First 20 days in French life

Wow, how crazy life has been lately. If you're reading this Sangji, I got inspiration to write a blog post from yours, I hope mine is as good!

3 weeks ago today I arrived in Paris.
It was so hard saying goodbye to my family at the airport, i've never been away from them for more than a week, let alone on the other side of the world! After a lot of tears I got onto the plane that would take me to Auckland where I would meet up with all of the other AFS students going to France, Spain, Germany and Italy. It was so nice to see them all again, and the excitement began.. I was actually going to be in France!
We stopped in Melbourne for a few hours on our way to Dubai. After about 26 hours of flying in total on different planes, we eventually landed in Paris where I experienced the most turbulence I had ever had. Luckily though, we landed haha.
The longest time on the plane without stopping was 14 hours, where I had a window seat. It was amazing to see all of the old stone white buildings so close together as we were descending into Dubai, however I was only able to get up once on that plane ride. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep in total, as well as many AFS students, so we were all exhausted when we finally got to our destinations.

Some of the first things I noticed in Paris as we left the airport the temperature (so hot!) and the traffic.. it's crazy! I couldn't notice many road rules like in New Zealand, people just pushed their way in wherever they could and were reluctant to give way. They all looked so mad, so us AFS students waved at them and did silly things from inside the bus, didn't look like it cheered them up though :P

We eventually arrived at our AFS orientation camp where we would spend the next 2 nights. It was awesome meeting people from all over the world such as the United States, Belgium and South America. However everyone just spoke in English, so it didn't feel like I was in France yet.
On Saturday the 7th, we went by bus into the centre of Paris. It was so amazing driving through the streets seeing the little shops, people riding bikes (Vélibs!) and the long buildings which seemed to go on forever. All of the buildings had decorative railings, the kind when you see them you immediately think of Paris. It was funny to think they spend so much money and effort on appearance, but it works- the buildings look beautiful.
As we were driving I got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from far away, the feelings I had at that point were so strange, it was all so unreal.
As we got closer an AFS volunteer told us to close our eyes until we got there. I couldn't, I was far too excited. When we got out of the bus, and the Eiffel tower was staring straight at us I couldn't believe my eyes! It's so much larger than what I was expecting, it really does tower over Paris.
We walked over the river Seine, around the tower and underneath it where I could truly realise how unbelievably tall it is. There were so many tourists like us, and people selling cute Eiffel Tower things however we were advised to leave our money and valuables on the bus because of pick-pocketers, so I didn't get to buy any.

The morning after (Sunday the 8th) we woke up early- 4.30am to go to the train station where we would each catch a train to meet our host family. It was at the train station where I bought something completely in French and they understood me! I was so proud haha.
My train was to Tarbes, a city which is a little more north than Hiis and good for shopping (sorry dad). The train ride down took 7 hours, but it was so cool to pass through a lot of the French countryside. Every few minutes we passed through another small village, I was surprised with how many there were and how flat most of the land was.

I eventually got to Tarbes, exhausted but so excited and relieved to finally meet my host family. They greeted me the French way, bisous, (they do two here) and spoke to me in French of course.. now I was starting to feel more like I was actually in France.

I've been here 20 days now, i'm beginning to discover the way of life and the different customs though I'll list them in another blog post.
I miss my family and friends in New Zealand a lot, more than they know. But at the same time I'm making friends here too and my host family are awesome. I knew exchanges weren't easy, I'm keeping in mind what I will achieve and that gets me through when I feel like giving up. I think I have improved already with comprehension when listening to people speak, but only a little in speaking myself which is frustrating I must admit. I still have a long time to become fluent and just like a French student (apart from the smoking!), but it will eventually come! 

That's all for now, bisous et à bientôt!

Streets of Paris

L'Arc De Triomphe!!

So happy!

La Seine!

This excited me a lot haha

So incredible

.