, but to get to my point, this kid had a sweatshirt on and it had written on it, "South Dakota." I was like WHAT?! I wanted to ask where he got it from, but I'm sure he got it in France, like how you can get "Paris" shirts in the U.S., but I thought it was awesome, because it was South Dakota. You'd expect it to be "L.A." or "N.Y.C." but South Dakato?! I loved it and it made me smile. It was like a little sign from someone up above saying, "Eventhough this school isn't your favorite, you still got home." It was just cool.
In another class that day, the teacher wanted me to do an activity where the kids had to think of words that began with "p." Simple enough. So, the kids would come up with a word and I would ask them to spell it, so they could practice their English alphabet, and then I would write the words on the on the board. One girl, who is a smarty pants and is the cutest little thing ever, (haha, if you ask me to describe any of my students, they are all the "cutest little thing ever") raised her hand and I said "Yes" and she said her "p" word like this: piiiiss. I smiled and said "Ah, what?" And she said, again, "Piiiiss." I smiled more and giggled a bit and then asked her how to spell it. It turns out she was trying to say "peace," but with the differences with the vowels from French to English, she got confused. While she was spelling it and said "p...ahhh..." I was just thinking, "Oh my gosh, how am I going to explain that this is not an apporpriate word to use?!?!??!?!?" Hahahaha. Funny story and just thought I'd tell you.
Oh! I just thought of another cutest little kid ever. He is in my Monday school, which is my favorite school to go to. The VERY first day of classes way back in October, I was just observing and not teaching, so I sat in the back of the class. This little kid, which I must get a picture of him, because he just is so cute and his looks would make this story better, not that he's "funny" looking or anything, but you understand...I hope :)...but, anyways, this little kid came to me in the middle of class, while the teacher was teaching and came to ask me a question. This was in October, so my ability to understand wasn't where it is now and it's so much harder to understand younger kids, because of their "little kid talk." But he came up to me and asked me a question and I had NO clue what he said, so I'm just like, "Ahhhh, oui?" (Which is "yes" in French, if you didn't know). He looked at me, smiled and went back to his seat. I was thinking, "Alright, good answer...I think..." Then, at the end of that class, he came up to me in his cute little waddle, funny walk and stuck his hand up in the air and said "A lundi!" Which in French means, "See you Monday." And then he walked away. Now, every Monday at this school, this kid always talks to me. I ask him about the toys he's playing with, because he always seems to have a different toy like hacky sacks or marbles. So I ask him what they are called in French and then he goes off in French and tells me about them. Even though I don't understand much of what he's saying, I just love that he's talking to me and doesn't understand that I don't understand a lot.
I love little kids, they don't judge.
OH! ANOTHER ONE! Well, if you getting bored, it's okay. Even if you don't read all this, I will at least have these written down for the future.
I was at my Thursday school, which I really do like as well, but only have two classes at and in between classes, which the kids have a short recess, I sit in the teachers lounge. One day, there was this little kid there, not even my student, but I think he was in trouble, because he couldn't go out for recess. I was sitting there and he had a book. He asks me in French, "Do you know this book." And I said, "I'm not sure, let me see." So he gives me the book and I said, "No, I don't." And then he said, "What is (insert French word I can't remember here) in English?" And I said, "Mmmm I don't know. Is it an animal?" And he said, "Yes." The book had a whole bunch of white chickens (I think it was chickens) on the front with one black one, I think it was the equivilent of our "Ugly Duckling." So I said, "Is it a little chicken, like a baby chicken?" And he said, "Yes!" And then I told him the word in English and he just kept talking to me and asking me, "What is _____ in English?" At one point he asked me in French, "What is soccer in English?" It was so cute. Throughout all of this, there was a teaching in the room who was smiling and everytime I couldn't understand one of the little kids words, he'd describe it to me in French, because I don't think he knew very much English, and then I'd usually get it. It was just really cool.
I love little kids. They don't care that you can't speak complete phrases or don't fully understand, but will still talk to you anyways and won't judge you or give you weird looks. I will remember all these little kids and all these little "happenings." They're the best part of my job.
I'll try to think of my other cute stories I have, because they are the best part of my day :).
Tomorrow's another day...classes, then Melissa comes, hopefully with a date planned with her bus driver man ;) So, hopefully I'll have an interesting story for you soon.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Super Bowl In France?!
Yup, right now I am watching the Super Bowl. Included: fatty appetizers and some pop. Crazy, huh? It's almost the same, minus the English commentary and the awesome commercials.
I had a pretty good weekend. I needed a good weekend (obviously from my last post) and it was good. I didn't have class on Thursday, because the teachers, along with the rest of France (literally all of France: trains, teachers, buses), were on strike. I knew of the reason at one time, but can't remember at the moment. Since I didn't have class on Thursday, I went to Niort on Wednesday evening. Melissa and I had a great time and I really needed just to be with someone from home. I wasn't in a good place at the time of the last post, but now, I'm much better. We cooked really good food: fish soup (which was amazing), our version of chocolate chip cookies (no oven, remind you), deep fried shrimp (with no deep fryer) and an amazing salad. It was great. We also went to the movie, "Yes Man." Yes, it was in French and yes I wasn't sure if I would be able to understand everything, but YES I did, well mostly!!! It was awesome just to know I can watch a movie and comprehend 95% of what is said. It's nice. And it was a really good movie. We also went to see the strike happening, "manifestation" in French. The French strike for everything and only do it for a day or maybe two. It was interesting to see. They marched, but also had music blasting from a car and balloons. It was very different.
On Saturday, Melissa and I came to La Rochelle and did a bit of shopping. After buying nothing, I dared Melissa to give the cute bus driver her number and, to make a long story short, she did and now she has a potential date this next weekend :) hahahaha. Long story and if you really want to know it, I'll tell you.
Today is the first Sunday of the month and since it's the first Sunday of the month, La Rochelle has free admission to all the museums. So, we went to the three museums: La Nouvelle Monde (the New World), Natural History Museum and one I forgot the name about, but had a bunch of plates, yes, plates AND we went to the three towers. It was awesome, because, well, it was free, and it was nice to see what La Rochelle had.
Tonight, there is people over at our place for a Super Bowl Party. It is 12:46 a.m. (7 hours ahead of home) and they just started. I have to be up at 8 a.m., so I'll probably be hitting the hay in just a bit.
OH! Yesturday, Melissa, Donald (another assistant from Louisiana) and I ordered our tickets for London for our Feb-March break! We will be leaving Feb 28th and staying until March 6th. It should be great, because, HELLO! it's London AND I get to see Amanda (my roomie from last year) because she is in living in London! I'm SOOOOOOO excited for the both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!
2 months and 2 weeks till my MAMA comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that means 3 months till I go HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I can't wait! OH! AND our trip that my Mama and I are going on will consist of: Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, London and.............EGYPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to see pyramids. It's not definate yet, but we will know this week if we are going to be going to Egypt! I really, really, really, really hope we can!
Anyways, I hope everyone is having a Happy Super Bowl Sunday :D !!!
I had a pretty good weekend. I needed a good weekend (obviously from my last post) and it was good. I didn't have class on Thursday, because the teachers, along with the rest of France (literally all of France: trains, teachers, buses), were on strike. I knew of the reason at one time, but can't remember at the moment. Since I didn't have class on Thursday, I went to Niort on Wednesday evening. Melissa and I had a great time and I really needed just to be with someone from home. I wasn't in a good place at the time of the last post, but now, I'm much better. We cooked really good food: fish soup (which was amazing), our version of chocolate chip cookies (no oven, remind you), deep fried shrimp (with no deep fryer) and an amazing salad. It was great. We also went to the movie, "Yes Man." Yes, it was in French and yes I wasn't sure if I would be able to understand everything, but YES I did, well mostly!!! It was awesome just to know I can watch a movie and comprehend 95% of what is said. It's nice. And it was a really good movie. We also went to see the strike happening, "manifestation" in French. The French strike for everything and only do it for a day or maybe two. It was interesting to see. They marched, but also had music blasting from a car and balloons. It was very different.
On Saturday, Melissa and I came to La Rochelle and did a bit of shopping. After buying nothing, I dared Melissa to give the cute bus driver her number and, to make a long story short, she did and now she has a potential date this next weekend :) hahahaha. Long story and if you really want to know it, I'll tell you.
Today is the first Sunday of the month and since it's the first Sunday of the month, La Rochelle has free admission to all the museums. So, we went to the three museums: La Nouvelle Monde (the New World), Natural History Museum and one I forgot the name about, but had a bunch of plates, yes, plates AND we went to the three towers. It was awesome, because, well, it was free, and it was nice to see what La Rochelle had.
Tonight, there is people over at our place for a Super Bowl Party. It is 12:46 a.m. (7 hours ahead of home) and they just started. I have to be up at 8 a.m., so I'll probably be hitting the hay in just a bit.
OH! Yesturday, Melissa, Donald (another assistant from Louisiana) and I ordered our tickets for London for our Feb-March break! We will be leaving Feb 28th and staying until March 6th. It should be great, because, HELLO! it's London AND I get to see Amanda (my roomie from last year) because she is in living in London! I'm SOOOOOOO excited for the both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!
2 months and 2 weeks till my MAMA comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that means 3 months till I go HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, I can't wait! OH! AND our trip that my Mama and I are going on will consist of: Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, London and.............EGYPT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to see pyramids. It's not definate yet, but we will know this week if we are going to be going to Egypt! I really, really, really, really hope we can!
Anyways, I hope everyone is having a Happy Super Bowl Sunday :D !!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
And everything will be just fine....
So, this might not be a "happy-go-lucky-I'm-in-France-yay" post. I'm struggling. I thought this time here would help me to accept and understand people from different backgrounds (American, French, black, white, children, adults, etc) better. But actually, it has done the complete opposite.
I always saw myself as someone that could be around and get along with almost anyone if I had to, no matter what conflict of interest or views. I was brought up to accept people how they are and not to judge them. I feel as though I do my best at this. In my situation, where, for your own sanity, you must find or form a "family" with the people that are around you and who you can relate the best with, which for me, obviously, is English speakers. And I would have thought that people here would be the "I'm opened minded, love traveling and exploring new cultures and accept people for who they are" like myself. Granted, most of them are or most of them have some of these qualities, but I often wonder, despite having these qualities, are they soulless? Do these people get personal gratification for making other people feel crappy?
I won't go into detail, because the details are not my point. But who the hell are these people and when do I get my true friends back?????? I've almost forgotten what it feels like to have true friends by my side, to catch me when I stumble, to be there to listen, to have a shoulder to cry on.
I've been wondering lately too, probably more often than I'd like, if my experience here would have been better if I would have been placed with different people or in a different area. My thinking: yes. I think I would have actually enjoyed myself more and not be so homesick. But, then again, maybe I'm wrong? Maybe this is the best there is. In that case, I guess I have to take it.
Can a few people ruin a really good thing? My mother always told me never to let other people's negativity get in the way of my fun. But how much negativity can one person take?
I can't wait to go home. I want to go home. I miss my family, my friends, my boyfriend, so much it makes my heart hurt every time I think about it. I'm counting the days, the hours, the minutes till I go. I love France and have enjoyed most of my time here, but I'm ready to go home. These people aren't me. My people back home are me. And I need them.
I know this post sounds depressing, but I'm just a bit down and out at the moment and don't have anyone to talk to here, so I guess I'll just let it out to anyone who wants to read it. But in the end, don't worry about me, I'll be fine, I always am, I'm Amanda :). I'll still get up and smile and go on with my day, though it probably won't be the real Amanda smile your used to, I'm saving those till I get home :)
I always saw myself as someone that could be around and get along with almost anyone if I had to, no matter what conflict of interest or views. I was brought up to accept people how they are and not to judge them. I feel as though I do my best at this. In my situation, where, for your own sanity, you must find or form a "family" with the people that are around you and who you can relate the best with, which for me, obviously, is English speakers. And I would have thought that people here would be the "I'm opened minded, love traveling and exploring new cultures and accept people for who they are" like myself. Granted, most of them are or most of them have some of these qualities, but I often wonder, despite having these qualities, are they soulless? Do these people get personal gratification for making other people feel crappy?
I won't go into detail, because the details are not my point. But who the hell are these people and when do I get my true friends back?????? I've almost forgotten what it feels like to have true friends by my side, to catch me when I stumble, to be there to listen, to have a shoulder to cry on.
I've been wondering lately too, probably more often than I'd like, if my experience here would have been better if I would have been placed with different people or in a different area. My thinking: yes. I think I would have actually enjoyed myself more and not be so homesick. But, then again, maybe I'm wrong? Maybe this is the best there is. In that case, I guess I have to take it.
Can a few people ruin a really good thing? My mother always told me never to let other people's negativity get in the way of my fun. But how much negativity can one person take?
I can't wait to go home. I want to go home. I miss my family, my friends, my boyfriend, so much it makes my heart hurt every time I think about it. I'm counting the days, the hours, the minutes till I go. I love France and have enjoyed most of my time here, but I'm ready to go home. These people aren't me. My people back home are me. And I need them.
I know this post sounds depressing, but I'm just a bit down and out at the moment and don't have anyone to talk to here, so I guess I'll just let it out to anyone who wants to read it. But in the end, don't worry about me, I'll be fine, I always am, I'm Amanda :). I'll still get up and smile and go on with my day, though it probably won't be the real Amanda smile your used to, I'm saving those till I get home :)
Monday, January 12, 2009
FINALLY, SHE HAS RETURNED!!!
ALRIGHT! Since, it's only been a million days since I've updates, I guess now is better than ever :).
So much has happened in the last couple months, I don't know where to begin!
Well, I think I left off around Thanksgiving...so we'll start there...
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was hosted at our house, because it's the most accommodating for many people. There were around 30 people at our house, who represented 11 nationalities! It was awesome to spread the tradition of Thanksgiving to people who've never even heard of it. It was a really good time. We had a HUGE Turkey and soooo much food. Everyone brought at least one thing, some people two or three, so we had a lot to eat. But it was delicious and we all had a great time.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, nothing much happened. I was just trying to get through my days till Nick came :). Though, we did go ice skating in Rochefort (a near by town). It was really fun, because it was a really nice day and I haven't done it for so long that it was great to get back up and going.
Nick arrived on the 24th (Christmas Eve) in Paris. I went to pick him up at the airport around noon. It was so awesome to see him. We had to hang out in the train station for a few hours till our train left at 3:30. We finally arrived in La Rochelle around 8:30. Poor guy was so tired. He slept most of the train ride and I don't blame him! Traveling for almost a whole day is tiring. When we got back to my house, Melissa, Andrea, Laura, Ben and Salah were there and they had made dinner, which was perfect, because we were starving. We ended the night early, because we were both soooo tired. I woke up on Christmas day with the other assistants and let Nick rest from his travels. We (the other assistants and I) made breakfast. It was SOOOO good! We made eggs, pancakes (with REAL maple syrup, which the French don't really use), and sausages. It was so American and I loved it! Nick slept in till the early afternoon, because he was so exhausted. Then, we started cooking for our Christmas meal. It was all very yummy.
After we ate and cleaned up, we opened presents. We did a man/women exchange, so everyone had a gift to open. Then we lite off the fireworks that Ben received as a gift and after the excitement of that was over, we just hung out and played some Wii and enjoyed some drinks. Nick and I called it an early night, because we had to wake up (semi) early to catch a train to Paris.
The days before Christmas, Nick and I toured La Rochelle. We went to the beaches, two of the three towers and walked around La Rochelle. It was fun, but La Rochelle isn't THAT big that you can tour around it for days and days. So we were ready to get out.
We woke up around 10:00 and left on the train at 11:37. We arrived in Paris at 4:30ish and then had to wait around about an hour then caught a train to Beauvais, which is about 45 minutes out of Paris. It is where we had to fly out of. We arrived in Beauvais around 6:00 and there was suppose to be a bus to take us to our hotel, but since it was New Years day, everything was messed up and no taxi were running or no one was really working at the train station. We almost decided to walk to our hotel, but decided against it, because it ended up being a really long ways away. After almost two hours and me almost breaking down in frustration, the bus FINALLY came. We arrived at our hotel, which could have been classified as a very small dorm room, complete with bunk beds! Haha, thankfully the lower bed was a double, so we didn't have to "bunk up." It was a very small room, but we managed for the night. After getting checked in, we made it over to the "Buffalo Grill" to have a bite to eat. It was so American, and sort of like Applebee's, that it made me giggle. The meal was okay, but we didn't mind, we were hungry. We got back to the hotel and called it a night in order to get up at 7:30.
We got up and arrived at the airport by bus at around 9:30. Our plane didn't leave until 12:00, so we had breakfast and sat around for a bit. We checked in, did the security thing and then waited for our plane. When I was booking our tickets, I accidentally asked for "priority boarding," which we had no idea what it was. Well, it turned out to be that we got to board the plane first, because with RyanAir (the airline), you don't have assigned seats, you just, literally, get on and sit down, so with priority booking, we got to choose our seat first. It was kind of crazy, but we got on an got into our seats. The airline has cheap seats, but aren't very customer oriented. They don't serve drinks, well they do, but you must buy them. It's kind of sketch, but what do you do? It's cheap.
So we get to Dublin and find a bus to take us to our hotel. We get off, check in and get up to our room and, after one unsuccessful attempt at our key not working and going back down to the desk to get another, we finally made it into our room, which was AMAZING! Big bed, big closet, big desk. A very nice room to say the least...and cheap!
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel, then made our way downtown Dublin. We had to walk, but the walk wasn't bad and it was really beautiful. It took us about 25 minutes to walk down. We arrived in the downtown area and walked around for a bit and then made our way to Trinity College and walked around the campus. Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It was a really beautiful. It was only around 4:30 in the afternoon, but it was already dark, because Dublin is so far north.
We ended up getting a bite to eat at a really expensive pizza place, where we only got one small pizza and garlic bread and then ended up hitting up a Burger King on the way home, haha :) and then heading back to the hotel to get a goodnight rest for the next day. We woke up late, surprise, but it was because I set my alarm wrong. We ended up getting going around 10:00ish and started to pound the pavement. We first went to Christ Church and Dublinia, then headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral and saw where St. Patrick was baptized. We then we walked to the Guinness Storehouse, took a tour of that, then walked to Dublin Castle and toured that also, THEN walked to the tourism office to book our tour for the next day. We got a bite to eat again, which was most likely Burger King cause it was really cheap and I haven't had the goodness that is Burger King in many months, then we went to our Literary Pub Crawl. It was really interesting and fun. It was two actors who took us around to four different pubs and around Trinity College, while telling stories of writers that came form Dublin. It was really fun. It lasted around 2 hours and 45 minutes and after, we headed back to the hotel. The next day we got up and took a tour of the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough and surrounding areas, where many movies were filmed, such as "Brave Heart" and "P.S. I Love You." The tour lasted the whole day and we got back to the hotel around 6:30ish. We rested for a while then went to get a pizza and called it a night, because we had to get up at 2:45 to catch a bus to the airport to fly out at 6:00! Ei ei ei!
We got up at 2:30 and were outside waiting for a bus with another lady when a taxi driver pulled up and said he'd take us to the airport for the same price as the bus and it would take 1/2 the time. So we did it and arrived around 4:00. We checked in and found some breakfast then waited for out plane. We flew out and arrived in Beauvais at 9:00 (with the time change). We got a bus to the train station and got on a train bound for Paris. One stop in to our train ride, the train ended up stopping, because some kids were messing around. We sat there for over an hour and FINALLY got on our way. We arrived in Paris, got the metro to our hotel, dropped off our bags and started hitting Paris by foot. In 5 hours, we saw (by foot mind you): Notre Dame (inside and outside and around), Le Louvre (just the outside), Tuileries Gardens, Champs-Elysees, Arc-du-Triumph and the Eiffel Tower! We headed back to our hotel and spent the night watching French game shows. We went to sleep and woke up to take Nick to the airport. We got there and waited in line for two hours just for him to check in. It was so busy because they canceled the flights the day before, so there were double the number of people who had to fly that day. After saying our sad goodbyes, he left and I went to catch my train.
And that was our trip! Obviously there was much more to it, but you can see all the details in the pictures. I don't have all the pictures up quite yet, but you can randomly check out: http://bonjouramanda.myphotoalbum.com/ for updates. I have a few up, but our internet is really slow, so it takes awhile to get them up.
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year! I will be updating this more often, so keep a look out!
Remember, check for updates on my photo album!!!
Talk to you soon :)
So much has happened in the last couple months, I don't know where to begin!
Well, I think I left off around Thanksgiving...so we'll start there...
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was hosted at our house, because it's the most accommodating for many people. There were around 30 people at our house, who represented 11 nationalities! It was awesome to spread the tradition of Thanksgiving to people who've never even heard of it. It was a really good time. We had a HUGE Turkey and soooo much food. Everyone brought at least one thing, some people two or three, so we had a lot to eat. But it was delicious and we all had a great time.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, nothing much happened. I was just trying to get through my days till Nick came :). Though, we did go ice skating in Rochefort (a near by town). It was really fun, because it was a really nice day and I haven't done it for so long that it was great to get back up and going.
Nick arrived on the 24th (Christmas Eve) in Paris. I went to pick him up at the airport around noon. It was so awesome to see him. We had to hang out in the train station for a few hours till our train left at 3:30. We finally arrived in La Rochelle around 8:30. Poor guy was so tired. He slept most of the train ride and I don't blame him! Traveling for almost a whole day is tiring. When we got back to my house, Melissa, Andrea, Laura, Ben and Salah were there and they had made dinner, which was perfect, because we were starving. We ended the night early, because we were both soooo tired. I woke up on Christmas day with the other assistants and let Nick rest from his travels. We (the other assistants and I) made breakfast. It was SOOOO good! We made eggs, pancakes (with REAL maple syrup, which the French don't really use), and sausages. It was so American and I loved it! Nick slept in till the early afternoon, because he was so exhausted. Then, we started cooking for our Christmas meal. It was all very yummy.
After we ate and cleaned up, we opened presents. We did a man/women exchange, so everyone had a gift to open. Then we lite off the fireworks that Ben received as a gift and after the excitement of that was over, we just hung out and played some Wii and enjoyed some drinks. Nick and I called it an early night, because we had to wake up (semi) early to catch a train to Paris.
The days before Christmas, Nick and I toured La Rochelle. We went to the beaches, two of the three towers and walked around La Rochelle. It was fun, but La Rochelle isn't THAT big that you can tour around it for days and days. So we were ready to get out.
We woke up around 10:00 and left on the train at 11:37. We arrived in Paris at 4:30ish and then had to wait around about an hour then caught a train to Beauvais, which is about 45 minutes out of Paris. It is where we had to fly out of. We arrived in Beauvais around 6:00 and there was suppose to be a bus to take us to our hotel, but since it was New Years day, everything was messed up and no taxi were running or no one was really working at the train station. We almost decided to walk to our hotel, but decided against it, because it ended up being a really long ways away. After almost two hours and me almost breaking down in frustration, the bus FINALLY came. We arrived at our hotel, which could have been classified as a very small dorm room, complete with bunk beds! Haha, thankfully the lower bed was a double, so we didn't have to "bunk up." It was a very small room, but we managed for the night. After getting checked in, we made it over to the "Buffalo Grill" to have a bite to eat. It was so American, and sort of like Applebee's, that it made me giggle. The meal was okay, but we didn't mind, we were hungry. We got back to the hotel and called it a night in order to get up at 7:30.
We got up and arrived at the airport by bus at around 9:30. Our plane didn't leave until 12:00, so we had breakfast and sat around for a bit. We checked in, did the security thing and then waited for our plane. When I was booking our tickets, I accidentally asked for "priority boarding," which we had no idea what it was. Well, it turned out to be that we got to board the plane first, because with RyanAir (the airline), you don't have assigned seats, you just, literally, get on and sit down, so with priority booking, we got to choose our seat first. It was kind of crazy, but we got on an got into our seats. The airline has cheap seats, but aren't very customer oriented. They don't serve drinks, well they do, but you must buy them. It's kind of sketch, but what do you do? It's cheap.
So we get to Dublin and find a bus to take us to our hotel. We get off, check in and get up to our room and, after one unsuccessful attempt at our key not working and going back down to the desk to get another, we finally made it into our room, which was AMAZING! Big bed, big closet, big desk. A very nice room to say the least...and cheap!
We dropped our stuff off at the hotel, then made our way downtown Dublin. We had to walk, but the walk wasn't bad and it was really beautiful. It took us about 25 minutes to walk down. We arrived in the downtown area and walked around for a bit and then made our way to Trinity College and walked around the campus. Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It was a really beautiful. It was only around 4:30 in the afternoon, but it was already dark, because Dublin is so far north.
We ended up getting a bite to eat at a really expensive pizza place, where we only got one small pizza and garlic bread and then ended up hitting up a Burger King on the way home, haha :) and then heading back to the hotel to get a goodnight rest for the next day. We woke up late, surprise, but it was because I set my alarm wrong. We ended up getting going around 10:00ish and started to pound the pavement. We first went to Christ Church and Dublinia, then headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral and saw where St. Patrick was baptized. We then we walked to the Guinness Storehouse, took a tour of that, then walked to Dublin Castle and toured that also, THEN walked to the tourism office to book our tour for the next day. We got a bite to eat again, which was most likely Burger King cause it was really cheap and I haven't had the goodness that is Burger King in many months, then we went to our Literary Pub Crawl. It was really interesting and fun. It was two actors who took us around to four different pubs and around Trinity College, while telling stories of writers that came form Dublin. It was really fun. It lasted around 2 hours and 45 minutes and after, we headed back to the hotel. The next day we got up and took a tour of the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough and surrounding areas, where many movies were filmed, such as "Brave Heart" and "P.S. I Love You." The tour lasted the whole day and we got back to the hotel around 6:30ish. We rested for a while then went to get a pizza and called it a night, because we had to get up at 2:45 to catch a bus to the airport to fly out at 6:00! Ei ei ei!
We got up at 2:30 and were outside waiting for a bus with another lady when a taxi driver pulled up and said he'd take us to the airport for the same price as the bus and it would take 1/2 the time. So we did it and arrived around 4:00. We checked in and found some breakfast then waited for out plane. We flew out and arrived in Beauvais at 9:00 (with the time change). We got a bus to the train station and got on a train bound for Paris. One stop in to our train ride, the train ended up stopping, because some kids were messing around. We sat there for over an hour and FINALLY got on our way. We arrived in Paris, got the metro to our hotel, dropped off our bags and started hitting Paris by foot. In 5 hours, we saw (by foot mind you): Notre Dame (inside and outside and around), Le Louvre (just the outside), Tuileries Gardens, Champs-Elysees, Arc-du-Triumph and the Eiffel Tower! We headed back to our hotel and spent the night watching French game shows. We went to sleep and woke up to take Nick to the airport. We got there and waited in line for two hours just for him to check in. It was so busy because they canceled the flights the day before, so there were double the number of people who had to fly that day. After saying our sad goodbyes, he left and I went to catch my train.
And that was our trip! Obviously there was much more to it, but you can see all the details in the pictures. I don't have all the pictures up quite yet, but you can randomly check out: http://bonjouramanda.myphotoalbum.com/ for updates. I have a few up, but our internet is really slow, so it takes awhile to get them up.
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year! I will be updating this more often, so keep a look out!
Remember, check for updates on my photo album!!!
Talk to you soon :)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
Hello everyone!!!! I just wanted to leave a quick note to let you know that I won't have a computer for awhile. SOOOO if my blog doesn't get updated for awhile, don't hesitate, I'm okay :) I am using the computers at the teacher's college and will probably be here to use them once a week or so. I hope everything is great with everyone!!! It's getting cold here, not Minnesota cold, but it's cold and I'm by the ocean!!! Isn't it always suppose to be warm?!?!?! Hahahaha!
28 days till Nick comes :)
I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
28 days till Nick comes :)
I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
My stomach hurts from eating too many Red Vines!
WOW! With a snap of the fingers, I am over two weeks behind on this thing. I am amazing, I know. Haha.
Well, a lot hasn't been going on. Once I arrived back from Corsica, I fell in to the routine of my school week...
Monday: 8:30-11:00 at a school near my house, I walk
Tuesday: 8:30-2:30 at a school a millions miles away from my house, 2 bus rides away
Wednesday: no work, but I do a private tutor lesson for an hour from 4:00-5:00
Thrusday: 2:30-4:30 at a school sort of by my house, I ride my sweet bike
Fridays: no work
It hasn't been too bad. I kind of like the idea of a schedule to a certain extent. You know what to expect and what is coming.
My Mom sent me a care package last week. It was amazing and was filled with: two bags of Red Vines, Skippy Natural Peanut Butter, peanut butter M&M's, Skittles, candy corn, cereal, Stove Top (for Thanksgiving), and a bunch of other goodies. I love it!
During the last two weeks, besides going to school, I haven't done tooooo much. This weekend, Melissa (Siltman, my friend from MSU), came to stay with me from Thrusday-tomorrow which is Sunday. It has been nice. I need her here in France just as much as she needs me. We are like each others coach. We keep each other going. So it's nice when we are able to meet up and not talk via text or email.
Next weekend is going to be great. A bunch of American assistants and I are having Thanksgiving at my place. We are inviting around 30 people. It will be such a great time. We are asking everyone to bring a dish to pass and a bunch of us are splitting the price of a turkey...because...the tureky is 13 euros/kilo. We are getting 5.5 kilos. So, we are paying about 70 American dollars for a 13 pound turkey!!!!! HAHA! OUTRAGEOUS, HUH?! But, we must have our turkey. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it!
ALSO! My computer has a virus. Dumb, I know. I was just trying to get my weekly fill of Grey's Anatomy, when BAM! VIRUS! Ugh! Thank God Melissa came this weekend and brought her computer :). Hopefully I'll have it fixed soon or have a new one by Christmas. But, what do you do?
The countdown is on: 31 days till Nick arrives in France :)
And on that note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!!!
What am I doing up at 2:38 a.m?!?!
Goodnight!!!!!
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